UK tops tobacco control index
Readers hoping that the UK might take a more relaxed attitude to tobacco control now we are outside the EU are likely to be disappointed.
Successive UK governments have generally gone above and beyond the rest of Europe when it comes to tobacco control so it’s no surprise to see the UK retain its number one ranking in a Europe wide survey.
The Association of European Cancer Leagues, currently hosting the 8th European Conference on Tobacco or Health (ECToH) in Berlin, has ranked 36 European countries according to their tobacco control activity in 2019.
The Tobacco Control Scale, published yesterday, quantifies the implementation of eight tobacco control policies including price, public place bans, ad bans, health warnings, consumer information, and treatment to help smokers quit.
Points are allocated to each policy with price (maximum 30 points) and smoke free public places (22 points) given the most weighting.
The UK heads the ranking with 80 out of a possible 100 points, with France and Ireland close behind.
At the other end of the scale, ‘Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg continue to disappoint with extremely poor scores.’ Tut tut.
As a pointer to the next Tobacco Products Directive (TPD3) it’s pretty clear which way the wind is blowing in Europe if not in Britain where tobacco control is way ahead of the game:
“Plain packaging for cigarettes exists now in eight countries and should be the standard for all countries in the European Region,” states Luk Joossens, the main author of the Tobacco Control Scale.
Eight countries (UK, France, Ireland, Norway, Turkey, Slovenia, Belgium and Israel) have adopted and implemented plain packaging legislation. Hungary will implement its legislation in 2022, and the Netherlands and Denmark have agreed to introduce plain packaging very soon.
Other recommendations include a Europe-wide ban on the display of tobacco products at the point of sale and a ban on smoking in private cars when minors are present.
Given these policies are already in force in the UK you can see how far ‘advanced’ we are.
Naturally, the report also includes an ill-disguised plea for more money to keep the anti-smoking industry in business:
A major concern is the lack of funding for tobacco control. No country spends €2 per capita on tobacco control, with only Iceland coming close. The TCS scores for spending are extremely low and we are seeing reduced funding in several countries.
Btw, I’m sure the UK deserves its place at the top of the table but it’s worth noting that the UK’s policies were assessed by none other than Martin Dockrell (Public Health England), Deborah Arnott (ASH), Ailsa Rutter (Fresh, formerly Smokefree North East) and Debbie Storm (ASH Scotland).
When you think about it, that’s rather like being asked to mark your own homework. Who could have predicted such a result?!