A recent study published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research by Dr. Sarah Jackson, Dr. Harry Tattan-Birch, and their colleagues from University College London, Imperial College London, and Action on Smoking and Health reveals that around 105,700 young people aged 18-25 in England start smoking tobacco regularly each year. This includes 5,200 individuals from the North East.
The research highlights a troubling trend as the likelihood of starting to smoke rises annually until age 25.
This comes as the Government faces increasing pressure to establish a ‘Smokefree Generation’ by raising the legal age for tobacco sales by one year annually, aiming to eliminate the death and disease associated with smoking.
In the North East, a survey reveals that over 77% of smokers regret ever starting, with 46% expressing a strong desire to quit.
Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “Tobacco smoking is one of the biggest causes of disease, disability and death. No one who starts smoking ever means to smoke for life, but two out of every three smokers who do not manage to quit will die from their smoking.
Most people who start smoking start as children or young people. They underestimate the risks of disease, never expecting it to become an expensive and lethal addiction.
Most smokers in the North East want to stop and most would never risk starting to smoke or trying a cigarette if they had the choice again. The risks of smoking are also worse for people who started young.”
Earlier this month, smoking survivors and campaigners from the North East gathered in Parliament to urge the new Government to promptly commit to creating a smokefree generation. This plea comes over a year after the previous Government announced plans to raise the legal age for tobacco sales.
One of the attendees was Cathy Hunt, 58, a mum of four from County Durham. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and had half a lung removed in 2015 just two days before her 50th birthday. She underwent surgery again in 2022 when the cancer returned, and in June 2023 had a kidney removed due to cancer.
She said, “I started smoking when I was only 11 years old. Obviously, at the age of 11, I was not aware when I took that first draw of a cigarette how addictive and harmful smoking is.
At the age of 49, just days before my 50th birthday – my world was turned upside down. I was given the news I had lung cancer. Telling your children, that you have cancer from smoking is the worst conversation a person can ever have, watching the fear and uncertainty wash over them and knowing you have changed their world forever.
I am begging the Government and MPs to commit to a smokefree generation and raise the age of sale. Too many people are becoming ill and dying from smoking. We now have a chance to stop the start.”
There is strong North East support to create a smokefree generation with:
- 73% of North East adults supporting plans to raise the age of sale by a year each year.
- 78% of North East adults support ending smoking with a target of fewer than 5% smoking by 2030.
(YouGov)
The North East has a unique declaration for a smokefree future with a clear vision: “A smokefree future, free of the death and disease from tobacco, is needed, wanted and workable”. This would improve the health and wealth of our region’s most disadvantaged communities more than any other measure.
For support around stopping smoking, talk to your free local stop smoking service or your doctor.
For top tips to stop smoking for good, click here.
