Cigarette sales from vending machines banned
皇冠体育app sale of tobacco from vending machines is now prohibited across England. 皇冠体育app ban has been introduced to prevent under-age sales to children and to support adults who are trying to quit.
Nearly all adult smokers started smoking before they turned 18 and every year more than 300,000 under-16s try smoking for the first time. Of the 11 to 15-year olds who smoke regularly, 11% say they buy their cigarettes from vending machines.
It is estimated that 35 million cigarettes are sold illegally through vending machines to children every year.
said: 鈥淪moking is one of the biggest and most stubborn challenges in public health. Over eight million people in England still smoke and it causes more than 80,000 deaths each year.
鈥淐igarette vending machines are often unsupervised, making it easy for children to purchase cigarettes from them.
鈥溁使谔逵齛pp ban on cigarette sales from vending machines will protect children by making cigarettes less accessible to them - we want to do everything we can to encourage young people not to start smoking in the first place.鈥�
said: 鈥淲e want to stop young people starting smoking - and we believe this will reduce the numbers of new smokers and support people who are trying to quit.
鈥淪even out of ten current smokers want to give up smoking, and anyone considering giving up smoking should get in touch with their local NHS Stop Smoking Service for free help, advice and support.鈥�
A Tobacco Control Plan
皇冠体育app ban on cigarette sales from cigarette vending machines is part of that the Government announced on 9 March.
It sets out the Department of Health鈥檚 aims to reduce smoking rates in England by the end of 2015:
- from 21% to 18.5% or less among adults
- from 15% to 12% or less among 15 year olds
- from 14% to 11% or less among pregnant mothers
From today, anyone selling cigarettes from a vending machine could be fined up to 拢2,500. Any person found guilty of displaying cigarette adverts on a vending machine could face imprisonment for up to six months, or a fine of 拢5,000, or both.
皇冠体育app Government set out the following key actions in the Tobacco Control Plan:
- stopping the promotion of tobacco
- making tobacco less affordable
- effective regulation of tobacco products
- helping tobacco users to quit
- reducing exposure to secondhand smoke
- effective communications for tobacco control
Smoking statistics
Although adult smoking rates have been brought down from over 45% in the early 1970s to 21% in 2008, treating smoking-related diseases is estimated to cost the NHS around 拢2.7bn per year and the wider costs to society of smoking are estimated at almost 拢14bn per year.
More than 80,000 people die in England each year from smoking-related diseases - more than all deaths from alcohol, road traffic and other accidents, suicide, illegal drugs and diabetes combined.
Stop smoking
Remember, it is never too late to quit. Smokers who quit with the help of the NHS have the greatest success, with NHS stop smoking services being four times more effective than cold turkey quitting and twice as effective as medication alone.
For help to quit, call the NHS Smokefree Helpline on 0800 022 4 332 or .