tobacco smoking is known to be a major health problem among many since the product is known to have up to 60 carcinogens among them nicotine and carbon monoxide (Owing, 2005).
Currently the smoking prevalence in the European region is estimated to be about 28.6% with the male having a higher percentage of 40% as compared to the female who rank at 18.2%. Health experts have always pinpointed smoking as one the killer habits contributing to high cases of mortality and many health hazards CITATION WHO07 l 1033 (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2007).
In that regard many government have put measures to curb the habit. In this presentation we shall focus on the smoking trends and limitations put by governments within the period 1974-1999 divided in 1974-1984 and 1985-1999.
1974-1984
Tobacco smoking in Britain has been on the decline in the past 50 years. It is believed that in the period beginning 1974 the country experienced the highest decline in smoking. This is compared to 1940s when prevalence was a high as 82%.
Table 1 Prevalence of smoking in the Great Britain for the period 1974-2012
% 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 1998 2002 2006 2010 2012
Men 51 45 38 35 31 28 28 30 27 23 21 22
Women 41 37 33 31 29 26 26 26 25 21 20 19
All 45 40 35 33 30 27 27 28 26 22 20 20
Note: Retrieved from ash.org.uk smoking statistics with information originating the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, 2012.
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Most people associate cigarette smoking and tobacco use with breathing problems and lung cancer. But smoking is also a major cause of cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) disease. Smoking: the No. 1 cause of preventable disease and death Smoking and tobacco use are significant risk factors for a variety of chronic disorders. According to the American Heart Association, cigarette smoking is the ...
Based on the above statistics it is evident that the period 1974-1984 experienced a slower decline in tobacco smoking as compared to the later period.
The fact that this period was the first to experience such huge decline implies there must have been a general change in public attitude towards the habit. In this case the government played the role as a regulatory body to curb a common habit that had become a vice. To control smoking habit among the people the British government used price increase to keep tobacco prices high. This was done through the introduction of taxes. Due to addiction effect of nicotine contained in tobacco the decline in the number of smokers was not very large even the though the habit is concentrated among the low income earners (Ewles, 2005).
The question whether decline in smoking was to the advantage or a disadvantage of all is an issue of concern. While tobacco industry has been known to a big contributor to the tax revenue of many countries, the same industry has been linked to health and socio-economic challenges. In the period discussed many of the affected parties were the low class citizens who could otherwise used their funds in the right way rather than smoking. It problem worsened if they got health complications as this rendered them uneconomical. The efforts put by the government in this period to curb tobacco smoking were of great value because they focused on building the future nation rather than gaining tax revenues at the expense of the future.
1985-1999
In this period of time the trend in tobacco smoking were in decline until 1994 when they remained constant. In general what this statistics imply is that the smoking prevalence in Britain may have begun to be constant at a rate of one smoker in every for individuals among the adults. The trends here show that the number of women smokers was also getting closer to that of their male counterparts of which stand at 28% as compares 29% in men by 1994. Smoking among the young too increased in this period especially among the teenagers. Despite the low prevalence percentage as compared to preceding periods, the worry was about the stability trend. The trend showed that unless action be taken the prevalence rate in Britain would have begun to rise again CITATION Roy00 l 1033 ( Royal College of Physicians of London. Tobacco Advisory Group., 2000)To curb this trend the British government put more efforts in price increase through the use of taxes. However, this did not been seem to work due to various reasons attached to smoking among them being the addictive nature of the product. The government also turned to campaigns through the media that targeted the youth to discourage the habit among them being banning of cigarette adverts. However, such campaigns were known to have poor results in terms of outreach among the young people. The hurdle the government was facing here is that in this period the young were affected as compared to the later whereby focus was put more on the adult population.
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Smoking is harmful for health, almost everyone knows about this fact; but the smokers are not at all bothered. Smoking is a choice: no one forces people to smoke. The general public has been well educated about the health risks and hazards of smoking, so people who smoke are fully informed about the possible consequences of their habit. Despite of knowing the hazards of smoking, people get ...
The actions by the government to put restrictions on smoking were of great importance to the society. Within this period of time most firms in the UK were manufacturing their products outside the country unlike in the 1974-1984 when tobacco products were produced locally. This meant that no jobs were created for the locals within the country unless in fields like sales, marketing and distribution. Looking into the retail sector cigarettes were sold as secondary products since retailers had other products they majored in hence low returns from the tobacco products. On the side of the consumer it is known that in UK tobacco products are priced in a way that most of the cost is excise duty. This implied that expenditure on the products did not stimulate the economy high as compared to other goods bought by the consumer (Ewles, 2005).
Through the restrictions imposed the society benefited in terms of cost savings and a healthier population. This in turn benefitted both the government and citizens through saving on funds that could otherwise be used for health purposes. On the other hand the efforts to curb smoking were of great help to the future generation which could easily adopt to low smoking rates.
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So many people are putting their health in danger by this nasty life taking produce. Smoking it's like a deadly disease that you can either choose to have it or not. Choosing not to is the best way to go for you will have better health. Life is so short why make it even shorter. If we could teach people about how smoking can harm your body then we could save many people from being addicted. Not ...
References
Owing, J. H. (2005).
Trends in smoking and health research. New York: Nova Biomedical Books.
Royal College of Physicians of London. (2000).
Nicotine addiction in Britain: A report of the Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians. London: The College.
Ewles, L. (2005).
Key topics in public health: Essential briefings on prevention and health promotion. Edinburgh: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone.
