Smoking moves a ‘balanced menu’

By Simon Tostevin

PROPOSALS to combat smoking over the next five years represent a balanced menu of interventions, according to Dr David Jeffs.

The director of public health was a member of the review group that helped Health and Social Services come up with recommendations included in its tobacco control strategy, published in the Billet d’Etat for next month’s States meeting.

He said the 11 proposals, which include increasing the price of tobacco by a minimum of RPI plus 3% every year and possibly banning smoking in cars, will all in their own way or together help to reduce the number of people who smoke.

‘It’s a five-year strategy, so it might not be something that will all be achieved at once.

‘But there’s no one reason why people start smoking and because there’s no one reason you need a variety of approaches. I think what the States report is trying to do is to give a balanced menu of interventions. Together, we think they are going to help people stop smoking.’

But Dr Jeffs said it was vital that Health’s budget for the work was sufficient or services such as Quitline, nicotine patches and counselling would not be provided so efficiently.

Since 1986, when measures to tackle smoking were first brought in, Dr Jeffs said the number of people who die in Guernsey from smoking-related illnesses each year had fallen from 120 a year to 80.

‘Those who are determined to continue smoking will probably do so, but those who are thinking about stopping can see there’s a lot of encouragement to help them.’

He added that cigarette products carrying pictorial warnings of the dangers of smoking would be a positive deterrent.

On the proposal to ban smoking in cars, Dr Jeffs said: ‘I think this is more of a road safety initiative and it’s rightly up to the Home Department to look into it.

‘We say people shouldn’t use a mobile telephone while driving, so how different is it having someone reaching for a cigarette out of their pocket and lighting it and taking their hands off the wheel?

‘If we are worried about people using mobiles, why aren’t we worried about people lighting up while driving?

‘But if you have got children in the car do they deserve to have to breathe in the tobacco smoke? We think children deserve to be protected and if parents aren’t going to take responsibility, maybe it’s the job of the community to do so.’