Scientists and politicians agree on the importance of redoubled imagination to discourage smokers from using tobacco. Recently, British MPs have discussed the possibility of printing the words "Smoking kills" on each cigarette.
As tobacco-free month is coming soon (in November), measures to try to stop this addiction appear quite regularly. It must be said that the fight against smoking is not new. Twenty years ago, 45% of young French people smoked, figures substantially identical to those of today. In addition, 79,000 people die prematurely every year because of tobacco in our country.
Often, imagination is key when it comes to taking action against smoking or as part of prevention campaigns . In 2019, for example, Chinese surgeons unveiled images of a smoker's lungs to the public. Originally, these organs were removed for organ donation. However, doctors discovered that they had been blackened by three decades of heavy smoking.
Without going that far, MPs in the UK recently proposed new legislation . As The Guardian explained in an October 20, 2021 article, Labor MP Mary Kelly Foy wants to further deter smokers by printing the words "Smoking Kills" on every cigarette what the packages contain.
It turns out that printing said mention is far from a new idea. Indeed, this initiative was already discussed in the United Kingdom more than forty years ago . The proposal came from George Young, the Minister of Health at the time. However, the tobacco companies then categorically opposed the idea explaining that the ink used for printing would be toxic to consumers. Obviously, given the substances that cigarettes contain (including many additives), this excuse is obviously not valid.
Mary Kelly Foy's recent amendment touches on other points as well. One of the objectives is to force manufacturers to mention the health risks of cigarettes inside the packets . There is also talk of taxing the profits of these companies in order to finance part of the fight against smoking. Let's also mention the desire to increase the legal age from 18 to 21 for citizens entitled to buy a pack of cigarettes.
The Guardian article also gave the floor to Simon Clark, director of the pro-tobacco group Forest. He firmly stated that if adults made the choice to use tobacco, it was not the government's concern.
In the UK, tobacco control is progressing despite resistance from manufacturers, so much so that today only 14.1% of adults smoke . This is simply the lowest rate ever, the result of decades of restrictions and awareness campaigns.
