Under-age tobacco sales spark fears over future costs to NHS

Child volunteers who carried out test purchases on behalf of East Riding Council found that 24.4 per cent of premises sold them tobacco – a rise of more than 11 per cent on the previous year, and above the Yorkshire and Humber average of 17.6 per cent.

The surge has come in spite of warnings, enforcement and all retailers being reminded that it is illegal to sell tobacco to anyone under 18.

The figures have led to calls for more resources to be put into smoking cessation work and educating people about the dangers of smoking, amid concerns there is relatively too much focus on tackling the scourge of drugs and alcohol.

Nationally, almost twice as many people die each year from tobacco-related diseases than the next six preventable causes of death put together.

NHS East Riding said it spent £7.8m on smoking-related hospital admissions between 2008/09, and that smoking-related illnesses accounted for a fifth of all admissions of adults aged over 35.

It also said it could reinvest £658 a year into other health services for each smoker who quits.

Councillor Jane Evison, the council’s portfolio holder for public protection, said she would be voicing her concerns at the next meeting of the council on February 23, and has submitted a motion calling for a review panel to be set up to investigate the impact of tobacco-related issues in the region.

“I’m greatly concerned,” she said. “I don’t think it’s because people don’t care and until recently I was guilty of simply being unaware of the facts.

“If you consider the period between 2006 and 2008, 76 people were killed on our roads and we all know how much resources go in to making roads safer, speed enforcement and traffic management, and over the same time 561 people died from smoking-related diseases in the East Riding; it just doesn’t stack up.

“I don’t think we have done enough to get the statistics out there and make people aware. If you were given that blank piece of paper, where would you put your money?

“If people are smoking, fine, they have made a decision themselves; what I would like to see is far more work being done to stop people starting in the first place.

“It’s about education. So many people start smoking when they are children and we have to make sure families are absolutely aware of how dangerous this really is.”

She added: “The sale to underage children is very disappointing. I would suggest that people are reading that we are doing something about alcohol, that’s the most important thing, but it actually isn’t. It’s a cultural change that is needed.”

The motion has been seconded by the council’s deputy leader, Coun Jonathan Owen.

He said: “We seem to have lost momentum nationally in tackling the issues surrounding the prevalence of disease caused by tobacco and related products.

“The sheer scale of tobacco problems relative to other more ‘high profile’ areas such as drugs and alcohol surely mean we need to ascertain that we are targeting resources in areas where we are maximising health improvement.

“By asking for the scrutiny process to consider this we can assure ourselves that we are targeting our resources effectively.”

As well as carrying out test purchases using trained volunteers, the council advises all retailers selling age-restricted products of their responsibilities, and sends sales information packs to those selling alcohol or tobacco.

All premises are inspected at least once every two years.

Premises which failed the purchase test were written to and given advice and enforcement action is considered on a case by case basis.

The offending businesses were independent newsagents or small retailers.