Smoking in the United Kingdom - Essay Example

?Smoking Introduction & Background Smoking is a major health concern in the developed as well as the developing world. Smoking has negative implications for the person, who smoke, as well as society in general. Yet, smoking is a matter of choice with the strong probability of giving the habit up, when there is sufficient. There is the false consideration that smokers can be divided into different levels of light smokers, medium smokers and heavy smokers based on the number of cigarettes smoked over time and that the health consequences are lighter on those who smoke less. Any level of smoking is bad for health and the only solution is cessation of smoking (Rothman & Greenland, 2008). This fact has been firmly established by the more than a hundred years of experience of the consequences of smoking. Concern in society on the implications of smoking has led to public policy towards controlling the decision of the teenagers to start smoking and cessation of smoking strategies in the adult population (Sloan, Smith & Taylor, 2003). Smoking in the United Kingdom The early twentieth century witnessed smoking becoming a mass phenomenon in the United Kingdom, riding on the smoking being the “in” thing in society. Almost 13 million of the population in the United Kingdom continues as smokers. Estimates suggest that half of the smoking population will have premature deaths, as a consequence of diseases caused by smoking, losing a minimum of eight years in their life span. The prevalence of smoking peaked in the 1940s in men and the 1960s women. Since then there has been a decline in the prevalence in smoking. However, two features stand out in this decline in the prevalence of smoking in the United Kingdom, with the decline being not so marked among the socio-economic backward classes and among young adults (Edwards, 2004). Smoking surveys in Britain started in 1948 and the prevalence of smoking among men was put at 85%. Since this peak smoking levels have continuously dropped. In 1970 the number of smokers had dropped to 55% and by 2007 the figure had further fallen to 22% among men. Smoking never became a habit among the majority of women in Britain, but it remained fairly constant between the period from 1948 and 1970, ranging from 41% to 44%. By 2007 however the level of smoking had dropped to 20% and since then continued to hover around this figure. Current estimates suggest that around10 million people continue to smoke in Britain (Cancer Research UK, 2011). Reasons for the Prevalence of Smoking Several key factors have contributed to this decline in the prevalence of smoking to its lowest levels in Britain and demonstrating that Britain has more effectively tackled the smoking menace than many of the other developed countries. The first such key factor is the information campaign against smoking, highlighting the dangers associated with smoking that has been carried out in Britain for several decades (Meikle, 2011). The socio-economic backward classes have been a high risk population for smoking. Reduction in the inequalities in the society in Britain has reduced the proportion of socio-economic backward classes in UK (Alder et al, 2009). Education levels have been rising in Britain. The higher education levels the better the awareness and assimilation of the dangers associated with smoking, which has a negative impact on an individual taking to smoking or continuing to smoke (Bittoun & Browning, 2005). The price of tobacco products has an impact on the prevalence of smoking. The higher the prices of the prices of tobacco products are the lower the levels of smoking. Government action through a taxation policy has kept the prices of tobacco at higher levels (Hayes, 2007). Reasons for Continued Smoking Cigarette smoking starts as an adolescent. These children may look upon smoking as the right way to approach adulthood or they may succumb to peer-pressure and start smoking. Another possible reason for teenagers taking to smoking may be an attempt to demonstrate their rebellion against society. Whatever be the initial reasons for starting to smoke, the problem is that nicotine is extremely addictive and once these children get hooked to smoking there is a high probability that nearly one third of them will continue to do so for the rest of their life. The addiction to nicotine stems from it being a strong neural stimulant that acts on the pleasure centers present in the brain. This pleasure stimulation is followed by rebound depression, leading to the lighting of the next cigarette. Nicotine addiction through smoking alters the biochemistry of the brain making it very difficult for some smokers to cease smoking (Bellamy & Booker, 2004). Further Action by the Government and NHS With the objective of reducing the attraction of adolescents to smoking, the government has initiated action to prevent the display of tobacco products in shops, thus preventing the exposure of children to the attractive packing of tobacco products. Supermarkets will have to stop such blatant display of tobacco products by 2012 and small shops by 2015. The government is also holding discussions as a prelude to the introduction of plain packs for tobacco products. This move is aimed at negating the attractive packing of tobacco products acting as an advertisement for smoking to young children and teenagers (Cancer Research UK, 2011). While the government has targeted preventing young children and adolescents from being attracted to tobacco products, the NHS has targeted the adult population that continue to smoke for efforts to cause them to cease smoking. All NHS units now offer Stop Smoking Services to provide assistance to smokers to get over their addiction to nicotine and thereby cease smoking. The NHS has enhanced is efforts to create awareness among the smokers in Britain of the availability of these services and its utility in helping individuals to het over the smoking habit (Bristol NHS Stop Smoking Services, 2011). Conclusion Smoking in Britain became a mass phenomenon in the beginning of the twentieth and peaked by the middle of the twentieth century. From then on the prevalence of smoking has dropped and is now at its lowest levels in Britain, which can be attributed to several reasons. Even so, nearly twenty percent of men and women in Britain still smoke. This is because nicotine is very addictive and young children and adolescents who start smoking at a young age have extreme difficulty in ceasing to smoke in their adulthood. The government has initiated efforts that will diminish the impact of marketing promotional activities for tobacco products on children and teenagers, while the NHS has targeted providing support to adults to desist from smoking in an effort to further reduce the prevalence of smoking in Britain. Literary References Alder, B., Abraham, C., Van Teijlingen, E. & Porter, M. 2009, Psychology and Sociology Applied to Medicine, Elsevier Heath Sciences, London. Bellamy, D. & Booker, R. 2004, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Primary Care, Class Publishing, London. Bittoun, R. & Browning, C. 2005, ‘Tobacco Dependence, Smoking Prevention and Cessation’, in Behavioural Change: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Social and Public Health, Elsevier Heath Sciences, London, pp.153-168. ‘Bristol NHS Stop Smoking Services’, 2011, [Online] Available at: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/26668681/Bristol-NHS-Stop-Smoking-Services (Accessed March 14, 2011). Cancer Research UK. 2011, ‘Smoking – statistics’ [Online] Available at: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/lung/smoking/ (Accessed March 14, 2011). Cancer Research UK. 2011, ‘Victory for Cancer Research UK in our campaign against tobacco marketing’, [Online] Available at: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/publicpolicy/latestnews/ (Accessed March 14, 2011). Edwards, R. 2004, ‘The Problem of Tobacco Smoking’, in ABC of Smoking Cessation, ed. John Britton, Blackwell Publishing: Oxford, pp.1-3. Hayes, A. 2007, ‘Tobacco: Current Issues’, in New Perspectives in Public Health, Second Edition, eds., Sian Griffiths and David, J. Hunter, Radcliffe Publishing, Oxford, pp.132-138. Meikle, J. 2011, ‘Smoking Warnings Hit Home as UK Cancer Rates Drop’, The Guardian [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/24/smoking-message-hits-home-cancer-rates (Accessed March 14, 2011). Rothman, K. J. & Greenland, S. 2008, ‘Cohort Studies’, in Modern Epidemiology, Third Edition, eds. Kenneth, J. Rothman, Greenland Sander & Timothy, L. Lash, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA, pp.100-110. Sloan, F. A. Smith, V. K. & Taylor, D. H. (2003). The Smoking Puzzle: Information, Risk, Perception, and Choice, Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA. Read More