On February 4, the United Kingdom launched an independent review to study smoking-related health disparities.
It’s the government’s latest move in positioning tobacco harm reduction (THR) explicitly in its public health agenda.
The UK has embraced vaping products as safer nicotine alternatives, and has become something of a model for THR advocates around the world. Its health agencies (formerly led by Public Health England, which was last year amalgamated into bodies like the new UK Health Security Agency and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities) have maintained for years that vaping is 95 percent less harmful than smoking. Activists often point to the different approaches in the United States as opposed to the UK, where there are even some vape shops attached to hospitals.
According to the government, 21.4 percent of routine and manual workers smoke, as do 25 percent of people with long-term mental health conditions.
Though the UK’s adult smoking rate has dropped in the past decade, there are still an estimated 6 million smokers in the country, who disproportionately come from the most disadvantaged communities.
Alex Norcia – Filter – 2022-02-09.
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