UK backs cigarette vending machine ban
New research shows vast majority of Britons back plans to abolish cigarette vending machines
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Wednesday, 01, Jul 2009 12:05
New research shows the vast majority of Britons back plans to abolish cigarette vending machines.
Cancer Research UK claims 76 per cent of adults support the ban, while 70 per cent back proposals to protect children from tobacco by putting it out of sight in shops.
The new figures come on the second anniversary of the smoking ban in England and show an 80 per cent backing for the restriction of smoking in the UK's pubs, clubs and enclosed public places.
Today's survey - carried out by YouGov - found people who had never smoked were unsurprisingly most supportive of the ban, with women also more likely than men to support the ban and new measures.
Other new results also show the 2007 smoking ban in England was followed by a rapid decline in smoking prevalence for about nine months, amounting to 800,000 fewer smokers.
The new legislation means all workers are now provided with a smokefree environment, safe from the dangers of secondhand smoke, as well as the extra benefit of helping smokers break their addiction to tobacco, Cancer Research claims.
Commenting, Professor Robert West, the charity's director of tobacco studies, said: "The smoke-free law has been a huge boost to smokers trying to quit, but radical action is now needed to build on this success."
Elspeth Lee, Cancer Research UK's head of tobacco control, added: "Smokefree laws have been a real success - not only in protecting UK workers from secondhand smoke but also in helping smokers to quit. These results show there's huge public support for the new measures to protect young people from tobacco marketing.
"Stopping the next generation from becoming smokers is a priority if we are to prevent more deaths from a product that has already caused far too many deaths. The public want this and research has shown that future generations will demand it."
Cancer Research claims tobacco kills half of all long term smokers and every day around 450 under-18s start smoking across the UK and more than eight out of ten smokers start before they are 19.