NHS Quit Smoking Service for Enfield & Haringey
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Saturday, 19 May
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Waltham Forest Guardian News: Health officials in the area back the bid to ban the display of tobacco products
Yesterday the Waltham Forest Guardian News reported that health officials in the area had backed the bid to ban the display of tobacco products in stores.
The report went on to say:
A quarter of people in the borough smoke, according to experts working for the NHS.
They believe the ban could ward people away from smoking - the UK's "number one killer" - and reduce the number of smokers living in Waltham Forest.
But shopkeepers insist this will be a major blow for newsagents as they rely on the tobacco trade to make up 30 per cent of their sales.
Shakti Patel, manager of Gardner News in the High Street, Walthamstow, said yesterday that a number of newsagents will go under if the Government agrees to new legislation, and will cause a massive power struggle with larger supermarket chains.
Experts insist the health of the public must come first however.
The number of people who die from smoking in Waltham Forest is higher than the national average, according to reports.
Dr Kay Eilbert, acting joint director for public health in Waltham Forest, admits removing tobacco products may not stop people from smoking, but says it is a step in the right direction…()
"It is the biggest single cause of ill-health and premature death and roughly one in four people in Waltham Forest smokes.
"Our stop smoking team has helped 3,500 smokers to quit in the past two years but locally we still have a higher than average rate of deaths due to smoking.
"In light of this, anything that discourages people from smoking and makes it more difficult to start has to be a good thing.
"It could help to prevent some people from starting in the first place and may reduce impulse buying in supermarkets.
"Our priority is increasingly around prevention, which is more effective and cheaper than dealing with the range of cancers that smoking can cause."
Similar moves may be seen in Haringey and Enfield in the near future.
