{"id":125946,"date":"2014-06-24T18:48:46","date_gmt":"2014-06-24T18:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=125946"},"modified":"2014-06-24T18:48:46","modified_gmt":"2014-06-24T18:48:46","slug":"uk-doctors-seek-permanent-ban-selling-cigarettes-born-2000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/uk-doctors-seek-permanent-ban-selling-cigarettes-born-2000\/","title":{"rendered":"UK doctors seek permanent ban on selling cigarettes to those born after 2000"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"color: #000000;\">British Medical Association (BMA) doctors have voted to demand a permanent ban on selling cigarettes to those born after the millennium \u2014 i.e. kids who are currently 14 or under. The group\u2019s ambitious plan is to make British society tobacco free by 2035.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">The motion was passed at a\u00a0<a style=\"color: #044faa;\" href=\"http:\/\/bma.org.uk\/news-views-analysis\/news\/2014\/june\/doctors-back-cigarette-ban-to-those-born-after-2000\" target=\"_blank\">meeting<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>\u201cIt is not expected that this policy will instantly prevent all people from smoking, but [rather it will] de-normalise cigarette smoking,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0said London research assistant in academic public health, Dr Tim Crocker-Buqu\u00c3\u00a9 at the meeting.\u00a0<em>\u201cThe level of harm caused by smoking is unconscionable.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">The decision was made at the British Medical Association&#8217;s annual representatives&#8217; meeting on Tuesday. The doctors\u2019 voting in favor means that the doctors\u2019 union will push for the British government to introduce the ban.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">The BMA has previously been successful in its attempts to clampdown on smoking. After votes in 2002 and 2011 bans on smoking in public places and cars carrying children were introduced.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">According to Crocker-Buqu\u00c3\u00a9, some 100 million people died as a result of tobacco-related illness during the 20th century. He added that nine out of 10 smokers wished they had never started.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">He added that teenagers cannot make informed choices about taking up the habit.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>\u201cEighty per cent of smokers start as teenagers as a result of intense peer pressure,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he said.\u00a0<em>\u201cSmokers who start smoking at age 15 are three times as likely to die of smoking-related cancer as someone who starts in their mid-20s.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">BMA Northern Ireland council chair Paul Darragh \u2014 himself formerly a heavy smoker \u2014 denounced the cost of addiction:<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>\u201cAs doctors, we see first-hand the devastating effects of tobacco addiction,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he said. He went on to talk about how even after cancer is diagnosed, some patients don\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\">Sheila Hollins, chair of the BMA&#8217;s board of science, said the vote was a step towards helping to prevent children from entering the cycle of taking up smoking. The group has a plan to try and ensure British society is tobacco free by 2035.<br \/>\nHowever, some criticized the potential move, saying it could pave the way for black-market cigarette sales.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>\u201cThe potential health risks of those may be even greater than those of legal cigarettes,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0said Aberdeen medical student Adrianna Klejnotowska. Birmingham associate specialist in ENT, Yohanna Takwoingi, said that aiming for a total ban was just \u2018headline grabbing\u2019 and \u2018sensationalist\u2019.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/news\/168208-doctors-uk-smoking-ban\/\" target=\"_blank\">Reprinted<\/a> with permission<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British Medical Association (BMA) doctors have voted to demand a permanent ban on selling cigarettes to those born after the millennium \u2014 i.e. kids who are currently 14 or under. The group\u2019s ambitious plan is to make British society tobacco free by 2035. The motion was passed at a\u00a0meeting\u00a0on Tuesday. \u201cIt is not expected that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,955,1615],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-125946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news","7":"category-health","8":"category-uk-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}