Another day, another anti-smoking headline.
Hot on the heels of the ‘news’ that smoking allegedly costs the UK economy more than £19bn a year, the Guardian yesterday reported that:
Smoking causes almost twice as many cancer cases among the poor than the well-off, according to new findings that underline the close link between cigarettes and deprivation.
According to a study by Cancer Research UK:
More cancer cases occur in the wealthiest 20% – an estimated 63,828. However, far fewer of them – 6,200 – are the result of someone smoking, and they represent a much smaller percentage (10%) of all cases of cancer that occur in that part of the population.
That may be true but did you spot what could have been an alternative headline?
‘Cancer rates highest among the wealthiest’ (fewer of whom smoke).
Did you know that? I didn’t yet all it got was a passing mention.
Where too was the acknowledgement that smoking-related cancers, like smoking-related illnesses generally, can be caused by multiple factors?
Anyway it didn't surprise me that our old friend Linda Bauld – taking a well-earned break from her Covid-related media duties – was invited by the Today programme to discuss the CRUK report.
I missed the interview but I assume she wasn't asked why cancer rates are highest among the wealthiest because she later tweeted:
Smoking is still the leading preventable cause of cancer and smoking-related cancers are highest amongst those on lower incomes. New findings for England @CR_UK Time to look ahead to the next tobacco control plan & what needs to be done for #Smokefree2030
Anyway, thanks to the good people at GB News I had an opportunity to respond briefly to the report and put the libertarian case for choice.
I can’t remember the last time the Today programme invited me to do that.
Update: According to yesterday’s ASH Daily News, Bauld told the Today programme:
“The gap [in smoking rates] between the most and least affluent really has not narrowed and in some communities has widened. These are preventable cases of death, preventable cases of cancer, and as we move out of the Covid crisis the Government needs to be thinking about these other priority areas for public health [my emphasis].
“We know there’s about 27,000 cases of cancer caused by deprivation and one of the reasons is smoking. If you take that out and smoking rates were the same for everyone, around 5,500 of these cases could have been prevented each year.
“There was an All Party Parliamentary Group report which reported recently just setting out a range of measures looking ahead at what we could do and also how we could raise money from the profits made by the tobacco industry to fund really vital services that smokers actually want access to.”
No mention there of the fact that cancer rates are highest among the wealthiest, just blatant lobbying of government in advance of the new tobacco control plan.
As for the “All Party Parliamentary Group report”, the APPG in question is the APPG on Smoking and Health which just happens to be run by ASH.
I bet no-one mentioned that either.