An open letter to Government calling for ‘action on smoking’ has failed to meet its modest target of 2,500 signatures.
As I noted last week, quoting directly from the ASH Daily News bulletin:
Cancer Research UK have written an open letter to Steve Barclay, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, urging them to publish a new tobacco control plan to tackle smoking – the leading preventable cause of cancer. They are asking members of the public to add their names to the letter to show how much support there is for ending smoking. The letter will be published on No Smoking Day (8th March). Sign up by March 7th to make sure your name is included. You can sign the letter here.
Calling for ‘decisive Government action on tobacco’, the letter declares:
If the Government cannot pay for the measures and services to needed to help people quit smoking, then the industry should be made to do so. We ask UK Government to please put families and our health system first in the upcoming Spring Budget and implement a Smokefree Fund, using industry funds, without industry interference to pay for these measures and services.
As of midnight last night, the letter had been signed by just 2,136 people, well short of the initial target of 2,500.
Given this failure to generate support for ending smoking, I can’t wait to see how Cancer Research (and ASH) spin it. No doubt they’ll find a way.
Happy No Smoking Day!
