Health chiefs urge response on tobacco plan

Public health professionals in North Yorkshire are encouraging people to have their say on the Government’s consultation on plain packaging for tobacco products, with smoking estimated to cost the county £152.3m a year.

The Department of Health is seeking feedback on whether there might be public health benefits of plain tobacco packaging, including reducing the number of children who take up smoking.

In North Yorkshire, the estimated smoking population is 97,600 (16 per cent) and each year it is estimated that smoking costs the county around £152.3 million.

In 2011 there were 1,044 smoking-related deaths.

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Katie Needham, public health consultant at NHS North Yorkshire and York, said: “There is strong evidence that plain packaging on tobacco products can reduce smoking in under 18s which means we can potentially stop people getting addicted to smoking in the first place.”