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Tobacco kills one person every five minutes

by Amy Warnock | News

31 May 2023

2 comments 2 comments

a smoking cigarette

New analysis released on World No Tobacco Day by Cancer Research UK estimates that tobacco causes the death of one person every five minutes in the UK.* 

The charity is urgently calling on the UK Government and devolved governments to not be complacent and do more to swiftly reduce smoking rates.    

Smoking remains the UK’s biggest cause of cancer and death. It’s responsible for an estimated 55,000 cancer deaths in the UK each year – more than a quarter (28%) of all cancer deaths.  

“These figures are shocking, and I can’t help watching the clock. Since the UK Government’s insufficient response to the Khan review last month, around 17,100 lives have been needlessly lost to tobacco across the UK. Over 7,600 of these were due to cancer alone,” said Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK. 

Missing the target 

In England, Scotland and Wales, governments have set out ‘smokefree’ targets (defined as less than 5% of the adult population smoking). However, they are not on track to meet them.  

Northern Ireland is the only UK nation without a target, and so the charity urges all political parties there to agree a new strategy to make Northern Ireland smokefree. 

While the tobacco control measures announced last month for England were welcome, these didn’t go nearly far enough to reach ministers’ own smokefree 2030 ambition.  

In fact, Cancer Research UK’s modelling shows that smoking rates need to drop a staggering 70% faster than currently projected for this to happen. 

Stop smoking services give people who smoke the best chance of quitting, but these aren’t universally available and public health campaigns continue to be axed, largely due to successive funding cuts. Yet the UK Government have pledged substantially less than the minimum £125m increased investment required in England alone, called for by its own independent tobacco review, to fund these vital measures.   

Pushing for change 

To coincide with World No Tobacco Day, Cancer Research UK has launched a petition asking people to call on the Prime Minister to establish a ‘Smokefree Fund’ that would help pay for the cost of tobacco control, which is seriously underfunded.  

This investment could happen at no cost to the taxpayer if the UK Government made the tobacco industry foot the bill for the damage it causes.   

The recently announced levy on the gambling industry provides precedent for a Smokefree Fund paid for by industry and is proof that the UK Government can deliver on these types of measures. 

And most importantly, the public has already shown support for more government intervention to reduce smoking rates, in particular, a similar levy on tobacco. In a YouGov poll conducted in July 2022 in England, 70% of people surveyed supported the Government investing more money to help England become smokefree. Of those, 83% preferred for this money to come from making the tobacco industry pay.**

Sign the petition 

With your support, Cancer Research UK are calling on the UK Government to better fund stop smoking services and public health campaigns to help people in the UK quit smoking and prevent cancer across all nations. 

This money need not come at the expense of the taxpayer. Every year, the tobacco industry makes hundreds of millions in profit off the number one cause of cancer. And it is only fair that the tobacco industry foot the bill for the damage caused – by funding the services and measures we need. 

Sign the petition and join Cancer Research UK in coming together against tobacco, to tackle smoking and beat cancer for all. 

A man and woman dancing and smiling with the text 'for more moments that matter #SmokefreeUK'

 

“Our supporters are telling us they want governments across the UK to urgently deliver the vital funding required to address the leading cause of cancer and save countless lives,” said Mitchell.   

“Enough is enough and we’re calling on our supporters to join us in signing a petition that we’ll present to the Prime Minister urging him to take bold and decisive action to achieve a smokefree UK.” 

Taking action 

Taking action to help people who smoke quit and stop others from starting will help more people to live longer, more productive lives, free from cancer. 

It will also enable the Prime Minister to deliver on one of his key pledges to cut NHS waiting lists – in England alone, one person is admitted to hospital every minute due to smoking. 

There are also huge economic benefits to be had as smoking costs the UK public purse around £20.6 billion per year. 

To help protect the next generation from a future of ill-health and disease, Cancer Research UK also wants the UK Government to consult on raising the age of sale of tobacco.   

Without strong government action, smoking rates and cancers caused by smoking will persist. 

Learn more about Cancer Research UK’s Smokefree campaign and sign the petition.

* Calculated by the Cancer Intelligence Team at Cancer Research UK. Based on 124,908 tobacco-attributable deaths in UK persons of all ages in 2019, equating to one death every 4.21 minutes. This includes all disease types. 

** All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1780 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 13 – 14 October 2022. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all adults in England (aged 18+). 

    Comments

  • J vd Lingen
    4 October 2023

    One death every five minutes amounts to about 525,000 deaths per year. The total amount of deaths in the UK is 540,000.

    So what you are saying is that over 95% of people in the UK are killed by cancer, which is obviously not true, and not what the referenced article states

    The cancer research institute could do better than spread disinformation

  • reply
    Amy Warnock
    4 October 2023

    Thank you for your comment. Our claim that tobacco kills one person every five minutes is based on an estimated 125,000 deaths caused by tobacco in the UK each year in 2019, as estimated by the Global Burden of Disease study. This equates to around 340 deaths each day, or 14 deaths each hour. These statistics look at all deaths where tobacco was a causative factor, not just cancer deaths. You can find out more about the Global Burden of Disease study here: https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd

    We don’t believe that over 95% of people in the UK are killed by cancer – Our latest statistics found that there were around 167,000 cancer deaths in the UK each year between 2017-2019. This is compared to around 608,000 average yearly deaths in the UK in this same timeframe. You can explore our mortality statistics in more detail here: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/mortality

    Thanks,
    Amy

  • Mike Moore
    4 October 2023

    The numbers in this piece seem a little unlikely, and since they’re being quoted in the press maybe you should clarify. 605k people died in the UK in 2019 per Statista. You’re saying 125k of them were ‘tobacco-attributable’, 21%, 1 in 5. The estimates of the percentage of the population that smoke is only about 15%. That is possible, of course, but seems unlikely. However you then say only 55k of that 125k was due to cancer? 70,000 people died from ‘tobacco-attributable’ causes that weren’t cancer, more than died from cancer? If that’s so perhaps you should explain.

  • reply
    Amy Warnock
    4 October 2023

    Hi Mike,

    Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Our claim that tobacco kills one person every five minutes is based on an estimated 125,000 deaths caused by tobacco in the UK each year in 2019, as estimated by the Global Burden of Disease study. If you’d like to find out more about the Global Burden of Disease study you can do so here: https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd

    While adult smoking prevalence in the UK is currently 12.9%, smoking prevalence was much higher in the past, with up to 50% of the UK population smoking as late as the 1960s. Previous smoking history of UK residents is considered in these estimates as a potential causative factor.

    You’re correct in saying that the Global Burden of Disease study estimates that around 55,000 of the 125,000 tobacco-attributable deaths are cancer deaths. Tobacco plays a causative role in many other diseases, such as cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, these two causes account for an estimated 54,500 tobacco-attributable deaths in 2019.

    Hope this helps,
    Amy

    Comments

  • J vd Lingen
    4 October 2023

    One death every five minutes amounts to about 525,000 deaths per year. The total amount of deaths in the UK is 540,000.

    So what you are saying is that over 95% of people in the UK are killed by cancer, which is obviously not true, and not what the referenced article states

    The cancer research institute could do better than spread disinformation

  • reply
    Amy Warnock
    4 October 2023

    Thank you for your comment. Our claim that tobacco kills one person every five minutes is based on an estimated 125,000 deaths caused by tobacco in the UK each year in 2019, as estimated by the Global Burden of Disease study. This equates to around 340 deaths each day, or 14 deaths each hour. These statistics look at all deaths where tobacco was a causative factor, not just cancer deaths. You can find out more about the Global Burden of Disease study here: https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd

    We don’t believe that over 95% of people in the UK are killed by cancer – Our latest statistics found that there were around 167,000 cancer deaths in the UK each year between 2017-2019. This is compared to around 608,000 average yearly deaths in the UK in this same timeframe. You can explore our mortality statistics in more detail here: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/mortality

    Thanks,
    Amy

  • Mike Moore
    4 October 2023

    The numbers in this piece seem a little unlikely, and since they’re being quoted in the press maybe you should clarify. 605k people died in the UK in 2019 per Statista. You’re saying 125k of them were ‘tobacco-attributable’, 21%, 1 in 5. The estimates of the percentage of the population that smoke is only about 15%. That is possible, of course, but seems unlikely. However you then say only 55k of that 125k was due to cancer? 70,000 people died from ‘tobacco-attributable’ causes that weren’t cancer, more than died from cancer? If that’s so perhaps you should explain.

  • reply
    Amy Warnock
    4 October 2023

    Hi Mike,

    Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Our claim that tobacco kills one person every five minutes is based on an estimated 125,000 deaths caused by tobacco in the UK each year in 2019, as estimated by the Global Burden of Disease study. If you’d like to find out more about the Global Burden of Disease study you can do so here: https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd

    While adult smoking prevalence in the UK is currently 12.9%, smoking prevalence was much higher in the past, with up to 50% of the UK population smoking as late as the 1960s. Previous smoking history of UK residents is considered in these estimates as a potential causative factor.

    You’re correct in saying that the Global Burden of Disease study estimates that around 55,000 of the 125,000 tobacco-attributable deaths are cancer deaths. Tobacco plays a causative role in many other diseases, such as cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, these two causes account for an estimated 54,500 tobacco-attributable deaths in 2019.

    Hope this helps,
    Amy