Government fails

This comes after today’s announcement from the Department of Health that standardised plain packaging of tobacco will be put on hold until the impact of the decision to do likewise in Australia can be measured.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “Obviously we take very seriously the potential for standardised packaging to reduce smoking rates, but in light of the differing views, we have decided to wait until the emerging impact of the decision in Australia can be measured, and then we will make a decision in the United Kingdom.”

The British Dental Health Foundation believes the Government has not only missed an opportunity to improve levels of health in the UK, they have also given in to tobacco lobbyists and in doing so, have jeopardised thousands of lives.

Nearly one in six adults in the UK smoke and more than half of all current smokers will die through a tobacco-related illness. Tobacco is still the largest cause of mouth cancer; a disease experts forecast will rise exponentially over the next decade.