Ministers' Views on Tobacco Advertising - How theyhave changed!
26 June 2001
The Government has shelved legislation to ban tobacco advertising,legislation which was a manifesto commitment in both 1997 and 2001. Ministersnow say that this legislation has been lost because it is a lower priority thanother measures they want to bring in. However, ASH has put together thiscollection of quotations to show just how far Ministers have changed their tunein the last six months:
The Bill to ban tobacco advertising was introduced in December 2000.Ministers announced the new legislation with great enthusiasm:
Yvette Cooper, DoH Press Release, 14/12/00.
This bullishness continued when the legislationwas debated in Parliament. The following collection of quotations shows thevery high level of energy and commitment given by Ministers to seuringParliamentary approval for the Bill:
“We honour the commitments that we have made.The Bill will ban tobacco advertising and sponsorship in this country. It willdo so to protect public health, to safeguard children and to reduce healthinequalities.”
Rt Hon Alan Millburn MP, Sec of State for Health - 2ndreading debate, 22/1/01.
“Itis not an exaggeration to say that tobacco smoking is the biggest public healthproblem that the country faces. It is literally a public health disaster. I sayto the hon. Gentleman in all candour that this Government, unlike the previousone, are determined to do something about it.”
Rt Hon Alan Millburn MP, Sec of State for Health - 2ndreading debate, 22/1/01.
“There is little doubt amonginformed scientific and medical opinion that tobacco advertising andsponsorship is nothing less than a recruiting sergeant for children and youngteenagers to start the tobacco habit, and it is precisely to safeguard thesechildren and generations yet to come that we are introducing the ban on tobaccoadvertising and sponsorship.”
Rt Hon Alan Millburn MP, Sec of State for Health - 2ndreading debate, 22/1/01.
“TheTories ask for evidence [that advertising encourages people to smoke]. Itscreams out to them from the billboards across the country: advertising works,smoking kills. Where the previous Government failed to act, this Governmentwill now do so. We will act to protect children; we will act to reduce smoking;we will act to save lives.”
Rt Hon Alan Milburn MP, Sec of State for Health - 2nd ReadingDebate 22/1/01.
“Smoking kills. Advertisingand promotion of tobacco products imposes enormous costs on our health serviceand does enormous harm to the health of our nation. Its effects are felt mostacutely in the poorest parts of our country.
TheBill will not prevent individual choice, but it will prevent the tobaccoindustry from using its mighty financial muscle to advertise and promote aproduct that kills. For the sake of the children who will be tomorrow's victimsof lung cancer, coronary heart disease and other diseases, I commend the Bill”
Yvette Cooper, Minister for Public Health 2nd reading debate,22/01/01.
“Peoplehave a right to choose to smoke, but smoking is addictive, and they also have aright not to be pressurised by manipulative, seductive advertising intostarting to smoke. They have a right not to be bombarded with advertisementsand pressures not to give up smoking. “
Yvette Cooper, 3rd Reading debate, 13/2/2001.
“A comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising is part of the jigsaw thatwe are putting together to help to reduce the level of smoking in this countryand make a dent in the toll of death and ill health caused by tobacco use. Eachyear 120,000 of our fellow citizens die from smoking-related diseases. Thatcauses heartache and misery for many, many more. The Government are determinedto tackle this epidemic. I commend the Bill”.
Lord Hunt of King's Heath, 2ndreading debate (Lords), 28 March 2001.
When a General Election was called in May 2001 and the Bill lost,Ministers continued to express commitment to its urgent re-introduction, andplaced the blame squarely on the opposition:
Themajority of the British people, doctors and health professionals all want tosee this ban in place. It is the Tories and the tobacco industry who have doneeverything they can to block this.”
Yvette Cooper,
Indeed, Government enthusiasm for this legislation, and for tackling thepublic health consequences of smoking, is nothing new. In 1998. Ministerspublished the White Paper “Smoking Kills”, in which they pledged to reducesmoking. They also acknowldeged the harm caused by smoking:
“In Britain today,more than 120,000 people are going to die over the next year from illnessesdirectly related to smoking. And the year after that, and the year after that.Unless we all do something.”
Smokingis now the principal avoidable cause of premature deaths in the UK. It hits theworst off people hardest of all. It harms people who do not smoke. It harmsbabies in the womb. That is why the Government is determined to turn thingsround. We want to help existing smokers quit the habit and help children andyoung people not to get addicted in the first place”.
Rt Hon Frank Dobson MP, Secretary of Statefor Health,
In Parliament, Ministers have continued toinsist for some time that they treat an advertising ban with the highestpriority. In November 1999, Public Health Minister Yvette Cooper gave thefollowing answer to a Parliamentary Question.
In is extremely unfortunate, to say the least, that Ministers havechosen now to row back from the statements they have been making since theywere first elected in 1997.
ASH has written to Alan Milburn, Secretary of State for Health,summarising these Ministerial statements, and urging the Government to reconsidertheir decision to shelve the ad-ban.
