Currently in the UK, the government has used fiscal measures on cigarettes such as high tax – on a typical pack of 20 premium cigarettes, the total tax burden of £6.17 accounts for 77% of the recommended retail price of £7.98, the government over the years have been trying to lower the rate of smokers in the UK and according to ASH statistics, the rate of smoking has lowered for all ages since 1978 which may suggest that the government policies have been successful but to a certain extent.
The smoke-free law was introduced to protect the health of workers from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke. The biggest health impact has been a drop in heart attack emergency admissions. This is described as the Montana effect as the drop in heart attack admissions can be linked to more regulations that has taken place in different places. Also researchers found a 10% reduction in premature births and severe childhood asthma attacks within a year of the policy which banned smoking in public places. Researchers calculated the rate of admission for any respiratory tract infection reduced by 3.5% immediately after the introduction of the smoking ban. It then continued to reduce by 0.5% each year. The biggest immediate reduction in admissions was for lower respiratory tract infection, which reduced by 13.8% this means that the smoking ban policy has benefited society as more people are healthier compared to before which means that the policies are successful.
Small UK shops will be forced to hide cigarettes. This will heavily impact small shops as according to the office of fair trading, tobacco accounts for 30% of all sales in the average newsagents. The British American Tobacco is the world’s second largest tobacco company which is based in Britain. They produced 667 billion cigarettes worldwide and reported an operating profit of £4,546 million, a decrease of 17.7% from