The Positive Impact Of Smoking Ban

This campaign was introduced in the United Kingdom on July 1 2007 and it was agreed that smoking in all enclosed public areas is banned and this was due to the complaints from the concerned public that the second hand smoke was causing harm to those around and the high amount of exposure to the public from the second hand smoke was increasing their risk of contracting anything. Some of the health risks that are caused from smoking and passive smoking are nasal sinus cancer,respiratory systems(long and short term), the function of lungs are damaged and larynx cancer. The illnesses and risks from smoking has put strain on the NHS for many years now and this ban has taken away some of the pressure off them because people aren’t exposed to second hand smoking as much anymore since the ban was introduced.

One of the changes that happened from this campaign was that the public did follow the ban and fell into shape with the new law.

As you can see from the picture on the left, out of 590,155 of the buildings that the councils inspected 98.2% obeyed the new legislation of the ban and 89.3% had put up signs stating ‘no smoking in these premises’.

This ban has made a positive impact on the country as the risk of second hand smoke issues have decreased and only a small minority of the public are rebelling against and asking for designated rooms in certain places for the people who smoke in clubs and pubs etc.

Most pubs will have a smoking area now around the country but there are still some premises that have no smoking policies now which is unfair for those who do smoke and they deserve a place that they can smoke which I think will be fair however they can smoke outside where the public in that area can distance themselves from to avoid secondhand smoke.

After this ban was put in place the number of smokers in the UK decreased by approximately 17%, the rate was slowly decreasing before the ban was introduced but afterwards it decreased immediately which shows a positive impact of this law and it reduces the amount of people at risk of developing any health related issues due to smoke related causes.

Due to the ban in enclosed areas, the public saw no point in carrying on smoking because they spend most of their time in enclosed public areas they went from smoking all day to only smoking when finishing work or going home and this has helped them to quit whilst there are still more out there more hesitant to stop smoking. Not only is it the adults that have quit smoking, it is found to be that younger children have stopped too with decrease from 2001 to 2014 going from 18% to 5% of young adolescents smoking in the United Kingdom.

Since the ban has been placed in the UK, the attitudes from society have changed for the better. Meaning that people have taken this ban seriously and have let it help them with smoking. This ban pushed and encouraged people to quit smoking and 14% of the smokers in the UK did quit whilst it helped 20% cut down their amount that they smoked which is just as good because it leads them a step closer to being able to quit completely which will benefit their health and well-being.

This percentage of people have benefitted from the ‘no-smoking’ ban with their health and perceptions on how dangerous second hand smoke is and it is unfair that the ones who don’t smoke have to inhaled all the unhealthy and dangerous ingredients from the second hand smoke so it has changed people’s attitudes when it comes to the subject of smoking.

The number of women who smoked while pregnant had decreased since the ban was set in the United Kingdom.As the years went on from 2006-07 to 2016-17 the 15% of pregnant women who smoked went down to 11% in the space of ten years which is good however there are still people trying to get women to quit when they’re pregnant for their own health and for the unborn baby. Some policymakers have even considered giving women shopping vouchers as a financial incentive if they were to quit smoking as a sort of bribe which could work for some but others it may not because they may me long-term smokers and vouchers won’t be enough for them to quit.

Slowly over the years the deaths reported from hospitals due to smoking related causes has decreased at a minimum rate however since the smoking ban was introduced it has started to show a slightly faster decrease in deaths in men who smoke.

When the ban was introduced the adults and teenagers then had to adapt to those changes whilst teenagers who smoke now just accept the fact that they can’t smoke in enclosed public areas which shows a positive impact that the ban has made since being introduced into the United Kingdom.