Almost 60 years after the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) report Smoking and Health, researchers from the University of Bath’s Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG) have contributed to a new report which reviews the UK’s progress in reducing smoking prevalence, and which sets out comprehensive recommendations for England’s forthcoming National Tobacco Control Plan. Prof Anna Gilmore, Director of TCRG, is a member of the RCP’s Tobacco Advisory Group which has published the report.

The UK Government has set out an ambition for England to be smoke free by 2030. While smoking rates have declined, modelling in the RCP report suggests that under current tobacco control policies, a smoking prevalence of less than 5% won’t be achieved until after 2050. The report identifies a number of areas where action should be taken to address this, from reforming tax policy and eradicating media promotion of smoking, to raising the legal age of sale for tobacco products, and silencing the voice of the tobacco industry.

The full report can be downloaded from the RCP website: Smoking and health 2021: A coming of age for tobacco control? | RCP London

Contributors to the report include Rob Branston, Phil Chamberlain, Anna Gilmore, Tom Hird and Rosemary Hiscock, who are all part of TCRG.