Outlaw smoking completely by 2055.

If today, a substance came for market approval that would cause 80,000 death a year (source: NHS), we would quite rightly deny this product and even classify it illegal. Then why do we still allow smoking.

We know all the negative effects it does to the body;

• Thickens the blood, increasing the chances of deadly blood clots occurring
• Increases your blood pressure
• Increases your heart rate
• Increases your risk of suffering both a heart attack and a stroke
• Increases your risk of coronary heart disease
• Damages your blood vessels, including the arteries that supply blood to your brain
• Lowers your oxygen saturation level due to inputing carbon monoxide into your bloodstream
• Increases your chance of stomach ulcers
• Increases your chances of developing cancer, especially lung, oesophageal, mouth, stomach and kidney.
• Skin deterioration - greying of the skin, shrinking around the eyes and cheeks and cellulite in the skin, along with yellowing of the teeth, nails and also gum disease.
• Can cause bones becoming weaker and brittle, leading to osteoporosis
• Increased chance of a brain aneurysm
• Lungs can develop pneumonia, emphysema and COPD
• Reduce fertility in women and cause impotence in men
• Also leads to increase risk of developing testicular cancer in men and cervical cancer in women.
  If a woman smokes whilst pregnant, it can lead to miscarriage, premature birth, stillborn and increase the risk of cot death by >25%
  (All sourced from NHS website)

And this has the further implications of not just affecting those who directly smoke, as we are all aware of the passive smoking implications for those of us who just happen to be around.

Cancer Research states that smoking costs our NHS £2.5billion every year, and a further £8.5billion to our economy (Source: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/sites/default/files/economic_case_for_local_investment_in_smoking_cessation_printed_version.pdf

Surely we should be making the bold move to outlaw all smoking within the United Kingdom by 2055.