RCPI calls for Action to End Tobacco Harm in Ireland
New position paper outlines six key actions to deliver Ireland's Tobacco Free Future by 2035
Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in Ireland, claiming almost 100 lives each week, according to a position paper from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland’s (RCPI) Clinical Advisory Group on Smoking and E-Cigarettes.
The position paper is an urgent call to action from doctors on the front lines, who see the devastating effects of smoking daily. Smoking, the paper highlights, causes more harm than alcohol, drugs, and accidents combined. There are over 4,500 deaths each year from tobacco use, accounting for almost 1-in-6 deaths and almost 1,000 hospitalisations every week. 10 people every day are diagnosed with cancer caused by smoking. Doctors are calling for government action to bring tobacco harm in Ireland to an end.
Ireland has proudly led the world before in tackling tobacco harm. It can - and must - lead again.
The paper makes 6 calls for government action, and presents a detailed roadmap of 21 recommendations to deliver Ireland’s Tobacco Free Future.
- A New National Policy That Delivers a Tobacco Free Future by 2035
Establish leadership for a Tobacco Free Future by publishing a comprehensive policy and decisive action plan with strong governance, accountability, and cross-party consensus to achieve less than 5% smoking prevalence by 2035.
- Commit to a Tobacco Free Generation
Take children and young people out of harm’s way by legislating to end the sale of tobacco to future generations completely and align protections for children and young people across the island of Ireland.
- Reduce the Addictiveness, Attractiveness, Affordability, and Availability of Tobacco Products
Regulate for very low nicotine content in tobacco products, remove filters, ban all advertising, strengthen tobacco packaging rules to remove all marketing opportunities and maximise health warnings, use taxation effectively, and enforce retail licensing arrangements to reduce availability of addictive and deadly tobacco products.
- Stop Tobacco Industry Interference and Hold Them Accountable
Cut the tobacco industry out of policymaking completely, join global interference monitoring, and litigate to recover healthcare costs for reinvestment in stop-smoking care.
- Protect Children and Communities from Tobacco and Nicotine Products
Progress strong regulation of e-cigarettes and novel nicotine products and expand smoke-free spaces to protect everyone.
- Ensure Everyone Who Wants to Quit Gets the Right Support
Scale specialist stop-smoking care, expand free access to all recommended treatments, and invest in tailored services for pregnant women and disadvantaged communities.
Professor Paul Kavanagh, a member of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine and Chair of the RCPI Clinical Advisory Group on Smoking and E-Cigarettes, says Ireland is at a critical juncture in the fight against tobacco.
“Ireland led the way globally with the introduction of the national workplace smoking ban. But in recent years our progress has stalled with almost 1-in-5 people still smoking. It’s time for government to up its game and to focus on elimination of tobacco harm for once and for all,” Professor Kavanagh says.
Tobacco is a highly addictive and deadly product – it kills at least 1-in-2 people who use it exactly as intended by its manufacturers. It costs Ireland billions in healthcare and wider social costs, and it perpetuates cycles of poverty and illness.
“The statistics are stark, but these are not just statistics – they are people, many of whom would not be ill or dying if it was not for smoking or passive smoking. Most people who smoke wish they had never started and there is strong public support for meaningful government action.
“Today, we are setting out the solutions for government to what remains Ireland’s greatest public health challenge. Stalled reductions in smoking rates and the continuing scale of harm caused by tobacco products mean we have no time to waste. Ireland has led the world before in its efforts to tackle tobacco harm. It’s time to lead again. We are calling now for political leadership and action to implement these solutions and bring tobacco harm to an end for everyone.”
Find out more
Read the full position paper (PDF, 4.5MB)
Learn more about the Tobacco-Free Future campaign and how you can support it