1,000 East Lancs smoking deaths a year (From Lancashire Telegraph)

1,000 East Lancs smoking deaths a year

6:40pm Thursday 19th November 2009

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UP to 1,000 people die from smoking each year in East Lancashire, it has been revealed.

The 2009 Local Health Authority Profiles show that 700 people die each year from smoking in the NHS East Lancashire area.

In the NHS Blackburn with Darwen area, 241 people die from smoking-related conditions, while 169 people die each year in the Chorley area.

This amounts to 21 deaths each and every week across East Lancashire and Chorley.

But public health chiefs hope new laws to remove cigarettes from display in shops and to remove all cigarette vending machines will help reduce these shocking figures.

The new tobacco legislation “to protect future generations” will come into effect for large retailers in 2011 and small retailers in 2013.

At present, 22 per cent of 14 to 17-year-olds already smoke, according to figures from Smokefree North West.

Health campaigners across the region celebrated as the Health Bill 2009 was passed last week in the House of Lords.

NHS East Lancashire’s head of public health development, Janet Walton, said: “This certainly can be seen as progress. It’s also a reflection of the amount of public support the Bill has received.

“In East Lancashire, there are at least 941 smoking-related deaths a year and it is known that many more suffer as a result of smoking. It remains the single biggest preventable cause of premature death.

“If we want to cut the number of adults suffering from smoking-related illnesses we must reduce the number of young people taking up smoking.”

How to implement the new measures will be debated by Parliament in the New Year.

In East Lancashire, there are 178 smoking-related deaths in Burnley, 155 in Hyndburn, 156 in Pendle, 117 in Rossendale and 94 in the Ribble Valley.

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