Public ‘does not trust tobacco firms on smoking reduction measures’

Contributions to the debate on reducing UK smoking rates from the tobacco industry are not treated with credibility, according to a new report.

According to data from the Cancer Research UK survey, 65 percent of the British public do not trust the sector to present believable and independent arguments about how to reduce smoking rates, while a similar proportion do not trust groups with financial links to tobacco companies.

Professional medical organisations and health and medical charities were identified as the bodies that the government should be paying attention to in their efforts to cut the number of young people smoking – an initiative that 85 per cent of the public support.

Measures being considered to achieve this goal include the introduction of restrictions on the type of packaging used by cigarettes and tobacco products.

Sarah Woolnough, Cancer Research UK's executive director of policy and information, said: "Plain, standardised packaging won't stop everyone from smoking, but it will give millions of children one less reason to start."

According to the charity, smoking causes one in four cancer deaths in the UK, killing five times more people than road accidents, overdoses, murder, suicide and HIV combined.