Calls for smoking ban to be extended

A smoking exclusion zone should be established around pubs, bars and schools, according to a report from the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH).

The report is calling for public confusion over nicotine to be addressed as a way of encouraging smokers to use safer forms of the substance. This would mean extending the smoking ban to beer gardens, al fresco dining areas and parks as means to encourage people to use nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), such as e-cigarettes.

Pembrokeshire Council in Wales already have proposals backed to ban smoking in parks, sports grounds, playing fields, car parks and beaches.

Shirley Cramer CBE, Chief Executive of RSPH, said: 'Over 100,000 people die from smoking-related disease every year in the UK. While we have made good progress to reduce smoking rates, 1 in 5 of us still does.

'Getting people onto nicotine rather than using tobacco would make a big difference to the public's health – clearly there are issues in terms of having smokers addicted to nicotine, but this would move us on from having a serious and costly public health issue from smoking-related disease to instead address the issue of addiction to a substance which in and of itself is not too dissimilar to caffeine addiction.'