SoylentNews

Appalbarry [soylentnews.org] writes:

In a sign that maybe there is hope for the survival of the human race, The Guardian reports [theguardian.com] that the number of cigarette smokers in the UK has dropped to less than 17%, the lowest number in half a century.

In 1974, over 50% of men in Britain were smokers; that had fallen to just 19.1% in England in 2015. Similarly, just over 40% of women smoked back then; last year it was only 14.9%.

There are now just 7.2 million adults in England who smoke. They are far outnumbered by 14.6 million ex-smokers. It is the first time that under 17% of the population are smokers and is down from the 19.3% seen as recently as 2012.

Interestingly the success rate for people trying to quit has jumped from 13.6% to around 20%.

Some of this may reflect the price of smokes [mysupermarket.co.uk] - which look to be between £8 and £10 ($13 US) for a pack of twenty. (Canadian prices are sitting around $9-10 CDN)

And, in the interest of what passes for "balance" these days, there are groups [freedom-of-choice.com] that will dispute the health risks of smoking tobacco.

Disclaimer: Smoked for twenty+ years, mostly plain Camels. Yummmm..... Quit cold turkey.

Original Submission