Chris Whitty: Smoking likely to have killed more than Covid last year
The chief medical officer warned of smoking’s ‘very significant impact’ on hospitalisation - Dan Kitwood/PA
Smoking has probably killed more people than Covid in the same time period and places a severe strain on hospital services, Prof Chris Whitty has said.
In a lecture on the future of health trends, the chief medical officer said "a small number of companies" were killing people for profit.
Prof Whitty said almost no progress was being made in fighting lung cancer, and that smoking-related diseases killed around 90,000 people each year – more than the pandemic. He said most of those deaths were avoidable.
Speaking at Gresham College in London, he said: "Lung cancer is now the UK's number one killer in cancer. Almost one in five people will die from this.
"The reason that people like me get very concerned and upset about this cancer is it's almost entirely caused for profit. The great majority of people who die of this cancer die so that a small number of companies make profits from the people that have become addicted in young ages and then keep addicted to something which they know will kill them.
"Smoking is something that is one of the biggest causes of a very large number of diseases, of which lung cancer is only one, and the standard estimates are that over 90,000 deaths occur every year.
"So in this year and the last year it is likely that by the end of last year at least as many and probably more people will have died of smoking-related disease than of Covid. It also has a very significant impact on hospitalisation as a result."
The latest figures suggest that 14.1 per cent of those aged 18 smoke cigarettes – around 6.9 million people.
Prof Whitty's comments came as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) called for smokers to be given treatment to quit their habit unless they actively opt out.
In July 2019, the Government announced its ambition for a "Smokefree 2030", where the overall percentage of the population that smokes is five per cent or les. However, the RCP said this target may not be hit until after 2050 and suggested an opt-out system could double the uptake of quit smoking services.
In a new report, the RCP called for pregnant women to be given financial incentives to quit and radical price increases that would double the cost of cigarettes over five years. It also said the tobacco industry should be banned from lobbying the Government or MPs.
Prof John Britton, a member of the RCP tobacco advisory group, said: "Smoking is entirely preventable, but ending smoking requires us to go even further with the more familiar prevention measures.
"Doing this will prevent countless deaths, dramatically reduce the burden placed by tobacco use on health services and wider society, substantially reduce inequalities in health and, by alleviating poverty and improving health, contribute significantly to the levelling up of our society."
The chief medical officer warned of smoking’s ‘very significant impact’ on hospitalisation - Dan Kitwood/PA
Smoking has probably killed more people than Covid in the same time period and places a severe strain on hospital services, Prof Chris Whitty has said.
In a lecture on the future of health trends, the chief medical officer said "a small number of companies" were killing people for profit.
Prof Whitty said almost no progress was being made in fighting lung cancer, and that smoking-related diseases killed around 90,000 people each year – more than the pandemic. He said most of those deaths were avoidable.
Speaking at Gresham College in London, he said: "Lung cancer is now the UK's number one killer in cancer. Almost one in five people will die from this.
"The reason that people like me get very concerned and upset about this cancer is it's almost entirely caused for profit. The great majority of people who die of this cancer die so that a small number of companies make profits from the people that have become addicted in young ages and then keep addicted to something which they know will kill them.
"Smoking is something that is one of the biggest causes of a very large number of diseases, of which lung cancer is only one, and the standard estimates are that over 90,000 deaths occur every year.
"So in this year and the last year it is likely that by the end of last year at least as many and probably more people will have died of smoking-related disease than of Covid. It also has a very significant impact on hospitalisation as a result."
The latest figures suggest that 14.1 per cent of those aged 18 smoke cigarettes – around 6.9 million people.
Prof Whitty's comments came as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) called for smokers to be given treatment to quit their habit unless they actively opt out.
In July 2019, the Government announced its ambition for a "Smokefree 2030", where the overall percentage of the population that smokes is five per cent or les. However, the RCP said this target may not be hit until after 2050 and suggested an opt-out system could double the uptake of quit smoking services.
In a new report, the RCP called for pregnant women to be given financial incentives to quit and radical price increases that would double the cost of cigarettes over five years. It also said the tobacco industry should be banned from lobbying the Government or MPs.
Prof John Britton, a member of the RCP tobacco advisory group, said: "Smoking is entirely preventable, but ending smoking requires us to go even further with the more familiar prevention measures.
"Doing this will prevent countless deaths, dramatically reduce the burden placed by tobacco use on health services and wider society, substantially reduce inequalities in health and, by alleviating poverty and improving health, contribute significantly to the levelling up of our society."
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