Now tobacco police want to swab your children to test for smoke
NHS experts call for saliva screening
CHILDREN should be tested for exposure to smoking as part of a massive crackdown on tobacco, say health experts.
Routine saliva tests could be carried out to find out how much they were being affected by second-hand smoke in the home.
A panel has also called for a smoking ban in parks and universities, and says tobacco should not be sold to under-21s.
The demands have been published in a report into smoking in Scotland.
The NHS Health Scotland document also calls for a minimum price on tobacco and says shops should be bribed not to sell cigarettes – or made to buy a licence if they do.
Making tobacco more expensive and less available should be ‘central’ to a new national tobacco strategy, along with stop-smoking campaigns, the report states.
Around one in five Scots smokes and levels, which have dropped in recent years, are now ‘static’ – prompting a search for new ways to tackle the issue.
But campaigners last night said that there was ‘no justification’ for the proposed measures.
The report was compiled by the NHS Health Scotland watchdog and public health body the Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy (SCPHRP), based at the University of Edinburgh.
Dr Garth Reid, principal public health adviser at NHS Health Scotland, one of the study’s authors, said: ‘Scotland’s health is improving, but the gap between the health of the best and least well off is widening.
‘Smoking causes over 10,000 deaths each year and is the biggest cause of preventable death in Scotland.
‘But it’s where we are born and the conditions in which we live that influence the likelihood of whether or not we smoke. Findings from this study highlight that changing the price and availability of tobacco could contribute to reducing health inequalities.’
The report took views from a panel of experts, including ‘policy makers, practitioners and researchers working in the field of tobacco control’.
‘Routine salivary tests for children to capture objective data on second-hand smoke exposure’ and raising the purchasing age to 21 are among a number of ‘suggested actions’ by the experts.
British smokers were hit with another price hike in yesterday’s Autumn Budget – 2 per cent over the rate of inflation – pushing the average cost of a pack of 20 cigarettes to more than £10.
But Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest, said: ‘Checking children’s exposure to second-hand smoke would be a gross invasion of privacy. What next? Could children be taken away from loving parents and into care just because their parents smoke?
‘There’s no justification for banning smoking in parks. The inconvenience of being exposed to a whiff of smoke in a public park is minimal and poses no risk to anyone’s health apart from the smoker. If you are old enough to be considered an adult, you are old enough to decide if you want to smoke.’
He added: ‘Making tobacco even more expensive would discriminate against those who are less well off. It will also fuel illicit trade by encouraging more smokers to buy tobacco illegally.’
Dr John Lee, head of policy and public affairs for the Scottish Grocers’ Federation, said: ‘There is massive competition in the convenience sector. To stay competitive, independent retailers have to offer as wide a range of product categories as possible – including tobacco – or shoppers will simply go elsewhere. If the intention is to impact on levels of smoking, then the consumer market for e-cigarettes should be allowed to fully develop.’
Public Health Minister Aileen Campbell said: ‘We welcome this study and the independent endorsement this provides to our tobacco strategy.
‘Our new Tobacco Strategy, to be published next year, will support more progress – including targeting smoking rates in communities where people find it most difficult to quit.’
‘Gross invasion of privacy’