Quit smoking campaign targets roll-up cigarettes

Smokers turning to roll-ups are being warned they harm the body just as much as manufactured cigarettes.

Public health officials found that the proportion of male smokers using hand-rolled cigarettes had more than doubled from 18% in 1990 to 40% in 2013. The proportion of female smokers smoking mainly roll-ups went from 2% to 23% in the same period.

A new campaign by Public Health England (PHE) warns smokers of the damage caused by their habit. Hard-hitting short films and billboard ads will show the damage done by cigarettes to the brain, bones and muscles, teeth and eyes.

Current smokers are 59% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and 53% more likely to suffer cognitive impairment, according to PHE. They have a 79% higher risk of chronic back pain, a 25% increased risk of bone fracture and a 40% higher risk of breaking a hip. They also have an increased risk of age-related macular degeneration and cataracts.

Prof Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, said: “Significant numbers of smokers are now using roll-ups without realising that gram for gram of tobacco they are just as unsafe as ordinary cigarettes. The research we have got suggests that people think it’s safer to smoke a roll-up up but they are wrong, it is not safe. No tobacco is safe and gram for gram it is as harmful as ordinary cigarettes.

“This is our third hard-hitting campaign. The first was about cancer, the second was about heart attacks and strokes, and this one is about the general rot that tobacco does to your body. We have evaluated the other two campaigns and they have had real impact on the public and that has then fed through into orders for quit kits and people stopping smoking.”

Although smoking rates have declined to a record low of 18.4% this year, the habit is still the biggest cause of preventable illness and premature death in the country, killing almost 80,000 people a year in England. One in every two long-term smokers will die prematurely from a smoking-related disease unless they quit.

One PHE advert shows a father taking two children to a playground before sitting down to roll himself a cigarette - using rotting flesh rather than rolling tobacco. Digital and print billboards will feature a roll-up cigarette full of decaying tissue, and the tagline: “Every cigarette rots you from the inside out.”

Davies said: “Whilst many smokers know the damage cigarettes do to their hearts and lungs, they are much less likely to be aware of how harmful smoking is to the body – essentially ‘rotting’ it from the inside out, and roll-ups are no exception.

“January is a time when many people make new year’s resolutions to improve their health and try to stop smoking. Millions of people have used Smokefree support and we are hoping that this year even more will take advantage of the free expertise and resources on offer.”