UK: More Smokers Take to Rolling Their Own

Source from:  This is Bristol (UK)  08/16/2013

THE number of smokers smoking hand rolling tobacco has increased from one in three in 2010 to more than one in two this year across the South West, according to a new survey.

The survey reveals that the increase in these figures is due to smokers swapping manufactured cigarettes for hand rolling tobacco – often in the mistaken belief that it is less harmful.

The findings come from a survey of 2,000 people earlier this year, commissioned by Smokefree South West about tobacco use in the region.

Fiona Andrews, director of Smokefree South West, said: "The survey exposes a worrying change. We believe the switch from cigarettes to hand rolling tobacco is likely to be driven by the economic climate but with the majority of smokers now smoking some hand rolling tobacco, it's vital to ensure they have the straight facts on the dangers posed.

"There is no such thing as safe tobacco – the same manufacturers who make cigarettes such as the West Country's own Imperial Tobacco also produce pouches of rolling tobacco."

Since a Wise-Up to Roll-Ups campaign first launched in 2011, over 210,000 smokers in the South West claim to have cut down their tobacco use or taken steps towards quitting.

Barbara Janke, assistant mayor for health and social care at Bristol City Council, said: "As the purse strings tighten the use of hand rolling tobacco is going up, however although it may appear to be a cheaper alternative, smoking hand rolling tobacco remains as dangerous and deadly as any other form of tobacco, something many people are still largely unaware of."

Janet Maxwell, the council's director of public health, said: "Hand rolling tobacco presents exactly the same kinds of health risks to smokers as manufactured cigarettes, such as tumour, blindness, impotence, lung disease and even dementia." Enditem