Maggie Throup, Member of Parliament for Erewash, attended the launch of the Delivering Smokefree Families report in Parliament this week. The report, authored by the Future Health Research and commissioned by Kenvue, found that there are an estimated 1.8 million households in England with children where someone smokes.
Smoking remains the single leading preventable cause of illness and mortality in the UK. By reducing smoking rates amongst families with children, as set out in the report, health inequalities will be tackled, and it will lessen the impacts of second-hand smoke in the home.
The event in Parliament celebrated the launch of the report and kick started the Smokefree Families Campaign.
Maggie said: “Throughout my Parliamentary career and as a Health Minister, I have highlighted why we need to tackle smoking and become smokefree by 2030. As Public Health Minister, I was delighted to be part of the team that commissioned Javed Khan to undertake his review on how we could go smokefree by 2030.
“The Government’s recent announcements of creating a smokefree generation and improving the support available to people to help them quit are some of the most significant public health interventions in a generation and represent great strides forward.
“However more action is needed to reduce the number of children born into smoking households. In the East Midlands there are over 150,000 households with children where someone is smoking. This can have a devastating impact on children’s health with many developing chest infections and other health conditions such as asthma.
“More needs to be done to support both women and their whole family to quit smoking and reduce the number of families where someone smokes. I welcome the recommendations in the Delivering More Smokefree Families in England report and fully support the Smoke Free Families Campaign.”
Maggie, a former Public Health Minister, contributed a Foreword to the Delivering More Smokefree Families in England report. A copy can be found by clicking here.