HC Deb 14 March 1972 vol 833 cc286-8
17. Mr. Pavitt

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what further steps he proposes to take to implement the report of his inter-departmental committee on smoking and health; if he will take into account the report of the Imperial Tobacco Company, information about which he has been sent by the hon. Member for Willesden, West; and if he will make a statement.

Sir K. Joseph

The Government expect shortly to reach conclusions on what further action may be necessary on smoking and health. I will make an announcement then. All relevant information will be taken into account.

Mr. Pavitt

Will the right hon. Gentleman acknowledge that the steps that we took in the House last year have now more or less been finished and have had no appreciable results? Hon. Members who smoke are probably past redemption, but the attack should be upon younger people. Therefore, will the recommendation on the sports events sponsored by cigarette manufacturers—which are aimed at, and attract, large numbers of young people—be one of the first parts of the inter-departmental report to receive his most earnest attention?

Sir K. Joseph

I have undertaken that that will be considered, but we must recognise that we are dealing with a very intractable appetite, and it is not easy to see ways of rapidly making an impression.

Dr. Stuttaford

Will my right hon. Friend do everything in his power to encourage the development of a safer tobacco substitute for use by those who are hopelessly addicted? Will he make representations to his right hon. and hon. Friends in the Treasury to see whether an adjustment in tax might aid this?

Sir K. Joseph

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will see my hon. Friend's comments. The new committee that the Government set up—the Scientific Liaison Committee, on which Government scientists and industry scientists sit together—is largely concerned with establishing criteria for just the innovation to which my hon. Friend refers.

Dr. Summer skill

Will the right hon. Gentleman cause to be published the tar and nicotine content of every marketed brand of cigarettes and have them printed on the individual packets? Will he consider imposing a statutory level of tar and nicotine content of cigarettes, as was recommended in the report of the Royal College of Physicians?

Sir K. Joseph

All these matters are part of the review that is now going on.

Mr. Fidler

Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind that some of us who smoke reject the suggestion that we are beyond redemption, or are involved in an incurable habit, while we fully support the steps already taken to draw attention to the hazards involved, and that we repudiate any suggestion of compulsion?

Sir K. Joseph

Yes, but I hope that my hon. Friend will follow up that supplementary question by setting a national example by himself giving up smoking.

Mr. James Hamilton

Will the right hon. Gentleman accept from one who does not smoke that we must note the amount of taxes received by the Treasury from the Imperial Tobacco Company and all other tobacco manufacturers? Will he also accept that the Government, irrespective of their colour, have a responsibility to see that the maximum amount of research is carried out, which means giving financial support to the tobacco companies for that research, to make smoking safer?

Sir K. Joseph

I believe that the companies, the industry, the universities and other laboratories are carrying out all the useful research that makes sense. I only wish that I were hopeful enough of what we can rapidly do to be worried about any large inroads into the revenue from smoking.