Plans to have a 'smoke free generation' in Nottinghamshire were approved by councillors – but concerns were raised over the rising popularity of e-cigarettes.

In some areas of Nottinghamshire, up to 20 per cent of the population are smokers.

There is a new national push for people to give up smoking following the publication of a government-commissioned review which recommended a number of interventions to help England become smoke free by 2030.

One councillor described how his wife had died from lung cancer related to smoking during the Health & Wellbeing Board at Nottinghamshire County Council on October 12.

But some members of the board raised concerns that promoting e-cigarettes, or vaping, could cause an "epidemic" in the long term.

Public Health England says that e-cigarettes are at least 95 per cent safer than real cigarettes.

About 14 per cent of adults in Nottinghamshire smoke, which is just above the current average for England (13.9 per cent).

But the average varies widely across the county, rising to 19.8 per cent in Mansfield and 18.8 per cent in Ashfield with the lowest rate of 5.9 per cent in Rushcliffe.

In Ashfield 17.1 per cent of pregnant women smoke, and in Mansfield, that number rises to 19.2 per cent.

Smoking-related illnesses are estimated to kill 1,124 people in Nottinghamshire and approximately 1,000 young people take up the habit in the county each year.

Councillor Tim Wildgust of Newark and Sherwood District Council (Con) said: "Smoking is very close to my heart. I lost my wife through smoking, she died a few years ago.

"Lung cancer is a very complex illness. There isn't really a cure for it and it's traumatic to live through for both people.

"Nicotine is very addictive which is one of the things we tend to forget a lot. One of my concerns with e-cigarettes is that it is a nicotine substitute.

"It is potentially carcinogenic but a lot lower than smoking cigarettes.

"My concerns long term are trying to wean people off e-cigarettes. But my only hope is whatever we decide today, that if one person doesn't have to go through what I've gone through and my wife has gone through, then it's worth it."

Dr Thilan Bartholemeuz, NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire

Clinical Commissioning Group, said: "I think it's about two things we make sure we don't conflate.

"It's about harm reduction with using e-cigarettes, but my concern is we accidentally walk into another epidemic a few years down the line.

"I think we need to be more proactive on this agenda, with access to vapes and e-cigarettes and it should not be seen as a safe substitute for smoking."

Councillor Henry Wheeler (Lab) said he works with children and young people and has seen a rise in the use of e-cigarettes in the last four years.

He said: "When I was working with young people 21 years ago it was cigarettes that young people were smoking.

"My concerns stem around the fact that a lot of children and young people are now buying e-cigarettes from vape shops and are not being challenged about it.

"There has been quite a big growth with the number of young people taking up vaping.

"There's all sorts of health aspects that it could cause for children growing up."

Councillor Dr John Doddy, Chairman of the Health & Wellbeing Board at Nottinghamshire County Council, added: "There are no long-term statistics because it's not a long-term thing so we don't know what 30, 50 years has in store for us.

"Smoking is one of those things that's been around for an exceptionally long time and everybody understands the risks.

"Nottinghamshire is considered to be pretty good with 14 per cent smoking, but when you look geographically there is a significant difference between the people in Rushcliffe and those people up in Mansfield and Ashfield."

Jonathan Gribbin, Director of Public Health at Nottinghamshire County Council, said the best way to tackle addictions is to prevent people taking up smoking in the first place.

He said: "The sad fact is that in Nottinghamshire, each year there are still several hundred children and young people who start smoking.

"If we take a generational view on this, part a way up the mountain climb, it is worth looking back to see where you have come from.

"If you go back a generation, the harm caused by smoking was much greater than it is today

"There is a way to go but we shouldn't do it feeling in any way despondent."

Councillors unanimously approved the 'vision' to create a smokefree

generation for all communities in Nottinghamshire by 2040.

They also endorsed a statement on e-cigarettes which acknowledged they are are far less harmful than smoking "but are not without some risks".

Photo Credit: https://vaping360.com/