The Tobacco and Vapes Act – and how alcohol is being left behind

Guest(s):

Ailsa Rutter – Director of Fresh and Balance

Subject:

This month we're joined by Ailsa Rutter, Director of Fresh and Balance, the northeast England programme tackling tobacco and alcohol harm. Ailsa shares the deeply personal story behind her career – including nursing her father through smoking-related COPD after he became addicted as a child – and reflects on the history of tobacco control, from the 1962 Royal College of Physicians report to today's Tobacco and Vapes Act.

With the ‘smokefree generation’ sales ban edging closer (anyone born after 1 January 2009 will never legally be sold tobacco), we discuss why regulation on tobacco has moved so much further than on alcohol, the risk that alcohol harm gets overshadowed as attention turns to the Act, and why the northeast's hard-hitting health campaigns remain a rarity the rest of England hasn't caught up with.

"The big stark contrast between tobacco and alcohol is the absolute lack of national regulation, the lack of legislation there has been for alcohol.”