PARENTAL SMOKING PUSHES KIDS INTO POVERTY
Smoking is not only
bad for your health; it also puts 400,000 children in poverty. Smoking places a
financial burden on low income families, suggesting that parents are likely to
forgo basic household and food necessities in order to fund their addiction,
according to UK research published in the open access journal BMC
Public Health.
This is the first UK
study to highlight the extent to which smoking exacerbates child poverty. The
findings are based on national surveys which estimate the number of children
living in poverty by household structure. In 1999, the UK government announced
a target to abolish child poverty by 2020, though this target is unlikely to be
met. It is therefore crucial to identify avoidable factors that contribute to
and worsen child poverty.
"Smoking reduces
the income available for families to feed, clothe and otherwise care for their
children living in low-income households. This study demonstrates that if our
government, and our health services, prioritized treating smoking dependence,
it could have a major effect on child poverty as well as health," says
lead author, Dr Tessa Langley from the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol
Studies at the University of Nottingham.
Smoking is an
expensive habit and one that impoverishes millions of people around the world.
In the US, smokers spend less on housing than non-smokers and recent research
in India showed that smoking cuts spending on food, education, and
entertainment.
This new study
estimates that 1.1 million children in the UK, almost half of all children in
poverty, were living with at least one parent who smokes. A further 400,000
would be classed as being in poverty if parental tobacco expenditure were
subtracted from household income.
In July 2014, the
weighted average price of 20 cigarettes in the UK was £7 (GB). Although many
smokers save money by opting for budget brands or switching to hand rolling
tobacco, the cost of their smoking is still a substantial drain on the budgets
of families living on low incomes. "The poverty threshold income level for
a two parent household with two children is £392. If both parents are smokers,
these households will be spending an average of £50 on tobacco per week, which
is a big drain on an already tight budget," says Tessa Langley.
This is a key opportunity
for the UK Government to take action to improve the lives of millions of
children. "Tobacco control interventions to encourage low income smokers
to quit, would not only improve health but also alleviate poverty," says
Tessa Langley. Future studies are needed to determine what families sacrifice
to sustain their habit, whether they do without fresh fruit or food in general;
heating bills or clothing. This would provide a better picture on the burden of
smoking in poor households.
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