Campaign launched to dispel myths of ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ hand rolling tobacco

A campaign has been launched to dispel the myths of ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ hand rolling tobacco, as it is revealed that more South West smokers roll their own cigarettes.

More people are smoking hand rolling tobacco than manufactured cigarettes in the South West, but many are unaware that although hand rolling tobacco is often marketed as less harmful than manufactured cigarettes, it carries the same serious health risks.

The South West Campaign, launched by Smoke Free South West with support from Devon County Council aims to bust the myths around ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ hand rolling tobacco.  New high impact billboards to go up around the region to raise the awareness of the damaging effects of smoking hand rolling tobacco which can cause blindness, tumours and dementia.

The number of smokers smoking hand rolling tobacco has increased from 1 in 3 (36%) in 2010 to more than a half (53%) of all smokers in 2013 across the South West, according to a new survey.

The survey reveals that the increase in these figures is due to smokers swapping manufactured cigarettes for hand rolling tobacco – often in the mistaken belief that it is less harmful.

The findings come from a survey of 2,000 people earlier this year, commissioned by Smokefree South West about tobacco use in the region.

Fiona Andrews, director of Smokefree South West said: “The survey exposes a worrying change. We believe the switch from cigarettes to hand rolling tobacco is likely to be driven by the economic climate but with the majority of smokers now smoking some hand rolling tobacco, it’s vital to ensure they have the straight facts on the dangers posed.

“There is no such thing as safe tobacco – the same manufacturers who make cigarettes such as the West Country’s own Imperial Tobacco also produce pouches of rolling tobacco.”

“Whilst roll-ups can appear cheaper, the cost to health of smoking roll-ups is just as high and they should not be seen as a healthier option to manufactured cigarettes.

“It is not surprising such a misconception exists however as hand rolling tobacco packaging often portrays the product as a healthier option, featuring images like green and yellow leaves as well as wording like ‘natural’. In fact hand rolling tobacco contains the same deadly chemicals as manufactured cigarettes and as it can be smoked without a filter, can actually be more dangerous for the smoker.”

Since the Wise-Up to Roll-Ups campaign first launched in 2011, over 210,000 smokers in the South West claim to have cut down their tobacco use or taken steps towards quitting.

This year, Smokefree South West is introducing hard hitting billboards across the region putting the  spotlight on serious damage and disability smokers may not realise are associated with smoking, including blindness and dementia.

Councillor Andrea Davis, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing,  said: “As the purse strings tighten the use of hand rolling tobacco is going up, however although it may appear to be a cheaper alternative, smoking hand rolling tobacco remains as dangerous and deadly as any other form of tobacco, something many people are still largely unaware of.

“The public health campaign, ‘Wise-Up to Roll-Ups’ dispels the myths that hand rolling tobacco is more ‘natural’ and so less harmful than manufactured cigarettes and offers practical, straightforward information to local people through Wise Up pouches .”

Dr Virginia Pearson, Devon’s Director of Public Health said: “Largely due to the way hand rolling tobacco is marketed, many roll-up smokers believe that smoking in this way is a healthier and more natural alternative. Perhaps because smokers feel they can control the amount of tobacco they smoke in a roll-up by putting less in each roll-up there is also a feeling that they are minimising the health risks associated with smoking.

“There is a myth that smoking roll ups is somehow a ‘healthier’ option to smoking cigarettes bought in packets, which is simply not true. In the South West, research showed some smokers even thought it might be ‘organic’.  In fact, smoking hand rolling tobacco still exposes the smoker to over 4,000 chemicals as well as to the serious, life threatening diseases associated with smoking.

“Hand rolling tobacco presents exactly the same kinds of health risks to smokers as manufactured cigarettes, such as tumour, blindness, impotence, lung disease and even dementia.”

Nationally, of those children aged 11-15 who do smoke, 1 in 3 (35%) boys smoke hand rolling tobacco as opposed to 1 in 5 (15%) girls. This contrasts with 31% of boys and 45% of girls who smoke manufactured cigarettes. This suggests that especially for boys, hand rolling tobacco acts as an entry product for young people to start smoking.

Anyone considering quitting smoking can get a free pouch containing information about hand rolling tobacco and tools to help quit by texting WISE4 to 81066 or going to the website.