Britain still locked in intense battle against smoking

Before the RCP report in 1962, over 70 percent of men and 40 percent of women were smokers in Britain, with little knowledge of the danger of smoking.

"In the 50 years since the publication of Smoking and Health, prevalence has declined by an average of less than 1 percent of the population per year, reaching around 22 percent in men and 20 percent in women by 2009," said Martin Jarvis, Emeritus professor of health psychology from the University College London.

Part of the policy measures was also adopted by the world's first health treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control by the World Health Organization (WHO), he added.

During the last 50 years, a series of measures were adopted in Britain against smoking, including the legislation passed in 2002 to end direct and indirect advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco enterprises and the rise of legal age of tobacco purchase in England from 16 to 18 years old in 2007.

However, in Britain some 10 million people are still addicted to smoking.

Andrew Lansley, the British Secretary of State for Health pledged at the symposium that more are to be done, noting that "two groups will be particularly targeted, the pregnant women and the underage."

"We will reduce the smoking rate among pregnant women from 14 percent to 11 percent by 2015," he said, while reiterating that tobacco displays in supermarkets and other shops will end in 2015.

Meanwhile, he disclosed consultation on plain tobacco packaging is to be published soon, which would enable Britain "the first country in Europe to give that idea serious consideration."

Also a marketing campaign on the danger of second-hand smoking is to be launched next year led by television, Lansley said. "We have to encourage as many smokers as possible not to expose their families to smoke, particularly children."

Yet in spite of the achievements and the efforts, experts at the symposium believed more should be done.

James Sargent, professor of pediatrics in the Dartmouth Medical School pointed out that entertainment media represent the last stand for pro-imagery in countries like Britain which have strong tobacco marketing regulations.

"Recent data demonstrate that 59 percent of the most popular contemporary