Campaigners' plea to Government over impact of alcohol and tobacco on North East's health
![Colin Shevills of Balance.](https://www.sunderlandecho.com/webimg/legacy_ash_103768673.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&width=640&quality=65&enable=upscale)
![Colin Shevills of Balance.](/img/placeholder.png)
The call comes as pooled estimates show tobacco and alcohol-related illnesses together cost the region more than £1.6billion a year.
Alcohol cost the region £1.01billion in 2015-16 and tobacco £613million in 2017 through NHS costs, GP appointments, hospital admissions, crime and disorder, sickness, absenteeism and lost productivity among staff and social services support.
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Hide Ad![Ailsa Rutter, director of Fresh, Smoke Free North East.](https://www.shieldsgazette.com/webimg/legacy_ash_103768677.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&width=640&quality=65)
![Ailsa Rutter, director of Fresh, Smoke Free North East.](/img/placeholder.png)
Balance, the North East alcohol office, wants an end to alcohol tax breaks to ease the pressure on the NHS, police and other public services .
It says there should be a 2% above inflation increase in alcohol duty, and the introduction of minimum unit pricing for alcohol, like in Scotland.
Colin Shevills, director of Balance, said: “Cheap alcohol continues to wreak immense damage and places a huge burden on communities, the NHS and public services. We just cannot afford any more alcohol duty cuts.”
Fresh, the regoin’s dedicated tobacco control programme, is supporting a call from Action on Smoking and Health and the UK Centre for Tobacco & Alcohol Studies to increase tobacco tax from 2% to 5% above inflation.
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Hide AdThe organisation is also calling for a levy on tobacco manufacturers to pay more for the harm caused by smoking and help further cut smoking rates.
Ailsa Rutter OBE, director of Fresh, added: “Tobacco – whether it is legal or illegal - will kill one in two long term smokers, killing 78,000 people a year in England and 15 people a day here in the North East.
“Regions like the North East have had the heaviest smoking rates and we pay the highest price.”