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GASP is a local charity that aims to reduce the level of smoking among the young people of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Since 1997, we have carried out various successful campaigns which have led to a drop in the level of smokers. 81 % of Guernsey people are NON-smokers. One of our greatest success stories is contributing to the implementation of the ban of smoking in public places on the 2 July 2006.

Our role involves an active presence in the Islands’ schools and youth services, organising our own events and maintaining a high profile with all sections of society.

Our vision for the future is that of a society where children can get relevant information about the harm done by cigarettes and they can choose to breathe clean air.

Message from the Chairperson

I am very pleased to welcome you to the new GASP website. At GASP we take communicating our message very seriously, not least because we have to respond to the aggressive, flawed marketing campaigns of the tobacco industry. So we have invested in a new website that is packed with information about the truth about tobacco and how GASP goes about its job of reducing the numbers of young people who smoke in Guernsey.

I have been chairperson of GASP for the past ten years and for that decade it has been a privilege to see our charity flourish and prosper. I believe that we have in place all the ingredients to continue to be successful and to help even more young people turn away from smoking:

•    We have an excellent new team in Vidya and Kate who are becoming increasingly effective in getting the smokefree message across to the island’s youth

•    We work with a range of partners whose advice and support is so invaluable. For example, Amanda Evans, PSHE and Citizenship adviser, Yve Le Page and her team at the Health Promotion Unit, Dave Le Feuvre, Head of the Youth Service and Andrea Nightingale, Manager of the island’s Drug and Alcohol strategy have all been instrumental in shaping our approach to tobacco education.

•    All sectors of the community have also worked with us to promote our message. Commercial organisations, charities and voluntary organisations, sports clubs, the island’s schools and health establishments have all worked with us in our initiatives and activities

•    The island is fortunate to have a generation of positive, confident generation of young people, supported by responsible parents, who have worked with us to resist the urge to smoke.

 

We would like Guernsey to be Smokefree by 2040 

  

·        At GASP we are convinced that curbing the use of tobacco so that Guernsey becomes smokefree will have the single greatest significant impact on public health in Guernsey and it is perfectly achievable. 

 

 ·        The tobacco industry has attempted to present cigarettes and tobacco as a permanent feature of society.  They are not.  Cigarettes, as a manufactured product, have only been in existence for just over 100 years.  Smoking is a social epidemic that can be turned around.

 

 ·        The benefits of moving communities away from smoking are well documented. Tobacco use, in any form, is deadly. Smoking kills one-third to one-half of all lifetime users. Smokers die on average fifteen years earlier than non-smokers. Tobacco also causes death and illness through second-hand smoke.   

 

Guernsey’s six-step plan to a smoke-free Guernsey by 2040

 

Step 1 – As part of the deliberation of the 2020 vision debate HSSD should undertake a review of the full costs to Guernsey of tobacco.

 

Step 2 – The HSSD and other key stakeholders in the community should debate whether they wish to support GASP’s call to make Guernsey smokefree by 2040.

 

Step 3 – If there is an endorsement of the smokefree commitment Guernsey should commit itself to supporting those international organisations that are proposing the goal of 2040 for a world ‘essentially free from tobacco, where less than 5% of people use tobacco’.  This would include support at the UN high-level meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases to be held in New York and support for the implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).  FCTC will ensure a world-wide approach to tobacco control.

 

Step 4 – Increased liaison with counties such as New Zealand and Finland to share strategies for introducing a smokefree community by 2040.

 

Step 5 – The establishment of a ‘smokefree Guernsey by 2040’ group whose aim is to report back periodically on the progress to the 2040 target.

 

Step 6 – Presentation of the legislation to the States of Deliberation to continue to protect Guernsey from the perils of smoking and second-hand smoke.  The priority will be the introduction to ban smoking in cars where children are passengers.

 

You will see in this website that we have many ideas about how to build on our smokefree strategies. Recently we were described as global leaders in the reduction of smoking amongst young people. We were very proud of that accolade but quickly realised that becoming smokefree has been an island-wide initiative so thank you to everyone who has supported our cause. 

We welcome your comments on our work at GASP so please contact us.

 

 Alun Williams, Chairman of GASP.