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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.

Over the coming months GASP will address these complex issues and make observations and recommendations about each of them. Our focus will always remain true to our overriding aim:

To reduce the incidence of smoking amongst young people in Guernsey

These complex issues will require the approval and support of authorities and we believe that Guernsey will only become smokefree if the whole Guernsey community contributes. Put simply we think that anyone who has an impact on young people’s lives – for example parents, coaches, teachers or siblings - has an obligation to play his or her part.

Seven easy steps

So, in the first instance, our smokefree 2040 will focus on seven easy steps. These steps are intended to:

· Show young people that smoking is not a normal activity

· Remind young people that the overwhelming majority of the island want Guernsey to be smokefree by 2040.

None of these steps will require legislation, nor will they be costly to implement, but their implementation will mark a huge advance in helping young people turn away from cigarettes:

1. Stop smoking in the dugouts

Ask young people and they will tell you that among their biggest influences and role models are the coaches and volunteers who help them progress in sport. In Guernsey we are fortunate to have hundreds of volunteers who give up their time to coach and train youngsters. Most will be too modest and unassuming to recognise that they are role models to young people but they certainly are, and that’s why we are asking them not to smoke in dugouts or on the touchlines at matches where children are watching or playing football.

2. Talk about smoking

Smoking is a controversial topic and, sadly, the tobacco industry is responsible for spreading much misinformation. It can be a difficult topic to discuss but we firmly believe that young people should have the opportunity to find out the real facts about smoking and to debate them. For that reason, and with the support of generous sponsors, we have produced a booklet of learning materials that we will be circulating to youth organisations so that youth workers and club leaders can debate all the issues of tobacco and smoking.

3. Wear your sticker with pride

We will be producing and distributing more car stickers so that we can make a very public show of our desire to ban smoking in cars when children are present.

4. Let us hear your views

We want to encourage a Guernsey conversation about how to make the island smokefree by 2040. We want to work with all sectors of the community, smokers and non-smokers alike, to take a pragmatic route to being smokefree. Over the next year we will make public our views about issues such as the cost of cigarettes, the legal framework that is needed to protect young people from smoking and the most effective ways of helping young people not to smoke or how to give up once they have started.

5. Retailers to stop under-18 shopworkers from selling cigarettes without adult supervision

Shopkeepers who sell tobacco products can play their part in helping Guernsey become smokefee. Over the next few months we will return to the issue of managing the supply and demand of tobacco.But we are asking all retailers to make the same arrangements for selling cigarettes as they do for alcohol. When shopworkers are under 18 years, then they should only sell cigarettes with the approval of an adult.

6. Sign up as a smokefree 2040 supporter

The response that we have received to our smokefree 2040 has convinced us that all sectors of the community, especially those who have contact with young people, are in accord with our intentions and supportive of our aims. Now we need to demonstrate that Guernsey is behind us so that young people can see that the island is supporting them in going smokefree. Over the next few months we plan to capitalise on the good will towards our campaign and form a smokefree 2040 supporters group where families, clubs and organisations will sign up to becoming smokefree supporters.

7. Listen to young people

The recent Guernsey Young People’s Survey has demonstrated that young people believe that children should live in a society free from tobacco. This campaign is all about the future and, of course, it will be young people who will have to live with the actions that we take today for tomorrow’s Guernsey. That is why we will be aiming to share the views of young people in the coming months.

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

Alun Williams, Chairman of GASP.