Anti-smoking campaigners have hailed a new report which found that tobacco control programmes can cut health care costs.

Ash Scotland's chief executive Sheila Duffy said the report in The Lancet belies the "myth" that the £960m tax revenue from tobacco sales helps to prop up the NHS.

She said: "The hard truth is that treating tobacco-related illnesses, lost productivity and other costs to the Scottish economy total £1.1bn.

"That's a net expense of £160m a year, on top of the terrible human cost to the lives and health of Scottish families."

The report outlines the benefits that Scotland has experienced since the introduction of smoke-free laws in public premises.

It stated: "Implementation of strong smoke-free laws has generally been followed by rapid decreases in hospital admissions for acute myocardial infarction.

"The average decline was 17% in the USA, Italy, Scotland, Canada, Ireland, France, England, and Argentina one year after the laws took effect and grew to about 30% after three years."

It added: "In Scotland, there was a 13% decrease per year in childhood asthma admissions after the introduction of a smoke-free law."

Risk factors

A meeting at the UN this month, featuring 34 heads of state, adopted the Political Declaration of the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs).

The declaration acknowledged the global effect of NCDs, particularly those that are most prominent: cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes.

It also recognised that these prominent diseases are "linked to common risk factors, namely, tobacco use, alcohol abuse, an unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and environmental carcinogens".

The Lancet report concluded: "Leaders who make a commitment to funding a global programme addressing these issues can be confident that there is good evidence showing that effective programmes not only reduce tobacco use and the attendant NCDs in the short term, but make an important contribution to curbing health-care costs and improving standards of living and human capital levels immediately, with increasing benefits over time."

Public Health Minister Michael Matheson said: "The introduction of Scotland's smoke-free legislation represented decisive action to improve our health as a nation and discourage people from smoking and I welcome this research which shows this approach is reaping benefits.

"Just this week government statistics revealed that virtually all boards have met and exceeded their three-year targets on smoking cessation.

"To stop smoking is one of the single most important actions someone can take to improve their health and we are taking further action to help dissuade a future generation of smokers and contribute to improving public health in Scotland."