Harmful effects

In a new survey, almost nine in every ten (89 per cent) didn’t know tobacco and alcohol combined increases the risk of mouth cancer by up to 30 times. Most thought smoking and drinking to excess doubles the risk (44 per cent), placing a significant amount of people at risk from a disease that kills one person every four hours in the UK.

To combat growing mouth cancer rates, oral health charity the British Dental Health Foundation, organisers of Mouth Cancer Action Month, has called on the Government to introduce standardised packaging and minimum alcohol pricing immediately, calls the general public also appear to back.

More people die from mouth cancer each year than from cervical and testicular cancer combined, and more worryingly the disease is one of a few cancers set to increase in the next ten years.

Half of people questioned support calls for standardised packaging, while more than three in ten (31 per cent) support calls for minimum alcohol pricing. Both issues were discussed by MPs this year, but both plans were shelved, much to the dismay of health campaigners.