Lincolnshire campaigner backs new tobacco law in tribute to wife who started smoking as a teenager
A Lincolnshire grandfather, who lost his wife to cancer after decades of smoking, is celebrating a landmark win in the fight to help protect generations of children from ever starting.
Nigel Burley, 70, from Bardney, understands the terrible toll of tobacco all too well, as his wife Kim smoked for over 30 years from her teens before dying from cancer of the ureter.
Now the Tobacco and Vapes Act will become law, the grandparent-of-three, who has campaigned with Cancer Research UK, is highlighting the life‑saving difference it could make – if fully implemented.
New figures from the charity estimate that almost 950,000 children growing up in the East Midlands today – and around 13 million nationwide – will never be legally sold tobacco in the UK as a result of the new law.
This historic moment is deeply personal for Nigel, who says being able to protect his three grandchildren from the damage caused by smoking “means everything.”
He explains: “Around 2,600 young people in the UK start smoking every week (according to Cancer Research UK figures). That’s terrifying. Kim smoked from her mid-teens and, after everything she went through, I’ve never been able to shake the fear that my grandchildren might start.
“Tobacco robbed my two children and three grandchildren of a major influence in their lives, and we feel her loss deeply. Her absence clouds every birthday, celebration or special occasion – not to mention all the ordinary, everyday moments we’ve missed out on enjoying together. It’s incredible to think that generations to come could be spared from a lifelong struggle with cigarettes and avoid similar heartache. The Tobacco and Vapes Act could help stop millions of children from ever starting to smoke.”
If the new law has the impact the UK Government hopes, by 2040, up to 10 million fewer cigarettes will be smoked each day in the UK, estimates Cancer Research UK.
This world‑leading legislation to phase out the legal sale of tobacco will apply to children born on or after January 1, 2009. Not only will it help to stop people developing a deadly addiction, the charity says it could also alleviate pressure on the NHS, prevent tens of thousands of cancers and help create the UK’s first ever smokefree generation.
Nigel hails it as a “major milestone in the mission to beat cancer.” In the past decade alone, smoking is said by Cancer Research UK to have been responsible for around 41,000 cancer cases in the East Midlands and more than 28,000 people in the region have lost their lives to cancer caused by tobacco.*****
Nigel’s wife, Kim, made several attempts to stop smoking over the years, but in 2018 came the hammer blow when, after spotting blood in her urine, she was diagnosed with cancer of the ureter – the tube that carries urine from the kidneys to the bladder.
Her surgeon told her smoking could have caused the cancer, even though Kim had stopped six years before. She had her ureter and right kidney removed and completed successful chemotherapy in early 2019. But that summer, as part of regular monitoring, what she thought would be a routine test found four tumours in her bladder, devastating the family. Kim received a number of different treatments over the next three years to try to keep the cancer at bay and was about to undergo radiotherapy when her health deteriorated. She went into hospital in May 2022 and passed away five weeks later, in June 2022. She was just 58.
Nigel said: “Like my wife, many people who smoke started when they were young and have tried to quit. It plagued her life.
“Anything that can be put in the way of my grandchildren to prevent them from smoking has got to be good. I know Kim would have been behind this law 100 per cent, because of what it could give them – and young people across the UK – the chance of a smokefree future. I’m hugely proud to have played a part in that in my wife’s memory.”
After helping to uncover the link between tobacco and cancer in the 1950s, Cancer Research UK has spent decades researching and campaigning for action to tackle its harms. The charity welcomes the Tobacco and Vapes Act while also highlighting the need for it to be fully implemented across the UK.