UK anti-smoking policies ‘comparable with sanitation reform in 19th century’

Sir Richard Peto said initiatives against smoking should be a worldwide effort. Photograph: fontgraf/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Public health initiatives on smoking in the UK are comparable in scale with the interventions made regarding clean water and sanitation in the 19th century, a leading expert has said.

Sir Richard Peto, emeritus professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at the University of Oxford, worked alongside the scientist Richard Doll, who uncovered a direct link between smoking and cancer 70 years ago on Wednesday.