Non smokers urged to stand up for their rights

On World No Tobacco Day the Health Promotion Agency is urging people in Northern Ireland to remember that most people here are non-smokers. The latest figures for adults show that 70% of the population do not smoke.

Dr Brian Gaffney, Chief Executive of the Health Promotion Agency said: "Sometimes it feels like nearly everyone smokes and we fail to recognise most of our population are non-smokers. It is therefore important to ensure that this minority activity doesn't affect our health or our children's health.

"Research shows that over the past decade the number of people smoking in Northern Ireland has gradually declined each year, which is good news. However, this means that 30% of our population does smoke and we must not become complacent in our efforts to encourage people not to start and to support those who wish to stop. We know that 75% of smokers want to stop but unfortunately, like non-smokers, they are often forced to be in smoking environments such as restaurants, cafes and bars. This is not only unpleasant for all of us but makes it more difficult for smokers to stop.

"The informed view is that breathing in other people's smoke is a risk to health. On World No Tobacco Day I would like to call for a clear commitment from the Government to push for smoke-free public places either through voluntary codes or enforceable legislation."

"There are many benefits to living in a smoke-free world, including fresher air, cleaner smelling clothes and hair and better tasting food, but most importantly there would be less illness and the risk of the serious diseases related to smoking, such as heart disease and cancer, would be greatly reduced.

Dr Gaffney continued: "If more people give up smoking it is important to remember that in order to survive, the tobacco industry has to recruit more smokers and the easiest ones to target are our young people. We therefore need to ensure that sales of cigarettes to under sixteen year olds are more tightly controlled and existing laws are more stringently enforced.

"Smoking is not the norm in Northern Ireland so we need to ensure that this is the message which is put across to young people. This age group typically wants to be seen as 'adult' and as non-smoking is the norm for adults here then we need to make it clear that not smoking is adult behaviour."

Dr Gaffney concluded: "In recognising that a lot has been achieved we need to continue to work together to meet three main aims; to protect the environment, to help smokers stop and to stop the recruitment of young people as tobacco industry fodder."

On World No Tobacco Day, a World Health Organization campaign, Northern Ireland should be celebrating the fact that almost 817,500 adults do not smoke and further work is needed to make this 1,600,000 and rising.

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