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09/11/2004
Nothing passive about second hand smoke: report
The Health Promotion Agency (HPA) today launched a hard hitting public information campaign tackling the subject of passive smoking in Northern Ireland.
The campaign is the first such scheme in the province which aims to send out the clear message that there really is nothing passive about it – “passive smoking is harmful to health”.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Brian Gaffney, Chief Executive of the HPA, said: “For years research has shown that exposure to second-hand smoke not only worsens existing health problems but also directly harms health.
“For instance, passive smoking can increase your risk of lung cancer by 20 – 30%, heart disease by 25 – 35%, and stroke by 80%. The air in a room where people are smoking contains around 4000 chemicals, some of which are known to cause cancer, so the facts are clear – passive smoking is deadly serious.”
Meanwhile, in a stark BMA report, published today, doctors have chronicled individual stories behind the statistics to show how second-hand smoke destroys lives and health.
'The Human Cost of Tobacco' reveals how one person dies every two weeks in Northern Ireland due to inhaling other people's tobacco smoke; this figure increases to 1,000 when taken across the UK.
The report is a UK snapshot of the misery second-hand smoke brings. The examples given for Northern Ireland, as with the rest of the UK paint a disturbing picture.
(MB/SP)
The campaign is the first such scheme in the province which aims to send out the clear message that there really is nothing passive about it – “passive smoking is harmful to health”.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Brian Gaffney, Chief Executive of the HPA, said: “For years research has shown that exposure to second-hand smoke not only worsens existing health problems but also directly harms health.
“For instance, passive smoking can increase your risk of lung cancer by 20 – 30%, heart disease by 25 – 35%, and stroke by 80%. The air in a room where people are smoking contains around 4000 chemicals, some of which are known to cause cancer, so the facts are clear – passive smoking is deadly serious.”
Meanwhile, in a stark BMA report, published today, doctors have chronicled individual stories behind the statistics to show how second-hand smoke destroys lives and health.
'The Human Cost of Tobacco' reveals how one person dies every two weeks in Northern Ireland due to inhaling other people's tobacco smoke; this figure increases to 1,000 when taken across the UK.
The report is a UK snapshot of the misery second-hand smoke brings. The examples given for Northern Ireland, as with the rest of the UK paint a disturbing picture.
(MB/SP)
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Northern Ireland WeatherThis Evening and Tonight:Dry and bright at first but some areas of low cloud developing and spreading west through the evening and overnight. Cloudier in the south with a low risk of heavy shower here. Minimum temperature 8 °C.
