AN extra 2,000 people quit cigarettes last year in Greater Manchester because of the ban on smoking in public a year ago.
In total 15,000 people across Greater Manchester quit smoking between April and December 2007 in the run up to and months after the smoking ban was introduced on July 1 last year - a 20 per cent increase on the same time the previous year.
A new survey of almost 2,000 people reveals almost two thirds of people in the region believe they have been exposed to less second -hand smoke since the ban and 83 per cent of people questioned supported it.
More than half of people who took part in the poll said the change in the law had been effective in making people quit.
Pat Karney NHS director of smoke free Greater Manchester said: "These stunning levels of support for the new smoke free laws are a tremendous tribute to the public of Greater Manchester in changing their behaviour improving their awareness of the dangers of smoking.
Saving the lives
"Given the weather we have in Greater Manchester its not easy to go outside to smoke on many occasions but on every single occasion you step outside you are saving the lives of staff inside."
People who contacted the
NHS
services for help were asked what had made them quit and more than 2,000 said it was down to the ban.
Peter Elton director of public health for Bury said: "More than 2,000 of the people who quit through our stop smoking series are because of the Ban.
"The day they quit that start saving their lives.
"Across Greater Manchester year on year there has been over a 20 per cent increase in people quitting our services so we are pleased that all the messages are getting through."
Erica Kinniburgh, stop smoking co-ordinator for Salford which has seen one of the biggest increases in quitters this year - almost 5,800 setting a quit date rather than the 4,600 they would expect - said: "We have worked very hard - all the GP practices are involved and 80 per cent of the community pharmacies.
"We definitely had more people coming to us after the ban - people who wanted to give up used it to set themselves a target."
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for advice on how to stop smoking.
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Cigs ban leads to 2,000 quitting
June 30, 2008
Showing comments 1 to 7 and replies | View All
Nelly's Patch, Cheadle Hulme (30/06/2008 at 09:30)
SR (30/06/2008 at 10:20)
Defiant, salford (30/06/2008 at 10:24)
Councillor Allheart, in a black cab (30/06/2008 at 11:47)
pass the sick bag Alice.
polkyb (30/06/2008 at 15:49)
There should be a license as there is for serving alcohol whereby establishments can allow smoking when in possesion and are banned when not. This would allow the councils and breweries to cater for both smokers and non smokers fairly.
Fairness and New Labour very rarely get used in the same sentence, unless accompanied by a negative. :-)
JJBimmer, Channel Isles (30/06/2008 at 16:11)
The dangers of smoking are real but slight. You're more likely to contract any cancer from your family tree (genetics) than wether or not you smoke.
The NHS are now spending a fortune 'promoting' their Quit service when that money would be better spent addressing the higher dangers of your health being damaged on admission to an NHS hospital.
NHS management is so incompetant you've a 1 in 3 chance now of getting damaged by an NHS hospital other than the problem you were admitted for!
NHS managers have banned smoking inside hospitals ( smokey air has no health danger) and even from premises (over 50% of NHS do not support this draconian measure). The NHS are building a well deserved reputation for inept management, a draconian workplace and a dangerous place for your health.
The NHS Quit programme is also potentially lethal. It promotes Pfizers quit drug which has caused suicides and has over 3,000 detailed side-effects including heart seizures, muscle seizures (causing traffic accidents) and mental depression.
Mr Karney says "These stunning levels of support for the new smoke free laws are a tremendous tribute to the public of Greater Manchester in changing their behaviour..."
Well the reality (as apposed to the NHS half-truth) is smoking is increasing. Ireland has seen an increase of 2% engendered by a ban that drives smokers out of Pubs and Clubs and their non-smoking friends joining them for a puff not to be left out.
Over 2,000 pubs, clubs and bingo halls have now closed and 10,000 staff lost their jobs. These are the people Mr Karney is so proud of "protecting".
The dangers of a smokey room are a fraud. There's no danger to passive smoking as the biggest studies into this issue have demonstrated. Mr Karney like the NHS is living on another planet! What a waste of a health service.
mulluski9, cambridgeshire (30/06/2008 at 18:45)