Rise in stubbing out smoking
THE amount of people attempting to give up smoking in the past year has more than doubled, it has been revealed.
Figures released by the Department of Health show during 2007/08, 21,476 people set themselves a date to quit, an increase of 7,681 on the previous year.
The Department of Health offer a smoking cessation service through which the figures were compiled.
On a negative note, government statistics also show within four weeks of 'giving up', over half of those found it difficult to curb their addiction and had began smoking again.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael McBride welcomed the report.
"We know the vast majority of smokers want to give up smoking, and I welcome the 56 per cent increase on the previous year in the number of people who set a quit date through smoking cessation services," he said.
"This increase is particularly impressive given that we already experienced high levels of people kicking the habit in 2007 following the introduction of the smoke-free legislation.
"The momentum of the legislation is obviously still with us and that can only be a good thing for the health of the people of Northern Ireland," he added.
Meanwhile, in a cross-border conference in Enniskillen it was revealed 12 million illegal cigarettes worth over 3 million have been seized the PSNI over the past year.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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