subject: Why do you quit smoke? [print this page] Why do you quit smoke? Why do you quit smoke?
The Public Health Agency announces 4000 reasons to quit smoking. The mass media campaign will highlight the thousands of chemicals contained in one cigarette. Lead for tobacco control at the PHA, Gerry Bleakney, explains that each cigarette contains 4,000 chemicals and eventually inhaled into the body including ammonia, benzene, acetone and hydrogen cyanide which can be found in rat poison. It's time to stop smoking.
Even the line, the greatest cause of preventable death' should resonate to a greater extent with the smoking public but it does not. Interestingly, the more deprived areas have twice the amount of smoking related deaths such as cancer, strokes and heart problems. Bleakney explains that this is one of the main reasons for the gap in life expectancy between the rich and the poor.
Remembering that nicotine can be as addictive for some as heroin or cocaine, we can better understand the difficulty in giving up. We can even understand the denial that the addiction arouses as echoed in the recent comments of Charlotte Church who said that she would continue to smoke until she returns to her classical roots as she liked the depth that smoking gave her voice. This is a similar type of foolish denial to that which most addicted smokers walk around with; the I'll start tomorrow' or Things are just a little too stressful right now' excuses. Hardly in keeping with the responsibilities of a role model, Miss Church thrusts her opinions upon the impressionable young wannabe charlotte churches of today and undoes all of the positive work that a campaign like' 4000 reasons' endeavours to achieve.
Hopefully this campaign will frighten smokers into submission when they realise just what it is that they are inhaling. Three in four quitters, it is said, have given up without smoking cessation aids although among those who require a little help; Champix still rates highly and has the highest success rates of all of the aids.
