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Beating the Weed at Stormont
By Eilish Martin, 3/22/2002 11:01:03 AM
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A UCF team went to Stormont on No Smoking Day (13 March).
Our campaign to help people beat the weed was supported by several MLAs who visited our display stand in Parliament Buildings. They included Sports Minister Michael McGimpsey, Ivan Davis (Lagan Valley), Kieran McCarthy (Strangford) and Bob Stoker (South Belfast).
People were asked to throw full, partially full or even empty cigarette packets into a Quit Bin ? and similar bins will be in pharmacies throughout the province for the next four weeks.
For each packet, £5 is being donated to UCF funds by GlaxoSmithKline, makers of stop-smoking aid NiQuitin CQ and supporters of our entire NSD campaign.
Gerry McElwee, head of cancer prevention, said: ?We asked the MLAs to press the Government to fulfil its commitment to ban all tobacco advertising.
?Parliament Buildings is smoke-free and we also want the MLAs to support our campaign for a ban on smoking in all workplaces.?
No Smoking Day is part of our Combat Cancer Month activities in March.
Gerry adds: ?We hope that many people throughout the province who didn?t smoke on the day will stop for good and go on to enjoy the benefits of a much healthier lifestyle.?
Every year in Northern Ireland, smoking causes around 3,000 deaths from cancer and other illnesses.
Statistics show that while the number of men smoking has fallen from 31% to 26% in the last five years, the number of women smokers has increased, from 27% to 28%.
The problem is particularly worrying among women on low income, with as many as 50% smoking regularly.
There has also been a big increase in smoking among 15 and 16-year-old girls, with 34% of them smoking regularly compared with 18% of boys in the same age group.
UCF stop-smoking services include a helpline (028 9066 3281), a stop smoking group, help from nurse counsellors and support leaflets. There are also training programmes for health professionals ? such as doctors, dentists and nurses ? who want to help smokers to quit.
Mairead Tobin, NiQuitin CQ product manager, said: ?We are strongly encouraging smokers to support the Quit Bin campaign and to make the all-important decision to quit, which will ultimately improve both their health and their quality of life.
?The No Smoking Day campaign also recognises and supports the invaluable work carried out by the Ulster Cancer Foundation in supporting those who wish to break free of the smoking habit.?
NiQuitin CQ is the first and only smoking cessation product to combine an advanced 24-hour Nicotine Replacement Therapy patch with a personally-tailored, clinically proven, behavioural support package. This combined therapeutic approach has been clinically demonstrated to increase the success rate of quitting, improving on the NiQuitin CQ patch alone by a further 26%.
The NiQuitin CQ range now includes the new NiQuitin CQ 2mg and 4mg lozenge. Generally, NRT doubles a smoker?s chance of quitting - however, in one of the largest clinical trials of stop-smoking products, results showed that in more dependent smokers the NiQuitin CQ 4mg lozenge can triple a smoker?s chance of quitting compared to placebo.
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