Doctors back campaign to help young smokers quit
21 January 2013
Doctors leaders have backed an advice and support service aimed at helping children as young as 11 quit smoking.
Launched by anti-smoking campaign group ASH Wales, The Filter aims to reduce the number of 11 to 15-year-olds in Wales who start smoking each year. The figure is currently 14,500. Among 15-year-olds in Wales, 14 per cent of girls and 9 per cent of boys regularly smoke.
BMA Welsh secretary Richard Lewis said: ‘This is a welcome and important initiative that is targeting young people at a key point in their lives.
‘Evidence shows that when people take up smoking at a young age it is a habit that’s difficult to break.
‘This initiative is an appropriate addition to others in Wales to prevent the health burden of smoking-related illness.’
Dr Lewis added that efforts by the Welsh government to reverse its public smoking ban for actors on TV and film sets would undermine attempts to cut the number of people smoking.
He said: ‘Young people and children are affected by what they see on TV and in the media.’