Press releases

February 14, 2005

LIGHTING UP STUBS OUT THE PASSION

A survey released today by the NHS Smoking Helpline has revealed that smoking can seriously damage your love life.

One in five 18-35 year olds questioned said they believed that non-smokers make better lovers, and two-fifths said they had argued with their partner about quitting.

The good news is that people in Merseyside who want to stub out the weed have access to a wide range of support, thanks to The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation¹

70% of smokers want to stop and The Foundation operates almost 40 smoking cessation clinics² and Fag Ends³support groups in and around Merseyside, helping smokers to not only stop smoking, but also stay stopped.

More than half the people have still quite after four weeks and almost a third of those have still quit after a year.

However, with 450 children in the UK taking up the habit every day, The Foundation also works hard to target young people on the dangers of smoking.

The KATS Program (Kids Against Tobacco Smoke) is part of The Foundation's overall strategic approach to reduce the incidence of lung cancer and to improve lung cancer patient care. The Support Groups are seeing an increasing number of young people seeking support to stop smoking.

The Foundation’s Chief Executive, Mike Unger said:“By reducing the numbers of young people taking up smoking we can make a huge impact to prevent the rising cases of lung cancer.

 “A report by the Royal College of Physicians shows that by the age of 10, as many as 40% of boys and 28% of girls have had at least a few puffs of a cigarette. In order to encourage young people to accept non-smoking as the norm, anti-smoking messages must start when children are very young.”

Added Mike: “Smoking is addictive and many of the children and young people who start to smoke will go on to smoke all of their lives. Half of those who do will die, many prematurely, of tobacco related illnesses.”

ends

Notes to Editors

¹The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation is the only charity in the world wholly dedicated to defeating lung cancer – the biggest cancer killer in the UK. Our approach benefits current and future lung cancer sufferers alike:

* we fund Research Programmes to detect lung cancer at a very early stage, which will save lives and is vital to the development of a future therapy.

* we offer Patient Support, Advocacy and an Information Network offering information, guidance and support relevant to the needs of lung cancer patients and their families.

* we facilitate Support Groups across the UK that assist sufferers to come to terms with the disease and provide patient advocacy services.

* We operate ‘Quit Smoking’ services for adults (Fag Ends) and our KATS (Kids Against Tobacco Smoke) educational programme that encourages young people never to start.

* we run fundraising events and charity shops, both of which help to generate much needed voluntary donations (public and corporate) on which we rely.

²A full list of smoking cessation clinics is available on The Foundation’s website www.roycastle.org

³ FagEnds are a free and confidential service, which provides help, advice and support to those people who wish to quit smoking, cut down or would like help to stay quit.