One person dies every minute in the European Union from the harmful effects of cigarette smoking, according to a new EU-wide campaign to curb smoking, particularly among young people.
The Irish launch of the campaign was told by Michael O'Shea of the Irish Heart Foundation that 650,000 people die every year across the 25 EU member states as a result of smoking-related illnesses. Some 7,000 of these occur in the Republic.
The EU anti-smoking campaign will involve TV and cinema advertisements and will run over four years at a cost €72 million.
Introducing the initiative in Dublin yesterday, Minister for Health Mary Harney said any young person who started smoking would reduce their life expectancy by 15 years, and had a 50 per cent chance of dying from their addiction.
She said the new campaign was not about moralising but about informing people of the dangers of tobacco consumption.
"At the end of the day it is the choice of citizens, but we would have to be concerned at the huge number of young people, particularly young girls, that are still smoking," she said.
She said research showed that 19 per cent of 11- to 17-year-olds in the Republic were smokers, and children as young as 10 were calling the smokers' Quitline, which was "incredible".
Ms Harney said the smoking ban had worked extraordinarily well, but the State could not become complacent.
"We would be very foolish to abandon the need to constantly give information and awareness to people, because once somebody starts smoking, the chances of them being able to quit are never great," she said.
"With 7,000 deaths a years, it's more than 10 times larger than the number of people that die on the roads, unfortunately, so it's adding hugely to the cost of delivering healthcare - and, of course, to the weekly budget of those that smoke."
If a smoker of five packs a week quit, they could use the money for two holidays a year. "Young people could buy more clothes and have more fun," the Minister said.
The Minister was urged by the Irish Cancer Society, the Irish Heart Foundation and the chairman of ASH Ireland, Prof Luke Clancy, to significantly increase and perhaps even double the price of cigarettes to deter young people from smoking. The Vintners Federation of Ireland said jobs have been lost and pubs have closed as a result of the smoking ban. Its president, Séamus O'Donoghue, said that, nationwide, turnover in pubs was down on average between 20 to 30 per cent.
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