Child health no incentive to quit
More than a quarter of smokers insist they will not quit the habit – even though it represents health risks to their children, a survey has revealed.
The findings were released as part of a new online campaign to help addicts work out the health and financial cost of cigarettes while also identifying what makes their cravings worse. A smoking calculator works out that a 20-a-day habit will cost 3,000 euro a year.
Dr Fenton Howell, Health Service Executive (HSE) director of public health, insisted the single most important thing a smoker can do to improve health and protect children is to give up. He said: “As it is very hard to quit smoking once you’ve started, a key imperative is to prevent future generations from starting at all, and parents’ behaviour and attitude to smoking is key in whether or not children will smoke.”
