|
Four days
to go – ‘C’ what you
can do to make Northern Ireland smokefree
There
are just four days left to register support for Option
C in the
public consultation on smoking, the option which
proposes a ban on smoking in all enclosed public
places and workplaces.
The Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland (HPA) was
at Pizza Hut today, which has been smokefree since 2003,
to encourage people to register their support for Option
C through the Smokefree Northern Ireland website (www.smokefreenorthernireland.com).
Susan Montgomery,
Company Director of Pizza Hut said: “Pizza
Hut believes that families should be able to take time to
have a leisurely meal in a restaurant without exposing their
children to other people’s smoke. It is equally important
that our staff can work in a smokefree environment. We feel
that Pizza Hut's successful move to ban smoking in all of
its restaurants last year was a significant step forward
for the UK restaurant industry and we hope that some of our
competitors will follow suit in the near future.”
The Smokefree
Northern Ireland website was launched last month with the
aim of enabling and encouraging the public
to respond directly to the Department of
Health, Social Services and Public Safety’s consultation, A healthier future: a twenty year vision for health and
wellbeing in Northern Ireland. The partnership website, facilitated
by the HPA, incorporates 40 statutory, private and voluntary
organisations from across Northern Ireland.
Dr Brian Gaffney,
Chief Executive of the HPA said: “This
is the most important consultation we have had in relation
to public health in Northern Ireland and the outcome will
have significant implications for the health of generations
to come. To date the partnership website has received over
63,000 hits in the four weeks since it went live. If just
5% of these are transferred into responses backing Option
C, this would send a clear message about public opinion on
smoking in Northern Ireland.
“Research
carried out by the HPA and other organisations indicates
growing support for a smoking ban. The public are
now more educated about the serious health implications of
smoking and second-hand smoke, which not only worsen existing
health problems but also directly harm health. Passive
smoking has a major impact on children’s health. Research
shows that 17,000 children in the UK under the age of five
are admitted to hospital each year with illnesses that are
a direct result of passive smoking¹.”
The HPA
research conducted in March 2004 found that 70% of all
respondents to the survey thought that public places
(indoors) in Northern Ireland should be smokefree. MORI Ireland
had similar results in a more recent survey with over two thirds
of respondents (69%) in favour of a smoking ban in public
places, including pubs, clubs and restaurants. Nearly 4 in
10 indicated that if a smoking ban was introduced they would
be more likely to visit pubs, clubs or restaurants.
END
Notes
to the editor
- The partnership website can be accessed at www.smokefreenortherireland.com
- Responses
to the consultation will be accepted by the DHSSPS
up to 5pm on Friday 25 March 2005.
For
further information contact
Rosie McGaughey at the Health Promotion Agency -Tel: 9031 1611
or 9031 1514.
¹ Smoking
and the Young. Royal College of Physicians. 1992.
|
