State 'failing to help smokers quit'

Smokers are being “ripped off” when attempting to stop using tobacco because of the failure of the State to provide adequate support services, a leading healthcare professional claimed today.

Delegates at a major conference on tobacco control, which is being held in Dublin’s Mansion House, were told that properly funded smoking cessation services are needed to help encourage smokers to quit.

Dr Fenton Howell, director of Public Health with the HSE, said the lack of proven cessation services was leading smokers to spend money on alternatives which were non-effective.

“There is a gap in what we should be providing and others are filling that gap and taking money from individuals who then fail to stop smoking and come to believe they can’t quit. This disempowers them,” said Dr Howell.

“We know that there are lots of different bodies out there who are, in fairness to them, ripping people off on non-cost effective methodology,” he added.

Dr Howell said the levels of support provided to smokers is not standardised and that there is very little knowledge about what smoking cessation services are offered by general practitioners.

The ‘Working Together Towards a Tobacco Free Society, was organised by a number of agencies including the Irish Cancer Society, the Health Service Executive (HSE), ASH Ireland and the Environmental Health Officers’ Association.

Keynote speaker Dr Tony Holohan, chief medical officer at the Department of Health told delegates that while Ireland has developed a reputation for forward thinking in terms of tobacco control, there are still “stubbornly high rates” of tobacco use in Ireland, particularly young people.

Dr Holohan said the burden of tobacco consumption and its impact falls disproportionately on people from lower social economic backgrounds and that such people were the least likeliest to seek support to help them stop smoking.

According to an independent study commissioned by Pfizer to coincide with the conference, 90 per cent of Irish smokers surveyed said they are addicted or would find it very hard to quit smoking. The research also found that smokers have tried unsuccessfully to give up tobacco on at least four occasions.

It is estimated that about 7,000 people die from tobacco use in Ireland every year. Despite efforts to encourage people to quit, there are currently close to a million people who still smoke and the cost from smoking-related illnesses costs about €2 billion a year

Speakers at today’s conference also heard calls for an increase in taxes on cigarettes, a full ban on smoking in cars and in hospitals and for concerted action on tobacco smuggling.