Bury to combat the continuing menace of smoking

Date published: 12/03/2010

Doctors and Councillors are joining forces to tackle smoking. About a quarter of Bury residents still smoke and second hand smoke still does a lot of damage.

The launch of Bury’s new ‘Tobacco Alliance’, a Team Bury collaboration led by NHS Bury, coincided with No Smoking Day, and involves partners working together to deliver the ambitious 10 year national plan to drive down smoking prevalence.

The Tobacco Alliance will lead efforts to:

• Halt the number of children and young people being recruited as new smokers 
• Motivate and support smokers to quit 
• Encourage adults not to smoke around children 
• Stamp out underage sales of tobacco products 
• Putting a stop to illicit tobacco reaching local communities

With the challenging targets set out in the Government’s new 10 year strategy, ‘A Smokefree Future’, Bury’s Tobacco Alliance will put Bury in a prime position to halve the number of adults that smoke by 2020, to around one in 10.

Dr. Peter Elton Director of Public Health for NHS Bury said: “We have made huge strides over the past decade in reducing the impact of smoking on our communities. This has led to many people living longer and healthier lives. We welcome the new national strategy although it is disappointing that it does not include banning smoking in cars where children are present. Bury’s Tobacco Alliance will help us to refocus our energies and put Bury’s smokefree status firmly on the map.”

Mark Sanders, Chief Executive of Bury Council, added: "Bury Council pledges to do all in its power to reduce the scourge of smoking. This will range from using our successful healthy schools programme to our trading standards officers fighting illicit tobacco. This will build on the huge progress that we have already made."