“In 1954 Medical Research Council study shows link between smoking and lung cancer. At 6am on Sunday March 26, 2006, Scotland introduced a new law which banned smoking in public places. “
I found this quotation in a footnote of the Clackmananshire Joint Health Improvement Plan and it seemed to me a very powerful way of showing that behaviour and policy can lag a long way behind research.
The evidence that passive smoking is bad for childrens health is overwhelming and for parents not smoking or not allowing smoking in the same space as children is a straightforward way to improve children’s health. Although there is now a high awareness that passive smoking is not good for health – I am not convinced that people understand just how pervasive smoke can be in an enclosed space. So the new smoke free homes campaign that is being rolled out across Lothian is much needed.
You can register your home, workplace or car as smoke free at the following link and recieve a smoke free homes pack.
Staff who support chidren and parents can get free training to help them be up to date on the evidence about passive smoking and the campaign for smoke free homes by contacting :-
Amanda Pitkethly, Young People’s Smoking Prevention Development Worker, Y-STEP, Fast Forward, 4 Bernard Street, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6PP. 0131 554 4300
