Breathe Easy relaunch '˜No Smoking' campaign in schools

With No Smoking Day on Wednesday, Breathe Easy has re-launched its already successful “No-Smoking” awareness programme in schools.

As part of the local awareness campaign, Respiratory nurse, Jackie Cochrane, accompanied by Breathe Easy member, Margaret Henry, will visit Dunseveric Primary School on Wednesday and Straidbilly Primary School on Thursday, May 5.

Pupils will be given awakening lectures on the dangers of smoking, with vivid examples of how tar in cigarettes causes serious lung disorders and is also a major cancer-causing agent.

In Northern Ireland there are more than 10,000 admissions yearly and around 200 people die each year – these are some of the stark statistics of lung disease, of which smoking is a major cause.

Meanwhile the the facilities and grounds of the Northern Trust are to become smoke free, in line with Northern Ireland’s other health and social care sites.

From No Smoking Day, smoking will not be allowed on site by staff, patients or visitors.

Northern Trust Medical Director, Dr Ken Lowry said: “Our aim is not only to protect people’s health but also to influence cultural change by creating new norms around smoking in public. People should certainly not be subjected to second-hand smoke on our facilities.”