Friday July 10, 1998 Cash for access Special report Main news Trouble at Drumcree Trimble’s mayhem warning Drumcree and freedom Leader: siege of Drumcree Are we heading for a crash? Leader: the black economy UK Drugs trade worth £10bn Cancer drug suffers blow Lesbians order Net sperm Birmingham Six damages DS arrested over Met theft Babies could be saved Hospitals spread disease BBC unveils digital radio M25 to be widened Dome cash fears allayed IRA blocks appeal aid Challenge to gene crops Modern martyrs honoured William meets Camilla Poll tax OAP jailed Berkoff slams 'West End' Politics Hague embraces councils Labour's first woman boss Sketch International Israeli spy ring 'cracked' Havel suffers bitter defeat Japan PM under threat Nigerians await reforms Abiola's warring wives US convict given shock Philippines jails UK abuser Business Ethics call for pensions Warning signs for shares Union membership low On-line shopping launched Sport Schumacher robbed of rival Golf: Drummond's comeback Comment Analysis: defence review Leader: carving up Kosovo The problem with ambition Tina Brown's traumas Diary Reviews Writing for Exorcist man The screen sex historian New films Film of the week Learning from film Books: Ferdinand Dennis Music: country's rising star Music: new duo mix it up Music: 15 and at no.1 Theatre: Proposals Last night's TV      BACK TO TOP

Campaigners fume at no-smoking day 'joke' By Tim Radford, Science Editor Thursday July 9, 1998 National no-smoking day could be slightly dangerous for smokers who try to quit, according to a leading science journal. And such journals as point this out could be in slightly hot water too. The latest crossfire in the great tobacco battle is triggered today by a report in Nature from three scientists at University College, London. Andrew Waters, Martin Jarvis and Stephen Sutton point out that there has been a National No Smoking Day since 1984, and that up to 2 million smokers try to quit, or abstain, each year on the second Wednesday in March. However, according to Health and Safety Executive data, they say there is a small but statistically significant blip in that day's accident rates. There are more accidents at work resulting in major injury, or three days off work, on no smoking day than on the Wednesdays before or after. Although it has not been proved, the scientists suspect that "deterioration in psychological function as a result of nicotine withdrawal causes an increased chance of an accident at work". Nicotine gum, or patches, would help addicts keep calm - and help them quit more successfully, they say. But hopes of calm discussion went up in smoke when the finding was trailed by Nature in a press release headed "and finally: not smoking is bad for you", which had the pressure group Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) fuming. "We're all for making science more accessible, interesting and even amusing," said Clive Bates, director of Ash. "But smoking causes 120,000 premature deaths per year in the United Kingdom and up to 10 million consumers are addicted to nicotine. "It just isn't all that funny." Dr Jarvis, of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's health behaviour unit at UCL, also inhaled sharply. "I am a bit unhappy with Nature for putting it out under a jokey press release," he said. "If it was heroin or cocaine, people wouldn't be treating it dismissively. "Nicotine is a serious drug. We continuously rediscover that, and remind ourselves that cigarette smoking isn't just some kind of social habit. It's a serious kind of drug-taking and it has serious effects on people."   Print version       Useful links No Smoking day site

 
 
 
 
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