|
|
 |
All the news : Passive smoking /
Institutional / NGOs / Colloquiums and conferences / Education / Health / Legislation and law / Economy / Other |
| News |
Public health goes to the street
18/09/2008
|
| Some health trusts in London are resorting to "direct action" to encourage people to stop smoking and to look after their mental and sexual health. Not content with warnings for smokers in adverts, posters and on cigarette packets, they are employing people to confront them in the street as they step out for a few quiet puffs. They say it is cost-effective, and enables them to raise awareness about their local services. |
But some see it as a breach of civil liberties. For the next six weeks, smokers in Ealing in west London who want to step onto the street for a cigarette may find there is nowhere to hide. The local primary care trust has recruited a marketing firm to approach them directly and put them in touch with stop smoking services. Their manner is friendly and polite. No one is forced to talk. But some smokers and other passers by are clearly prepared to chat, and to do an on-the-spot check for carbon monoxide in the lungs. "This will really help me," said one smoker - a man who had become a chain-smoker in the last year after becoming depressed. "This should be done in other areas as well. This is going to make a big difference."
The proportion of people who get annoyed is very low Phil Robinson, from Ealing PCT, says the basic problem is that people are not aware of the services that are offerered and this gives them the choice to use what is available to them. But it raises the question of how far to intrude into peoples´ lives, even with good intentions. James Gubb, health director of the think tank Civitas, says this is a big step too far. "I think this is just another road on a very slippery slope. What are you going to be doing next? Are you going to be coming up to people in the street and saying why are you overweight? Or why are you standing there and not walking?"
The local Labour MP in Ealing, Stephen Pound, famously kicked his cigarette habit of 40 years after voting to back the ban on smoking in enclosed public places. He said, "You´ve now got this new phenomenon. These self-affirming groups of outlaws huddled around, outside buildings, and what they do is reinforcing their addiction more and more." "People are happier having given up smoking, therefore lets spread a bit of happiness and make a bit of a nuisance of ourselves on the highways and byways of west London."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7619686.stm |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
