Thousands sign up for annual Stoptober drive

Chad readers have given a mixed reaction to plans for a county-wide bid to get tough on smoking .

The county council-run Nottinghamshire Health and Wellbeing Board is introducing a new declaration that commits organisations across both public and private sectors to working together to combat smoking.

The Nottinghamshire County and Nottingham City Declaration on Tobacco Control enables public, private and voluntary organisations to make a commitment to tackling the harm caused by tobacco.

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Organisations that sign up will commit to reducing smoking in their communities and producing action plans to address the causes and impacts of tobacco use.

Mansfield Woodhouse councillor Joyce Boznjak, chair of the health and wellbeing board, said: “The harm that tobacco causes stretches across all parts of society, and if we are to make significant progress in tackling it locally we need to work together as a community.

“The development of our own local declaration calls on major organisations in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to take a stake in tobacco control and make it all of our responsibilities.

“We’re in the process of engaging with some of the largest employers in the area to encourage them to sign up.”

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But while some Chad readers have backed the move, others claim that the ‘nanny state’ has gone too far.

Chad reader David Heath said: “I don’t smoke and I don’t condone the filthy habit, but lately council is up its own a*** on all sorts of issues. We need them to sort themselves out before sorting a none urgent issue.”

Ellis Collins told Chad: “Considering the huge amount of scientific evidence backing up the massive harmful effects of smoking and second hand smoke, it should seem clear that tackling smoking should be high on anybody’s list.

“Smoking is really bad for you and if children have parents that smoke around them, they’re far more likely to smoke when they’re older.”

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Terry Topliss added: “The council should keep its nose out of our business.

“If I want to smoke and I am not infringing on the law of the land then that’s my business, and before people start bleating on about the strain on the NHS, I have paid my income tax and national insurance for fifty odd years.”

The declaration was launched to coincide with the annual Stoptober challenge which encouraging smokers to quit for 28 days in October.

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