Stub it out now!

The Labour MP has joined the Cancer Research Campaign and members of the Smoking Control Network to launch a campaign to make 2000 the year to quit smoking.

And he has praised Bolton Council for providing a smoke-free environment.

He said: "I have never smoked and I have always been a keen supporter of schemes which encourage others to stop.

"It's very difficult for people to give it up but I think most people want to do so.

"Campaigns like this will give them help and support they will need."

He has criticised media outlets and advertisers for making smoking appear cool among youngsters, claiming that the best form of quitting is never to start.

He said: "I would encourage all young people to refrain from smoking but there are sections of the media which do seem to promote it.

"Television shows scenes which involve influential people smoking and, while I know it portrays real life, I feel it over-glamorises the habit."

The Cancer Research Campaign is working to reduce smoking related diseases and it is campaigning for strong Government action to help smokers give up.

Mr Iddon said: "The council has gone the right way about it. They have special rooms where people who want a drag can have one without disturbing others."

But Martin Ball, campaign director for pro-smoking group, Forest, said his organisation objects to the government spending vast amounts of cash on alienating smokers.

He said: "We don't object to people highlighting health concerns over smoking but what we don't want to see is people being effectively blackmailed into quitting.

Cigarettes

"There is a growing feeling that anti-smokers are saying the 21st Century is the time to put cigarettes away and enter a brave new world which only non-smokers are welcome.

"That, of course is complete nonsense and we don't think people should feel they have to give up to avoid being seen as second class citizens."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.