Fewer New Yorkers smoking after public ban

New Yorkers smoked seven million fewer cigarettes last year following a ban on lighting up in many public places, city officials said.

Just 19% of people in New York smoked last year compared with 22% the year before – meaning about 100,000 people quit the habit, according to the figures.

After the intorduction of the workplace smoking ban in Ireland, there have been calls for similar steps in Britain.

The latest appeal in Britain came from the delegates at the Royal College of Nursing Congress, who voted overwhelmingly to call on ministers to outlaw smoking in the workplace, pubs, clubs and restaurants.

The ban on smoking in virtually all public places in New York was introduced by mayor Michael Bloomberg in March 2003.

A tax of $1.50 (€1.27) was also levied on a packet of cigarettes, sending their price rocketing.

The ban has led to a drastic cut in the number of cigarettes smoked, as the new figures demonstrate.

However, critics have suggested that many smokers may simply be leaving the boroughs of New York City to buy cigarettes, distorting the figures.

Meanwhile, anti-smoking activists in the US are calling for greater restrictions on showing smoking in movies.

They want Hollywood to consider smoking when giving films a recommended age rating.

An R rating, usually reserved for films showing violence or nudity, should be applied to films where the characters smoke, they said.

Dr Stan Glantz, professor of medicine at the University of California, said: “When are we going to treat smoking as seriously as we treat the F- word. If you use the F-word once in a sexual context, you get an R rating. It doesn’t kill you.”

Campaigners believe that 200,000 children a year could be prevented from lighting up if the R rating was applied.