HEALTH promoters are hitting smokers where it hurts — pulling not on their pockets but on their heartstrings.

A teenager who lost her mother to lung cancer is fronting a new hard-hitting anti-smoking campaign.

A HSE anti-smoking campaign will mirror the way road safety adverts use the experiences of real people.

New figures published by the HSE show that one in every two smokers in Ireland die from tobacco related illnesses.

MEN who buy sex should be prosecuted to act as a deterrent to prostitution and human trafficking, according to a number of public health doctors.

THE Irish Cancer Society Lung Cancer Awareness Campaign to identify patients with lung cancer early is very welcome.

IN the ongoing debate as to how best fix the hole in our public finances in the budget, little attention has been given to increasing excise duties, especially those relating to tobacco.

PUBLIC health doctors have called for mandatory rehabilitation for anyone found guilty of drink driving.

THE current political debacle about lowering the drink driving limits has some similarities and some differences with the debate in 2003/’04 concerning the introduction of the smoking ban.

MORE than a quarter of Irish parents refuse to quit the weed despite evidence that it is more likely their children will take up the deadly habit.

IT COSTS almost e3,000 a year to maintain a 20-a-day cigarette habit, more than enough to pay for the holiday of a lifetime.

CONSUMERS could face a €2 rise in the price of cigarettes and a huge 20% jump in the levy on spirits if the latest health-based budget proposals are introduced by the Finance Minister next week.

A fifth of all young smokers are overweight or obese, a major tobacco control conference heard today.

A one-day conference is being held today to explore ways to stop children from starting to smoke.

IT will be illegal to sell cigarettes in packs of 10 from midnight tomorrow.

A CO MAYO coroner has described as “alarming” the growing number of alcohol-related deaths in young women.

THE decision by the tobacco industry and others to abandon their challenge at the last minute to legislation that would enable the minister for health to ban advertising of tobacco products at point of sale underscores the cynicism of this industry.

WHILE the 50c price increase on a packet of 20 cigarettes and related products was disappointingly low, Finance Minister Brian Cowen did recognise that price is a valuable tool in dealing with the serious issue of tobacco addiction.

The Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland has called on Brian Cowen to raise excise duties on tobacco and alcohol in next week's Budget.

YOUR correspondent Tim O’Sullivan (Irish Examiner letters, December 2) reminds us of the extreme bias of Dr Fenton Howell and his fellow-travellers at ASH.

The anti-smoking group ASH Ireland has said it hopes Finance Minister Brian Cowen will increase taxes on cigarettes and tobacco in today's Budget.

FEARS thousands of hospitality workers would lose their jobs in the wake of the smoking ban were unjustified, an anti-smoking group claimed yesterday.

Fears thousands of hospitality workers would lose their jobs in the wake of the smoking ban were unjustified, an anti-smoking group claimed today.

IT IS good to see that Dr Fenton Howell of ASH Ireland (Irish Examiner letters, June 21) agrees with me that the smoking legislation is a health and safety issue and not a public health issue as legislated.

OVER the last few days there has been an attempt by some commentators and politicians to blame the smoking ban for the huge losses experienced by Fianna Fáil in the recent elections.

BRIAN NOLAN, executive director of the United Restaurant & Tavern Owners of New York, paints a sad picture of life for his members since New York adopted smoke-free workplaces.

The anti-smoking group Ash Ireland has welcomed to New York pub figures which say taxes paid by publicans in New York have increased by 12% since the introduction of a smoking ban in the city's pubs.

DESPITE all the evidence to the contrary, vintner representatives and the Irish Hospitality Industry Alliance constantly suggest to politicians and the public that ventilation systems are the answer to dealing with the health effects of passive smoke.

A CAMPAIGN by Dublin City Council to tackle the problem of tobacco-related litter has left anti-smoking organisations and the Green Party fuming.

Anti-smoking lobby group ASH Ireland has welcomed the Taoiseach’s comments today on the proposed smoking ban.

THE majority of people believe a smoking ban in pubs will be unworkable, a survey has revealed.

ASH Ireland is concerned about reports indicating that the Office of Tobacco Control will be absorbed back into the Department of Health and Children as part of the restructuring of the health services.

Passive smoking might not be as harmful as first thought, according to a controversial new study.

IRELAND must apply all its health resources together to deal with the SARS threat during the Special Olympics, Ireland’s chief medical officer has said.

DEEP in the bowels of what New Yorkers call The Village, there is, unusually for the city, a little narrow, winding street sandwiched between two wide boulevards.

THE Belgian government is to be congratulated for not allowing the tobacco industry advertise its products via Formula One motor racing.

The anti-smoking group ASH Ireland has expressed deep concern about the increasing numbers of young Irish women who are smoking.

IN THE post-Budget debate, many commentators have expressed surprise that the Minister for Finance did not use the opportunity to increase the price of tobacco products

Almost three hundred public health doctors are set to vote on strike action in the coming week.

PUBLIC health doctors last night voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action, claiming the Department of Health had continuously delayed negotiations on a number of issues.

Public Health Doctors in the Irish Medical Organisation, returned ballot papers with 94% in favour of industrial action following continuous delays on the part of the Department of Health & Children to enter into constructive negotiations on a number of issues.