Fifty new tobacco users every day

SMOKING kills more than 6,000 people each year, but the tobacco industry still manages to attract 50 new users each day, according to figures in the progress report on the HSE’s three year plan.

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in Ireland and in a four year period to March of last year one in every five people smoked.

“A national average prevalence rate of 23.6% highlights the fact that there is still a worrying trend in relation to the recruitment of young smokers,” the corporate performance measurement report states.