Pupils to help each other quit smoking

Pop star Jessica Garlick helped launch the scheme

Pupils will be encouraging their friends to give up smoking under a new scheme which tells them about the damage the habit does to the body and to the planet.

The programme - devised by Cancer Research UK, Quit and the thinktank Topic of Cancer - will teach children how best to offer support, advice and confidentiality to any of their friends who take up smoking.

The charities are concerned about the number of youngsters smoking

The material for use in schools also gives factual information about tobacco and cigarette smoking and can be used as part of personal, social and health education or science lessons.

The plan is aimed at 13-year-old pupils, as they have been identified as bring at high risk of taking up smoking.

Only 1% of 11 year olds are regular smokers, but by the age of 15 the number rises to 23%.

The charities are concerned about the soaring numbers of teenagers who take up smoking - they estimate that 10% of 11 to 15 year olds will have smoked over the past week.

Different kinds of smoker

Professor Anne Charlton, Cancer Research UK Emeritus fellow based at Manchester University, said the programme did not need many visual aids.

"It teaches them to develop listening skills to find out why the person smokes and to find out the kind of smoker they are," said Professor Charlton.

Children in secondary school are particularly vulnerable to the allure of smoking

Jean King, Cancer Research UK

"For example some people smoke because they like the process. They like having a packet of cigarettes, unwrapping it and so on and so they need to have something else nice to hold - whereas someone else might smoke for a very different reason."

As part of the programme, pupils are invited to make special cards for smoker families which have just had a new-born baby.

"The card sends congratulations and so on, but it also encourages them not to smoke around the baby," said Professor Charlton.

There is also a word search where pupils can look for words connected with smoking and health risks, she added.

"There are so many lessons which focus on helping young people not to start smoking, but not many on how to help them give up - so it will be good to focus on that," the professor said.

Pop Idol support

Pop Idol and Eurovision Song Contest star Jessica Garlick helped launch the scheme.

"I don't smoke myself, but watching someone I love slowly take their own life with each cigarette they smoke would make me feel useless," said Jessica.

"This is an excellent resource for children to help their classmates to stop smoking."

Jean King, director of education funding at Cancer Research UK said: "We hope this plan will be adopted across the UK."

"Children in secondary school are particularly vulnerable to the allure of smoking - it is still seen as an adult habit to be aspired to," she said.

"This resource makes it absolutely explicit the harm they do to themselves, those around them and the environment.

"We must prevent any increase in smoking among teenagers and this will be an excellent method of defusing this potential cancer timebomb."