Charity backs NI smoking ban call

A study has shown the benefits of stopping smoking

A leading charity in Northern Ireland is backing the call for a ban on smoking in public places.

It comes as research shows smokers are twice as likely as non-smokers to lose their sight in later life.

A new campaign is getting under way to increase awareness of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which is the UK's leading cause of sight loss.

The Royal National Institute for the Blind said it would welcome plans to stub out smoking in public in NI.

The charity's Northern Ireland director, Shane Logan, said: "RNIB is calling on the government to introduce specific warnings on cigarette packets and to fund a major public awareness campaign on the dangers of smoking to your eyesight.

"RNIB is also joining the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists in calling for a ban on smoking in all enclosed public places and workplaces across the UK."

Research published on Wednesday has shown that there are about 500,000 people in the UK with AMD and an estimated 54,000 people have the condition as a result of smoking.

A minority of cases can be treated

A report by AMD Alliance UK4 revealed that only 7% of people know that AMD affects the eyes, but that seven out of 10 smokers would either stop smoking permanently or cut down if they thought it could harm their eyesight.

Pauline McGaughey, 50, from Belfast, who has smoked most of her life, is partially sighted and said she is likely to go blind.

"When you smoke you cannot imagine what it is like to have lung cancer and, especially when you are young, the risk of dying earlier doesn't come into it," she said.

"I am a nurse, I saw people die from smoking-related diseases and that did not make me kick the habit. But if I had been told that I could lose my sight because of smoking I would have given up. I stopped the day I found out."

Studies have shown that people who stopped smoking 20 years ago have a similar risk of developing AMD as non-smokers do and the risk starts to decrease after ten years of not smoking.

Simon Kelly, Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the Bolton Eye Unit and co-author of the report, said he would also like to see warnings on cigarette packets.

He said: "Knowledge of the link between smoking and AMD is very low but evidence from Australia and New Zealand shows that raising awareness of this link creates a powerful message for the general public.

"In my clinical experience when people are diagnosed with AMD and learn of the link with smoking they are often sufficiently shocked and motivated to want to stop smoking straight away."