CALL FOR NICOTINE PATCHES ON NHS

A group of MPs and experts yesterday called for nicotine patches and gum to
be made available on prescription to help smokers quit, and thus reduce the
financial burden on the National Health Service.

Smoking costs the NHS 1.7bn a year and is a principal contributor to
inequalities in health, with the highest levels of smoking occurring among
the most disadvantaged members of society, who also have greatest difficulty
in giving up.

The group, led by the Labour MP Dr Ian Gibson, who is chairman of the
all-party cancer group, said that the expense of nicotine replacement
therapy - from 120 to more than 200 for a three-month supply - could put
some smokers off making the attempt to give up.

Godfrey Fowler, Emeritus Professor of General Practice at Oxford University
and the chairman of an expert panel convened by Novartis, a manufacturer of
the nicotine products, said: "With the prevalence of smoking increasing
after 20 years of decline it is clear that positive action must be taken to
get ahead in the war against smoking and tobacco. We are asking the
Government, those responsible for public policy, healthcare professionals
and smokers alike to recognise that nicotine replacement therapy is not only
safe but is also the most effective aid to smoking cessation currently
available."

Trials have shown that the use of nicotine patches and gum increases success
rates among smokers attempting to give up the habit from around 3 per cent
to 6 per cent.

A report produced by the panel, which includes Professor John Moxham, the
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at King's College, London, and Dr Martin
Jarvis, a researcher on smoking at University College London, says tobacco
addiction should be taken as seriously as alcohol or drug addiction and
efforts should be made to increase awareness of the benefits of using
nicotine therapy.

Dr Jarvis said: "Over 4,000 harmful products have been identified in
cigarette smoke and within these it is the tars that contain the major
carcinogens. There is no evidence that nicotine is carcinogenic."

Kevin Barron, the chairman of the Labour backbench health committee and of
the all-party parliamentary smoking and health group, said: "The NHS should
run some pilot programmes, using either health improvement programmes or
health action zones, to measure, through independent evaluation, the health
and cost benefit of such strategies."

The launch of the report at the House of Commons drew protests from the Tory
MP Gerald Howarth, who said it was wrong for a commercial company to use the
facilities of the Commons to promote its products under the guise of
addressing a matter of public policy. His intervention was later denounced
by Dr Gibson, who said it was "outrageous . and 100 per cent false".

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett