Smokers are the 'silent victims of an epidemic'

Published on Wednesday 13 May 2009 22:05

SMOKING kills six times more Scots than accidents, murders, suicides, falls and poisoning combined, campaigners claim.

Anti-smoking group Ash Scotland called the thousands of smokers dying in Scotland every year "silent victims".

Chief executive Sheila Duffy said: "If someone is killed in a road accident, murdered, takes their own life or dies as a result of poisoning, it's newsworthy .

"The 13,500 Scots who die from tobacco-related illnesses every year are the silent victims of a major health epidemic. One in four Scottish deaths are estimated to be smoking-related."

Speaking at the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland's Annual Conference in Ayr today, Ms Duffy was

due to accuse tobacco firms of "fighting tooth and nail" to stop politicians legislating against advertising which gets young Scots hooked on cigarettes, adding: "We know the overwhelming majority of existing smokers became addicted in their teens."

There is a long battle ahead between wealthy tobacco firms and health organisations with few resources, she was to say.