To mark No Smoking Day today (Wednesday 8 March), a poster competition has been launched urging people to keep Hertsmere's play areas smoke free.
Young people aged 11 or under, and who live or go to school in Hertsmere, are invited to take part in a competition to design a poster promoting a voluntary smoking ban across all Hertsmere Borough Council-owned parks.
The competition winner's poster will appear in parks across the borough with contact details for the Hertfordshire Stop Smoking Service.
Hopes are the initiative, led by the council and supported by the Hertsmere Health and Wellbeing Partnership and NHS Hertfordshire, will discourage people from lighting up where children may be affected.
Breathing in second-hand smoke is particularly harmful for children. It can cause an increased risk of asthma, meningitis, respiratory conditions like bronchitis, coughs and colds, and cot death.
The winner of the poster competition will receive a copy of their design and a family ticket to Willows Activity Farm in London Colney.
As part of No Smoking Day, Hertfordshire County Council is raising awareness of the benefits of e-cigarettes, which are 95 per cent safer than smoking tobacco, cheaper than conventional cigarettes and twice as effective at helping people stop smoking as over the counter nicotine replacements.
Smoking is still the leading cause of death and disability in Hertfordshire, with around 1,500 smoking-related deaths in 2015 and estimated costs to the local economy of £288 million.
For information about how Hertfordshire’s Stop Smoking Service can help you stop or reduce smoking, including advice about e-cigarettes, please text SMOKEFREE to 80818, call 0800 389 3 998 or visit www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/stopsmoking
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