Ex-smokers get i-phone "app"
Wednesday March 10th, 2010
Youthful smokers who give up are to get a "gadget" to help them resist their cravings.
The i-phone "app" is released today by the British department of health as part of No Smoking Day.
Ex-smokers
with an i-phone will get daily hints on beating cravings and a record
of how many minutes since they gave up.
It will also include an emergency link to a stop smoking helpline.
The launch follows the success of an anti-alcohol i-phone, which has been downloaded 65,000 times since December.
People with other kinds of mobile phones are being encouraged to use texting. If they text "calculator" to 64746 they get a smoking calculator.
Campaigner Deborah Arnott, of ASH - Action on Smoking and Health - said: "Around two thirds of smokers want to quit and try time and again. So using modern echnology to help them finally achieve that goal is a welcome idea."
Meanwhile paediatricians called for tougher action to protect children against cigarette smoke.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health wants adults to be banned from smoking in cars with children in them.
President Professor Terence Stephenson said: "Second-hand smoke has been found to be strongly linked to chest infections in children, asthma, ear problems and sudden infant death syndrome, or cot death."
Tags: Child Health | Drug and Alcohol Abuse | General Health | Respiratory | UK News
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