Tobacco control group offers quit smoking therapy for Noynoy

“We offer to help presidential candidate Sen. Noynoy Aquino quit smoking to be able to withstand the rigorous campaigning ahead and more importantly, to set a veritable program to uphold public health by offering to kick the deadly habit on him.”
 
That was the statement of tobacco control group, Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP) after Mayor Jejomar Binay who’s a friend of the Aquino family adviced the presidential aspirant to quit smoking.
 
Dr. Maricar B. Limpin, FCAP Executive Director lauded the unsolicited advice of the Makati mayor. “We offer, if we may, the same advice to the good Senator. Quitting entails a lot of sacrifice and we have a battery of experts who can very well take care of him,” she added.
 
Limpin, who is a pulmonologist and one of the prime movers of the medical group, Philippine College of Chest Physicians launched smoking cessation therapy programs together with the Department of Health in the local government units to help patients sustain the side effects of quitting smoking.
 

FCAP has been pushing for laws that will help curb the smoking epidemic, such as smoke-free public places; tobacco advertising; promotion and sponsorship; effective health warning in cigarette packs; and increase in tobacco taxes to dissuade people from buying the deadly product.
 
Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 known chemical compounds and a 2004 study published in the British Medical Journal found that exposure to second-hand smoke increases the risk of heart disease among non-smokers by as much as 60 percent. (END)