SmokeFree Liverpool gets to the heart of the matter

Representatives from SmokeFree Liverpool joined a host of health campaigners from across the region at the recent Big Heart Festival, to highlight the link between smoking and coronary heart disease in the city.

The disease accounts for nearly one third of all deaths in the Merseyside region, with smoking, unhealthy eating and physical inactivity constituting the three main factors in the development of the disease.

Organised to mark World Heart Day, the third annual Big Heart Festival took place at LACE, Sefton Park on Sunday 25th September and was organised jointly by the Merseybeat Appeal and the Heart of Mersey coronary heart disease prevention charity.

Representing Merseyside's largest lifestyles fair, the aim of the festival was to promote healthier ways of life by providing information about diet, exercise, weight management and the cessation of smoking. Visitors were also able get involved with a series of practical activities and attend a series of seminars delivered by expert speakers.

Volunteers from SmokeFree Liverpool were on hand to provide information regarding the link between smoking and coronary heart disease and to speak to employees and employers regarding the introduction of totally smokefree policies in the workplace.

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals with at least two of these; carbon monoxide and nicotine thought to be directly involved in causing coronary heart disease. As a result cigarette smokers are twice as likely to have a heart attack as non-smokers and for those smokers with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, the risk is eight times greater.

Andrea Crossfield, SmokeFree Liverpool Programme Co-ordinator, said: "The link between smoking and coronary heart disease has been well documented for years. However we feel it is important to inform people about the link between the inhalation of second hand smoke and the development of coronary heart disease, something which many people are unaware of."

Andrea continued: "Breathing in second hand tobacco smoke can increase an individual's chances of developing the disease by as much as 30%. That is why SmokeFree Liverpool is campaigning to see all workplaces in the UK become smokefree, for the protection of everyone's health."

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For further information please contact Darren Nugent at Kenyon Fraser on 0151 706 9983 / 07970 131318