Shock tactics are being used to deter Calderdale people from smoking.

Campaigners took to the streets wearing grotesque masks to highlight the the long term effects of smoking.

The masks show the effects of three medical conditions caused by smoking long term: tracheotomy (hole in the neck) to treat head, throat, neck cancer or pneumonia; mouth cancer and gum disease and throat cancer. They also show how smoking causes signs of premature ageing including wrinkles, thinning and greying hair and cataracts.

Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Health Inequalities, Clr Simon Young, said: “Smoking still remains the biggest cause of premature death in England, and harms nearly every single organ in the body. Smoking is linked to many different cancers including those of the lip, mouth, throat, bladder, kidney and stomach.

“The idea behind this campaign is not to scare people but to educate them about the potential consequences of smoking. There’s a huge difference between knowing that smoking harms your body and being faced with the stark reality of what it looks like.”

Campaigners wore the masks to grab the attention of local smokers and then give them a free NHS quit kit. Around 800 quit kits were given out to smokers and to people whose friends or loved ones smoke. Each pack contains:

Information on face to face support

Advice on where to get stop smoking medicines to help with withdrawal symptoms

The quit kit step by step calendar

Information on a smokefree app ·

Calderdale Council’s Director of Public Health, Paul Butcher, said: “Smokers who want to give up are not alone. Everyone is different and it may take a few different types of support to help you quit – you just need to find the right one for you.

“Face to face support is very successful, and is recommended by nine out of ten smokers who have used it through their NHS stop smoking service. But if that isn’t for you there are many other tools in the kit for you to choose from. Around 22% of adults in Calderdale smoke. During Stoptober last year 850 smokers joined the race to quit and we’re hoping to help even more people this year.”

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