Victorians shun cigarettes

However, Quit Victoria executive director Fiona Sharkie said research indicated the increase in the price of cigarettes had also contributed to the decrease ...



New smoking restrictions and graphic advertising has helped cut the number of Victorians now smoking regularly.
New figures show fewer than one in five Victorians are now regular smokers.
The Cancer Council Victoria says 17.3 per cent of Victorians now smoke regularly, compared to 21.3 per cent in 1998.
Council spokeswoman Professor Melanie Wakefield said considerable tobacco control activity and reform had contributed to the reduction.
Last year, the Victorian government introduced a ban on smoking within bars and clubs.
"Over the past decade, Victoria has experienced a rise in smoke free environments, exposure to regular quit smoking mass media campaigns and the introduction of graphic health warnings on cigarette packets," Prof Wakefield said.
However, Quit Victoria executive director Fiona Sharkie said research indicated the increase in the price of cigarettes had also contributed to the decrease in smoking rates.
The figures also show a sharp drop in the number of young adults who smoke regularly.
In 2006, 26.2 per cent of people aged 18-29 were regular smokers. In 2007, the figure was just 18.6 per cent.
Ms Sharkie said Quit had found there were fewer young people experimenting with cigarettes during high school, which may have contributed to the drop, Ms Sharkie said.
However, Prof Wakefield was reluctant to draw any conclusion from the large reduction.
"I'm not going to get too excited about that ... we want to see data from future years to be confident ... but nonetheless the data is moving in the right direction."
Quit also launched a new advertising campaign on Thursday highlighting the difficulty in diagnosing lung cancer before it's too late.
Associate Professor David Ball from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre said there were no nerves to detect pain in the lungs.
"I've seen cancers the size of grapefruit in the lung, and the person is not aware of it being there," Prof Ball said.
Prof Ball said the number of lung cancer deaths exceeded that of breast and prostate cancer combined.
"Those people who continue to smoke I'd advise, 'It's never too late'," he said.
"If you quit smoking it not only reduces your chance of getting cancer, but those people who do develop the disease are much more successfully treated than those who continue to smoke."
Victorian Minister for Health Daniel Andrews said the state government was committed to releasing a Victorian Tobacco Strategy.
The government is setting a 20 per cent smoking reduction target in adults by 2013.