Charity claims smoking figures are 'misleading'

Figures from the NHS Information Centre regarding quitting smoking are "misleading", a charity has claimed.

Despite recent statistics to the contrary, an anti-smoking charity has claimed that there has been a drop in the number of people quitting.

Amanda Sandford, research manager at Action on Smoking and Health claimed that figures from the NHS Information Centre showing a fall in the number of people quitting smoking were "misleading" as they had only compared numbers from last year.

"You have to look at trends over a long period of time," she said.

Ms Sandford added that 2007-08 was the only year that there was not a rise and that was due to the smoking ban.

"Although the figures this year are slightly lower then the previous year, you have to look at it in the context of the overall trend," she claimed.

Ms Sandford also claimed that smoking costs the NHS around £2.7 billion annually, creating a large financial burden.

The NHS Information Centre figures, which were published last week, suggested that there had been a decrease in one per cent to the number of people quitting cigarettes.

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