AN MS joined campaigners and school pupils to celebrate the 40th anniversary of No Smoking Day in Wales.
Llŷr Gruffydd, who represents North Wales in the Senedd, met with representatives from ASH Wales and young people from across Wales at the Welsh Parliament.
No Smoking Day is a national awareness campaign that is intended to help smokers who want to quit, show support to those who are already on their quitting journey and celebrate those who have successfully stopped smoking.
The first No Smoking Day was held in Wales in 1984. Since then smoking rates in the adult population in Wales have dropped from 33% to 13%.
This means hundreds of thousands of people living healthier lives with far less risk of cancer and other life changing and life threatening illnesses.
At the event in the Senedd, Mr Gruffydd, of Plaid Cymru, heard about the work that has been done to fight tobacco addiction in Welsh communities.
The pupils in attendance learned about the well-known health harms of smoking, and learned about the environmental impact of cigarettes and how they harm our oceans and wildlife.
Llŷr Gruffydd MS said: “It was a pleasure to meet the team from ASH Wales at the Senedd and hear about the important work they’ve been doing to combat tobacco addiction in our communities.
“It is important that young people especially learn about how smoking can damage their health as well as the environment so that they are encouraged to not pick up the habit.
“It’s hugely encouraging that since the first No Smoking Day in 1984 the number of adults smoking in Wales has dropped from 33% to 13%.
“This has meant that far fewer people have lost their lives in an untimely way than otherwise would have been the case.
“But there is still more to be done as is clear from that data that for the 13% of adults still smoking in Wales, smoking is the leading cause of ill-health and early death, as well as a major cause of health inequality.
“This is why it is important to keep working towards the goal of a smoke free Wales because reaching it would mean that even more lives are saved in the future.
“No Smoking Day is a time to reflect on the harms that smoking still poses to those who continue to smoke and those around them, as well as a time to be hopeful that within the next 40 years, we’ll see smoking as a thing of the past.”
