TV Presenter Jenny gets a Taste of Chemical Soup!
30th November 2010
TV presenter Jenny Powell has launched an award-winning Manchester-wide smokefree homes initiative at the Town Hall this November.
The joint initiative between NHS Manchester and Barnardo’s comes off the back of the Wythenshawe’s Healthy Smokefree Families project. The initiative was so successful, helping over 1,000 homes in the ward to sign up as smokefree, that it has now been launched across the entire City.
Part of the scheme is an innovative Chemical Soup concoction, where liquids, each representing a chemical from cigarettes, are mixed together in a large pan. The idea is for parents to consider whether they would leave a bubbling chemical soup on a stove while their children play nearby; the equivalent to smoking inside the house. Parents are then offered advice on making their home and vehicle completely smokefree.
The city-wide scheme is called Manchester’s Smokefree Homes. Parents have already been spreading the word and encouraging their friends and family to sign up. Cheshire Mums Magazine talked exclusively to TV presenter Jenny Powell about her reasons for supporting this initiative. Jenny believes the time is right for people to find out about the dangers of passive smoking to children:
“Young children today are fortunate enough to be growing up in a society where the dangers of smoking and indeed passive smoking have been widely publicised, and legislative action has been taken to protect the public from passive smoke. Without wanting to tell people to give up smoking, the Healthy Smokefree Families initiative shows parents who smoke how they can protect their children from breathing in harmful chemicals at home or in the car. The chemical soup is a brilliant visual reminder of what lurks in a seemingly harmless cigarette. The Healthy Smokefree Families initiative shows simple steps of how to create a smoke free environment for children who grow up in families where parents, family friends and relatives smoke around them. My nine year old is already very clued up regarding the dangers of smoking, and she is even very protective of anyone smoking around her 2 year old baby sister, and tells friends who come to visit our home to go outside into the garden to smoke. I live in Manchester and my two children were born at Wythenshawe hospital, so I am very happy to support this project and glad that I can do something to help improve the lives of children in this community. So I am so glad to be involved.
People are not told to stop smoking but instead given advice on how to reduce the harmful effects of passive smoking to their children.
Speaking at the launch of the Chemical Soup Jenny said:
“I’d like to congratulate the people of Wythenshawe on a brilliant project. I’m delighted to launch the chemical soup – it’s a great idea and shows that the chemicals in cigarettes are poisonous and terrible. Smoking in homes and cars makes children ill, and as parents, we all have a duty to protect our children from breathing cigarette smoke by keeping our homes and cars completely smokefree.”
At the launch event, Jenny spoke to many of the Mums who are involved with the Healthy Smokefree Families project, and was keen to hold their cute babies who thanks to the initiative are growing up in healthy smoke free households.
Wythenshawe mum, Shaki Boreke, said:
“Being involved in the Healthy Smokefree families project has been a rewarding, challenging, eye-opening and exciting experience. I go outside to smoke away from my children and I’m now getting the NHS support I need to help me go completely smokefree. The best thing about it for me has been making other people aware of the dangers of smoke and seeing them change.”
Taking seven steps outside from your home to smoke means that children are more likely to be healthier with a significantly reduced risk of asthma, middle ear infection (which can lead to hearing loss and impaired language acquisition), or cot death.
Deirdre Lewis, Childrens Services Manager for Barnardos Sure Start Children’s Centre in Woodhouse Park, said:
“We’re very proud that this initiative has been such a success that it is now being rolled out across Manchester. The effects of smoking on children have long been reported, however the Chemical Soup has helped us to really drive the message home. Hopefully we can make smoking in the home and in cars a thing of the past.”
Abbie Paton, Acting Manager, Manchester Stop Smoking Service said:
“We’re looking forward to using the fantastic chemical soup idea across the city. We hope to see an improvement in children’s health in time missed from school through illness caused by children breathing second hand smoke.”
It’s really easy to get involved:
Find out more by visiting www.stopsmokingmanchester.co.uk
Or tel: 0161 205 5998 for more information