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Is this going to be you?
The anti-smoking campaign is stepping up a gear.
Smokers desperate to quit but not quite able to stub out their last cigarette will now be getting some extra help in the form of a new battle bus, backed up by a hard-hitting poster campaign.
The bus will be taking to the streets of Portsmouth as part of a 1m campaign to encourage smokers to kick the habit, and will feature a hi-tech gadget to help shock people into kicking the habit for good.
Inside the bus will be 'age progression technology', which will give smokers the opportunity to see how they will look in 10 years' time if they continue to smoke, damaging their skin.
Photographs showing the ageing process will be handed over to the smokers for them to keep – to try to stop them lighting up again.
The bus, which will be touring the region during the next 40 days, will have a carbon monoxide monitor to show smokers how much of the deadly gas is in their breath, and a team of advisers will be on board to talk to smokers and offer help on quitting for good.
The campaign is also using hard-hitting images to drive its message home, including pictures of a mother smoking while holding her baby as well as using the slogan 'Five minutes smoking a cigarette takes 12 minutes off your life'.
Dr Paul Edmondson-Jones, director of public health in Portsmouth where some areas have smoking rates touching 50 per cent, said: 'We're right behind the battle bus campaign and it is just one of the many ways in which we are trying to help people to quit smoking for life.
'We all know the harm smoking can do – it damages your health, it hits you in the pocket and, as we hope to show, it even affects your looks.
'But it's never too late to stop, whatever your age, and get the benefit from what can be a life-changing, life-saving decision.'
Free fruit will also be handed out as part of an eat healthy message and to show how, after quitting smoking – even for just a few days – food tastes completely different.
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Weather for Portsmouth
Sunday 12 February 2012
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