Failed anti-cigarettes class for children is ‘waste of £400,000’
NHS cash went on an expensive ’interactive learning‘ project demonising the tobacco trade
ALMOST £400,000 was “wasted” on failed anti-smoking lessons for kids.
NHS cash, enough to pay 18 nurses for a year, went on an “interactive learning” project demonising the tobacco trade.
Operation Smoke Storm involved kids role-playing as secret agents infiltrating an imaginary cigarette firm called R.I.Payne.
But researchers found a pilot study made “no significant difference”.
Comparing results from two schools that tried the lessons against others that did not, they said: “Operation Smoke Storm does not seem to have reduced smoking and susceptibility to smoking among students aged 12-13 in two UK schools.”
Jonathan Isaby, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This is a ludicrous waste of money and yet another example of a fortune spent on a scheme yielding no result.”
The National Institute for Health Research said: “Rigorously testing interventions prevents wasting time and money on things that do not work.”
