HC Deb 29 October 1975 vol 898 cc519-20W
Mr. Reid

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what research programmes she has instituted into evaluating methods of smoking withdrawal and the effectiveness of smoking withdrawal clinics.

Dr. Owen

At the Addiction Research Unit of the Maudsley Hospital the effectiveness of advice by general medical practioners to give up smoking is being studied, and various techniques used in smoking withdrawal clinics are being evaluated and new techniques tried out.

A team at St. Mary's Hospital is investigating the effects of different types of health education, including advice to give up smoking, on factory employees with a high risk of coronary heart disease.

The Medical Research Council is sponsoring a study on controlled trials of various smoking withdrawal methods by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.