Cash prize for quitting smoking

2006-03-02 13:18

Berlin - Germany is offering rewards of up to €10 000 to smokers who quit, Health Minister Ulla Schmidt said on Wednesday.

In the fourth national campaign against addiction to cigarettes, Smoke-Free 2006, smokers who register for the programme and manage to quit for at least four weeks will be eligible for a cash bonus.

"You will not only be richer but healthier too," Schmidt said.

The programme, launched in cooperation with the federal agency for health education and the German Cancer Research Center, will run in May and target young smokers in particular via pharmacies, doctors, health insurance schemes and the Internet.

Winners will be selected randomly among participants, who will then be subjected to a urine test to prove they did not smoke during the previous four weeks.

The last time the initiative ran, in 2004, 90 000 smokers enrolled and one in three of them have managed to stay away from cigarettes.

"That is an excellent success rate," Schmidt said, adding that tobacco-related health costs had spiralled to €17bn per year.

Between 110 000 and 140 000 Germans die of illnesses linked to tobacco consumption annually, according to official statistics.

- AFP