London, Sep 14 (IANS) Almost all children in England - 96 percent - with a parent who smokes wish they would quit, according to a government poll.
The survey of 1,000 children in England aged eight to 13 years also found that 64 percent of children whose parents smoke would rather their parents quit than give them more pocket money.

The latest data found that the number of children aged between 11 and 15 who said they smoke regularly has halved since the 1990s, pointing to an emerging picture of Britain’s first ‘Smokefree Generation’.

Nine out of 10 children surveyed have never tried a cigarette, with 91 percent of them believing that they will never smoke.

The results were published at the launch of the British government’s National Health Service (NHS) campaign aimed at getting loved ones to stop smoking.

Public health minister Gillian Merron said: “You are four times more likely to quit if you use the free NHS stop smoking service. The facts are clear - every week 2,000 people die from smoking-related diseases, which has a devastating effect on children’s lives.”

The health risks of smoking are clear to children with nine out of ten knowing it damages the health of people around them and three quarters know that is causes cancer.