Anyone fancy a bowl of cigarette soup for lunch?

PARENTS will be given lessons in making cigarette soup in a bid to encourage them to smoke away from their children.

Smokefree North West has joined forces with Barnardo’s to carry out training sessions with staff in Bolton’s children’s centres to highlight the harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke, including arsenic, formaldehyde and cadmium.

A kit, complete with cooking pot and fake hazardous liquids, will show parents some of the harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke. Of more than 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, 60 are known to cause cancer as well as other avoidable childhood illnesses.

Parents will then be shown the “cigarette soup”.

Debbie Mellor, deputy head of Oxford Grove Children’s Centre, said: “I was really surprised by the amount of chemicals in cigarettes.

“We all want to protect our children so it's helpful to have all the right facts about how harmful secondhand smoke can really be.” The initiative is the next stage of the Take 7 Steps Out campaign, which asks smokers to take a few steps out of the house when smoking to reduce the dangers of children being exposed to secondhand smoke.

Jan Hutchinson, director of public health at NHS Bolton, said: “It’s important people are aware of the full facts about the amount of harmful toxins in cigar e t t e s. Th e dangers to children are very clear.

“By taking a few short steps outside of the home, parents can take the smoke away from children and protect them from the dangerous substances found in cigarettes.”

Deirdre Lewis, children’s services manager for Barnardo’s in the North West, said: “Using the chemical soup kit helps us equip parents with knowledge in our communities so they can make a positive step to protecting their children’s health.

“We want them now to pass on these messages and get the community talking so that we can prevent many children from suffering unnecessarily.”