ONE THIRD OF smokers admit attempting to sabotage another smoker’s attempts to quit, according to a new study.

Jealousy, guilt about their own smoking and wanting a smoking “buddy” were among the reasons people gave for wanting to wreck another’s attempts to quit.

The data was collected from 6,300 current and former smokers by Pfizer as part of its Don’t Go Cold Turkey campaign. It found that 31 per cent of smokers admitted being “saboteurs”.

However it also found that 72 per cent of smokers who tried to quit found that someone else had tried to overthrow their attempts to do so.

In total, smokers said they tried to quit smoking at least three times. One in five said they had tried five times or more.

Pfizer says that the majority of people try and quit through willpower alone. However, the majority of people using this approach will fail within eight days and only three per cent will be smoke-free after one year says the pharmaceutical company, which says that it “manufactures an agent to aid smoking cessation in adults”.

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