Toronto, ON - A new Ipsos Reid survey conducted on behalf of Pfizer finds that some former smokers and those who have tried to quit (36%) are concerned about possible weight gain associated with quitting. Of these consumers, 18% are somewhat concerned and 18% are very/extremely concerned.

The survey also finds that four in ten (41%) of former smokers and those who tried to quit did gain weight while trying to give up smoking. It comes as no surprise, then, that a majority (74%) of current smokers disagree that the holiday season, typically a time of year which includes plenty of indulgence, is an "excellent" time to quit smoking.

Furthermore, survey results indicate that almost half (47%) of current smokers would consider using a nicotine replacement therapy to quit smoking if they knew it would help them control weight gain.

Finally, currently, 22% of Canadian adults are smokers, 31% are former smokers, and 47% have never been smokers. Most (84%) of current smokers have tried to quit smoking.

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid/Pfizer poll conducted from November 7-11, 2005. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 2,001 adult Canadians was interviewed by telephone. Of these, 983 consumers were either former smokers or have tried to quit. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within +/-3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.