ASH Daily News for 27 June 2008

Deadly menace of bootleg cigarettes

The North East is the “number one hotspot” for cigarettes smuggled from abroad, putting lives at risk in some of our poorest communities.

The warning comes as leading health profressionals met to debate the number of services available for those wanting to quit.

Fresh Smoke Free North East estimates that there are 14,500 smokers aged between 11 and 15 years old in the North East.

Research has shown that children who begin smoking before they turn 16 are three times more likely to die of cancer than someone who starts in their mid-20s.

A regional action plan draft on smuggling was revealed at a conference led by Fresh Smoke Free North East County Durham.

It is one of four events hosted by Fresh to explore the key content of the consultation on the new National Tobacco Strategy.

Campaigners also urged that NHS Stop Smoking Services needed to become more “user-friendly” to increase the number of people who attended.

Deborah Arnott, Director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) said she wanted marketing changed to help younger people quit. She said smokers should be given access to long term supplies of medicinal nicotine in order to tackle a tobacco habit which will kill one out of every two of them.

Ms Arnott added: “Smokers believe it’s the nicotine that gives them life threatening diseases such as cancer and heart disease, but this is simply not the case. It’s not the nicotine that kills tobacco users but the smoke they inhale."

“Smokers could save their lives by chewing nicotine gum rather than smoking and we want to encourage them to do so. Unfortunately current products are not sufficiently fast-acting, attractive or easy to use to be competitive with cigarettes, so we also need better nicotine products.

Professor Robert West, Director of tobacco studies at the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Unit, said a big threat in lower income groups was the use of hand-rolled tobacco.

Ailsa Rutter, director of Fresh, said: “With the highest smoking rate in England, the North East has the most to gain from a long-term, well-funded and evidence-based tobacco strategy.”

Source: Journal Live, 24 June 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6587ld

Chocolate cigarettes 'encourage children to smoke'

Concerns have been raised about the availability of candy-style imitation cigarettes to children in Scarborough.

The sweets, which look remarkably like a hand-rolled cigarette and packaged in replica cigarette packets are now accessible in some shops in Scarborough.

John Palethorpe, of Maria's Court, said: "The child, was with his mother and he was about nine-years-old. She was smoking and he had one of these cigarettes pretending to smoke - emulating exactly what the mother was doing."

He said he and his wife, Sandra, realised that it was a sweet and were then alerted to the fact that this type of sweet was available in Scarborough shops.

North Yorkshire Trading Standards said it was not illegal to sell the products.

Derek Smith, consumer services section leader, said: "Sugar 'cigarettes' and novelty 'smokers sets' made from chocolate or liquorice, were common place at one time.

"As the public became more aware of the dangers associated with smoking tobacco, coupled with the health promotions to prevent children taking up the habit, the demand for these types of products waned.

"Recently there has been a trend for buying so-called retro candy such as aniseed balls and spangles. It's unfortunate that chocolate cigarettes have re surfaced but it's not illegal to sell them and it's up to retailers to decide whether or not it's a product with which they wish to be associated."

Source: Scarborough Evening News, 26 June 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6gkeme

Greece to ban indoor smoking in public from 2010.

The Health Ministry said that Greece plans to ban tobacco from all indoor public places from 2010 and prohibit under-18s from purchasing it.

Greece has already banned smoking in hospitals, offices and taxis and requires restaurant and bar owners to designate smoking and non-smoking areas to protect public health.

A Health Ministry official said the new law, to be brought before parliament in the coming days, was aimed at saving the lives of an estimated 600 people who die every year from passive smoking in Greece.

Under the proposed legislation, individuals would be fined up to 300 euros (237 pounds) for smoking in public places.

Health Ministry official, Alexis Zorbas said, "The new law will only allow adults to buy tobacco products, while smoking will not be allowed in indoor public places anymore."

An estimated 38 percent of adult Greeks are regular smokers, the highest proportion in the 27-nation European Union, according to EU statistics.

Earlier this year, neighbouring Turkey passed a smoke-free law to try to bring the nation of hardened smokers into line with much of the rest of Europe.

Many members of the European Union - such as Belgium, England, Portugal and Italy - have banned smoking in most indoor public places.

Source: Reuters News, 26 June 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/597r57

USA: Study shows youth smoking rates have stagnated

An article in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows, alarmingly, that the decline in smoking rates among high school students seen from 1997 to 2003 continues to stagnate. These results are an ominous sign as an overwhelming majority of smokers begin their deadly addiction during this critical stage of development in their lives. 

Bernadette A. Toomey, President and CEO of the American Lung Association said, "Ninety percent of smokers start before their 21st birthday, and tragically up to one-half of them will eventually die from a tobacco-related disease. This is a clear warning sign that our leaders must summon the political will to implement lifesaving policies we know will work to end our nation's tobacco epidemic."

Legislation is pending before the U.S. Congress granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products  to help reduce the pervasive pedaling of tobacco products to our children. The legislation has passed out of committee in both the House and Senate, but is awaiting floor action in both houses.

Toomey explained, "Congress needs to pass the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act to curb tobacco marketing to our youth. Without this legislation in place, the tobacco companies will continue to market and sell candy-flavoured cigarettes and other products aimed at addicting our nation's most vulnerable citizens."

These results also speak to the states' not fully funding and implementing comprehensive tobacco prevention and cessation programmess. Thirty two states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico earned "Fs" for failing to adequately fund their programmes in the American Lung Association's State of Tobacco Control 2007 report released in January. Only six states funded prevention programmes at the levels recommended by the CDC.

Toomey stated, "The failure of states to fully fund comprehensive tobacco prevention programmess is inexcusable - especially when examined in light of the amount of tobacco revenue that comes into their states each year. These programmes are proven and effective at reducing youth smoking rates."

Source: News-Medical.Net, 26 June 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/5otr6y

South Africa: MPs endorse tobacco bill

The National Assembly has approved the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Bill designed to tighten cigarette regulations. 

The step, supported by all political parties, will prohibit the sale of tobacco products in health and education institutions, increase the legal age for buying tobacco from 16 to 18, and restrict the sale of tobacco products from vending machines.

It will make advertising, promotion and sponsorships by tobacco industries illegal unless they are made anonymously.

The legislation will force manufacturers to display ghastly images of people suffering from smoking-related diseases to create public awareness on the dangers of smoking.

The measure, which the Tobacco Institute of SA (Tisa) had warned would have a crippling financial effect on the industry, will now be forwarded to the National Council of Provinces for consideration.

Source: iafrica, 27 June 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6na939