ASH Daily News for 20 June 2008

Imperial Tobacco to cut 260 jobs in Britain

Imperial Tobacco, the world's fourth biggest cigarette manufacturer, is to cut 15 percent of its UK workforce as part of a cull of 2,440 employees globally following its acquisition of Spanish rival Altadis in January this year.

The UK company will make 260 of its 1,700 UK staff redundant as it closes its Bristol cigar factory, transferring production to Cantabria in Spain. Imperial will also restructure its Nottingham cigarette factory but the company's headquarters will remain in Bristol.

Like other global cigarette companies, Imperial has been hit by a decline in smoker numbers in Western Europe and has sought to push through growth through acquisitions and by expanding in emerging markets.

The job cuts will be pushed through over the next three years as Imperial integrates Altadis's businesses.

Imperial said the changes would strengthen the enlarged group's competitive position in a challenging and highly regulated operating environment by addressing over-capacity and improving efficiencies.

As part of the restructuring, Imperial - which employs 40,000 people - will close six of its 58 factories globally.

The biggest cuts come in France and Altadis's home market in Spain. Staff numbers will be reduced by 22 percent in France to about 3,640, with 12 percent of Imperial's 6,700 staff cut in Spain.

Further redundancies will be made in Germany, Poland, Russia, as well as in smaller markets including Belgium, Italy, Slovakia and Ukraine.

Source: The Telegraph, 19 June 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6cmx8s

Yorkshire man killed in fire caused by a cigarette

A young South Yorkshire man broke down in tears as he told an inquest how he battled in vain to save his friend from a raging house fire started by a dropped cigarette.

Christopher Dunster died at his home in Pinfold Cottages, Cudworth, Barnsley, in the ferocious blaze which took hold in minutes.

Mr Dunster, who had drunk eight or nine pints of lager and more than half a pint of whiskey, is thought to have nodded off with a lit cigarette in his hand, igniting the chair he was sitting in.

His best friend Steven Jones, who described Mr Dunster as like a brother to him, broke down during the inquest after recalling the horrific night the 41 year old farmhand died.

Mr Jones, in his 20s, said he spent the day last year with Mr Dunster, known by the nickname Taffy.

Mr Jones only drank three cans of lager throughout the day but Mr Dunster drank in several pubs and at Mr Jones' house in Grimethorpe.

Mr Jones told the Sheffield inquest, "He was very drunk, in one of the worst states I had ever seen him. I had to hold him up and he kept falling over."

Mr Jones returned to Mr Dunster's home with him at around 11pm, and said Mr Dunster settled himself in his "favourite chair" and wrapped himself in a blanket.

He said he had previously told Mr Dunster to watch himself following a string of incidents in which he had burnt his furniture after falling asleep while smoking.

Mr Jones added, "After he sat down he told me he had a cigarette and he would save me some. I then went upstairs to use the toilet, returning around 10 minutes later."

"As I came downstairs I saw smoke and there were flames everywhere. I was shouting but I couldn't see Taffy, and I tried to go in but the flames were just too big and hot."

Deputy coroner Mr Donald Coutts-Wood said Mr Dunster died as a result of inhaling smoke and fire gases, and recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Source: Lancashire Evening Post, 19 June 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/5lmpmd

Massachusetts: Fewer heart disease deaths as smoking declines

A new study that looked at the ongoing Massachusetts inititative found that if more states introduce tobacco control programs for their residents who are regular smokers, the number of U.S. deaths due to coronary heart disease might drop.

A connection exists between coronary heart disease and cigarette smoking, and the new study determines how a reduction in smoking affected the number of related deaths in Massachusetts between 1993 and 2003. The state introduced its Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program (MTCP) in 1992, which received funding through a special cigarette tax, and the researchers say they expected to find it helped control the rate of smoking.

 Lead author Zubair Kabir, M.D., a research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health said, “California was the first state to have a statewide program like the MTCP and they witnessed substantial declines. So it was not surprising that Massachusetts, the second state, would see such declines as well, which reflect the impact of a comprehensive, integrated and well-funded program.”

Kabir and his colleagues examined data from daily smokers ages 25 to 84. They found that between 1993 and 2003, coronary heart disease mortality declined 31 percent, from 199 deaths to 137 deaths per 100,000 persons each year. Smoking prevalence declined from 20.5 percent to 14.5 percent

Based on these results, the researchers calculated that 425 fewer coronary heart disease deaths were attributable to decreased smoking during the 10-year period. They concluded that expanding comprehensive tobacco control programs, such as MTCP, to other states could avoid more tobacco related disease deaths.

The study appears in the August issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Source: Center For The Advancement of Health, 19 June 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6b52rp
 

Scotland: Social environment of school affects smoking in young

According to new research, pupils who experience positive and inclusive social environments in school are less likely to take up smoking.

A study of high school children suggested that current school based anti-smoking interventions were largely ineffective.

But the Medical Research Council (MRC) found that the wider school environment made a difference.

It looked at more than 5,000 pupils in 24 Scottish schools.

The study was led by Marion Henderson of the MRC social and public health sciences unit in Glasgow.

She said: "The social environment of schools, in particular the quality of teacher-pupil relationships, pupils' attitude to school and the school's focus on caring and inclusiveness, all influence both boys' and girls' smoking habits."

Decreases in adult smoking rates in recent years have not been matched in younger smokers.

Dr Henderson and her colleagues found that, on average, 25% of males and 39% of females aged 15-16, reported that they either regularly or occasionally smoked.

Speaking about current school-based anti-smoking measures she said: "Most focus on individual characteristics rather than the environment in which adolescents smoke.

"Our research has shown that this environment acts to either encourage or discourage smoking."

Dr Henderson said: "Our results suggest that investing in the social environment of schools and endeavouring to make school a positive experience even for less academically able pupils may have the potential to reduce smoking rates, particularly for boys."

The research has been published in the open access journal BMC Public Health.

Source: BBC News, 19 June 2008  
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6pjyqv

Northern Ireland: Councils soft over smoking ban

An assembly member has said some councils in Northern Ireland must drop their softly, softly approach to people smoking in public places. 

Simon Hamilton said since the ban was brought in on 30 April 2007 there have been widely different approaches to enforcement by local councils.

While Castlereagh Borough Council detected 185 cases up to 31 March 2008, Dungannon Borough Council had none.

Two people in Northern Ireland have been prosecuted for smoking in a smokefree place.

During the same period, from 30 April 2007 until 31 March 2008, 350 written warnings and 34 fixed penalty notices were issued.

Mr Hamilton said, "The figures, revealed to me by the health minister would suggest that even at this early stage, there are widely different approaches to the enforcement of the smoking ban across Northern Ireland."

"I simply cannot believe that in one area, there were no breaches of the ban at all in the last year."

The Strangford DUP assembly member said, "When the smoking ban was introduced, it was almost universally welcomed, even by many smokers, as a good piece of legislation."

"As experience shows us, it isn't good enough to have a sensible law if it isn't implemented robustly," he said.

Source: BBC News, 19 June 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6gnbum