ASH Daily News for 02 July 2008

Public open to stronger tobacco control measures

Public support for smoke-free measures is still on the rise a year after the introduction of England's ban on smoking in public places, new research shows. Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics found that 80 per cent of people are in favour of the smoking ban and a new poll from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has now revealed that many people want even stronger measures.

More than three quarters of English adults support a ban on smoking in cars carrying children while 85 per cent want shops to be banned from selling tobacco products if they are caught selling cigarettes to children. In addition, 65 per cent are in favour of a ban on tobacco vending machines while 59 per cent want shop displays of tobacco products to be prohibited.

ASH director Deborah Arnott said that the smoking ban has been a 'fantastic success' and has been 'hugely popular' with members of the public. 'What it also shows is a hunger for more action - the smoke-free law is not an end in itself but has proven to be a catalyst for further controls on tobacco,' she claimed. Ms Arnott noted that nine million people in England are still addicted to tobacco and called for further efforts to reduce smoking rates and protect children from tobacco products and exposure to secondhand smoke.

Source: netdoctor.co.uk, 01 July 2008
Link: http://news.netdoctor.co.uk/news_detail.php?id=18663717

Lobbyists pressure MPs to relax Smokefree law

Pro-smoking group FOREST pressured MPs yesterday to amend the smoking ban and allow licensed smoking rooms in pubs and clubs. Speaking at a House of Commons reception hosted by Tory MP Philip Davies the group’s director Simon Clark highlighted the plight of pubs to an audience of MPs. Handing them each a complimentary Montecristo No. 2 cigar, he said: “Many pubs and clubs have suffered serious economic hardship and for many smokers the social impact has been equally severe. It is very unfair, especially on older smokers. For some mental health sufferers the impact of the ban has been devastating.

"Smokers are not going to disappear like a puff of smoke, so let’s be fair and practical about this. We are asking the government to amend the legislation so that pubs and clubs can apply for a license to introduce well-ventilated separate smoking rooms. We want to bring back some element of choice for consumers, owners, and members of staff.” Clark will launch FOREST's renewed ‘Amend the Smoking Ban’ campaign exactly a year after the ban’s implementation, supported by documents detailing its social and economic impact.

Source: The Publican, 01 July 2008
Link: http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?sectioncode=7&storycode=60307

COPD susceptibility genes identified

Scientists in the USA believe they have identified the genes that make smokers susceptible to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Ronald Crystal (Cornell University, New York) and co-workers comment: "Despite the overwhelming evidence of cigarette smoking as the major risk factor for the development of COPD, the majority of long-term smokers remain healthy, strongly suggesting that genetic factors modify disease susceptibility to this environmental stress."

Crystal and colleagues used a variety of genetic analysis techniques to study epithelial tissues taken from the small airways of 18 healthy non-smokers, 18 normal smokers, and 18 smokers with COPD. Initial analysis revealed a group of smoking-dependent genes that had significantly different levels of expression in smokers compared with non-smokers. Further analysis narrowed the initial group of differentially-expressed genes to 31 probe sets that were significantly responsive to smoking. Interestingly, the variation in gene expression was significantly greater in smokers with COPD than in smokers without the condition.

The researchers also determined the functional significance of the most highly responsive genes and showed that the majority were involved in signal transduction, the degradation of foreign substances, and the processing of oxidants. The authors note that their results should be used to complement ongoing genome-wide analyses for COPD susceptibility genes. Concluding, they say that they have shown that "variability in gene expression level is a critical factor in the development of COPD."

Source: medwirenews, 02 July 2008   View Abstract
Link: http://www.medwire-news.md/48/76053/Respiratory/COPD_susceptibility_genes_identified.html

Germany: Public smoking becomes illegal

Lighting up in bars and restaurants became illegal across Germany's 16 states yesterday, spelling the end of the country's status as one of Europe's last smokers' havens. North-Rhine Westphalia and Thuringia became the last two regions to implement public smoking bans on July 1, all other states having done so piecemeal since late 2007.

In Berlin, where a ban took effect on January 1, smokers were granted a six-month period of grace that expired on Tuesday and those who breach the ban now face fines of 1,000 euros (1,575 dollars). In the eastern state of Saxony, fines can run up to 5,000 euros but in the northern port of Hamburg and Thuringia, in eastern Germany, the highest fine authorities can issue is 500 euros. The wealthy southern state of Bavaria is considered to have the country's toughest public smoking ban because it prohibits restaurants from opening separate smoking sections -- a practice allowed in other states.

The new anti-tobacco laws have met with strong popular resistance and are being challenged in courts around the country, where nearly one in three adults smoke. In Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Rhineland-Palatinate, judges have lifted the ban in single-room bars, provided the owners serve the drinks themselves. The German Constitutional Court last month began hearing three legal challenges to the new laws, including one from barkeepers and nightclub owners who contend that it interferes with their right to practise their profession.

The German cancer association, which claims 3,300 people die from passive smoking in Germany annually, said yesterday that the extension of the ban to all states meant "people can breathe a sigh of relief." But the country's biggest anti-tobacco lobby, Pro Rauchfrei, has said efforts to stamp out public smoking are doomed because the absence of a single federal ban and the number of exemptions allowed by the courts have created too much confusion. 

Source: Yahoo News, 01 July 2008
Link: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080701/thl-germany-health-law-tobacco-96993ab.html