ASH Daily News for 17 July 2008

Smoking among school children at 25-year low

Smoking among school children has fallen to its lowest level for 25 years, according to an NHS Information Centre survey.

Six percent of pupils mostly aged 11 to 15 smoked regularly in 2007, the lowest figure recorded since the survey began in 1982.

Drug and alcohol use among the same age group is also falling, according to the survey Drug use, smoking and drinking among young people in England in 2007.

It is estimated that of pupils aged 11 to 15, 6% are likely to smoke regularly, compared to 10% in 2001.

A total of 29% reported either drinking, smoking or taking drugs recently, while 4% reported doing all three.

Tim Straughan, NHS Information Centre Chief Executive, said: "These figures show schoolchildren are turning their back on tobacco. The survey also shows drugs and alcohol appear to have a decreasing hold on 11 to 15-year-olds, which can only be a good thing for future generations."
 

Source: Nursing in Practice, 17 July 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6jo3r3

EU wants smokers to pay more for cigarettes

Smokers in Europe will have to pay more for their cigarettes under plans by Brussels to increase minimum tax levels on tobacco over the next six years.

The European Commission said that the move, which will affect smokers in some of the newer EU member states hardest - will help cut tobacco consumption by 10 per cent over the next five years.

Currently, excise duties on cigarettes must account for at least 57 per cent of the price and be at least €64 per 1,000 cigarettes, for products falling into the most popular price category."

The European Commission is proposing to raise the percentage to 63 per cent and the rate to €90 for all cigarettes by 2014. It also plans to update definitions of different types of tobacco products, so that loopholes are removed which allow certain products to be presented as cigars, cigarillos or pipe tobacco and so enjoy a lower tax rate.

The commission estimates that the impact could be to increase prices in some newer members states - such as Bulgaria and the Czech Republic - by more than 30 per cent, and in Poland by more than 40 per cent. However, in countries such as Ireland, the UK and Denmark, where tobacco products are already heavily taxed, there would be no impact.

Source: The Financial Times, 17 July 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/5nqejr

USA: Study finds big tobacco lures young smokers with menthol cigarettes

A new study has found that tobacco companies are manipulating menthol levels in cigarettes to appeal to newer, younger smokers as part of a deliberate strategy to get younger people, particularly African-Americans addicted.

Dr Gregory Connolly, senior author of a paper being published in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health said, "If anything, menthol is being used as a candy to help the toxin go down. If we let the industry go ahead and design the product the way they want to, it's going to lead to the premature death of millions and millions of Americans."

A bill pending in Congress would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration power to regulate menthol and other additives in cigarettes.

John R. Seffrin, Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society, said, "This study provides evidence of one of the many ways tobacco companies manipulate the ingredients in cigarettes in an effort to entice and addict new consumers. Legislation in Congress would give the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products and put an end to tobacco industry practices that prey upon children and blatantly mislead adults. The bill would end the marketing of tobacco products to children, force companies for the first time to disclose the ingredients in their products and allow the FDA to regulate all tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, based on science."

Menthol itself is not addictive, but it can ease the delivery of nicotine, which is highly addictive. More than 70 percent of African-American smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared with about 30 percent of white smokers. It's unclear if menthol cigarettes are more harmful than "regular" cigarettes, the study authors said.

Connolly and his colleagues looked at internal tobacco industry documents which showed that companies researched how menthol levels could affect sales among different demographic groups. Cigarettes with milder menthol levels appeal to younger smokers.

The deliberate manipulation of menthol levels was accompanied by more focused advertising of mentholated cigarettes and the introduction of new brands such as Marlboro Milds in 2000.

Connolly said, "The product itself stands outside the law, and industry is exploiting that, tailoring their brands to specific groups and integrating that with what marketing they have left and, unfortunately, they're being successful. The outcome should be regulation of menthol by the FDA. It's the one hole."

The study authors also argued that this industry practice is a violation of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), which prohibits companies from marketing directly or indirectly to youths.

David Sylvia, a spokesman for cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, said: "We don't believe that this study's hypothesis or conclusions are supported by the facts cited in the study. In fact, we disagree with their conclusion that menthol levels in our products were manipulated to gain market share among adolescents, and are unable to find any evidence supporting that conclusion within this study."

Source: Healthfinder, 16 July 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/5dryjh

Canada: Most teen smokers struggle to quit smoking

According to a new study by Universite de Montreal, teenage smokers often try to quit and seriously believe they can, only realising they're addicted when it's too late,

The study charted the course of nicotine addiction in teens over five years, establishing several common milestones. Adolescents make their first serious attempt to give up smoking after only 2 1/2 months, yet frequently they continue to smoke. It's usually not until nearly two years passes that their addiction dawns on them, and by that point their confidence to quit is shattered.

Jennifer O'Loughlin, lead author of the study published in the American Journal of Public Health said, "Teenagers are experiencing symptoms of dependence with really low exposures to cigarettes, and beginning to experience this difficulty of quitting very, very early on. kids."

The physiological impact smoking has on the body and brain is likely the strongest reason these early smokers can't give up, suggests O'Loughlin, who works in the university's social and preventative medicine department.

The study - funded by the Canadian Cancer Society - followed 319 students ages 12 or 13 who had never smoked, but picked it up during the five years of the research. Every three months, the group answered a questionnaire about their habits.

More than 70 per cent expressed a desire to quit, but only 19 per cent managed to go smoke free for 12 months or more. Girls and boys were equally unsuccessful in their quitting attempts, although girls were more likely to want to try to stop.

The study found that daily smoking became the norm around the two-year point, when cravings and withdrawal symptoms are common. Two further years and teens were staggering under the albatross of full-blown tobacco dependence.

"Kids really don't understand how quickly they can get addicted to nicotine and to smoking," said Roberta Ferrence, executive director of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit.

In Ferrence's view, policy-makers must boost taxes and control smuggling and contraband products, while parents should refuse allowances and ban their children from lighting up at home.

"We still tend to view smoking as something you choose to do," she said. "Clearly, if kids are well on the road to addiction so quickly and most of these kids are not even aged where they can make these lifelong decisions then it's our responsibility to do something."
 

Source: The Canadian Press, 17 July 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/5wydla

Nigeria: Tobacco firms ask court to dismiss NGN5.3 trillion suit

Tobacco manufacturers have asked a federal high court to dismiss the NGN5.3 trillion suit filed against them by the Nigerian government.

The Nigerian government has filed a suit against five tobacco companies accusing them of causing damages to under-aged smokers through their operations in Nigeria. As compensation, the government has asked these firms, including British American Tobacco (Nigeria), International Tobacco, British American Tobacco, British American Tobacco (Investment) and Philip Morris International, to pay NGN5.3 trillion.

All other companies other than Philip Morris International have filed separate preliminary objections to the suit challenging the jurisdiction of the federal high court to hear and determine the case.

According to British American Tobacco (Nigeria), although the government has alleged that the firms are responsible for the expense that it had to bear in relation to the damages caused to smokers' health, the government did not corroborate it with documentary evidence. Therefore, the government is not entitled to receive any compensation.

The company further added that the government lacked the legal standing to institute the case. The case will now be heard on October 23, 2008.

In line with the government's version, the tobacco companies' products were addictive in nature and also caused damaged to health. In particular, the government wants the court to issue an injunction restricting the companies to market, promote, distribute and sell their products to minors 

Source: Datamonitor, 16 July 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6l8vb5o