ASH Daily News for 25 June 2008

Deadly menace of bootleg cigarettes

The North East is the “number one hotspot” for deadly cigarettes smuggled from abroad, putting lives at risk in some of our poorest communities, health bosses warned. It comes as leading figures on the stop smoking issue meet to debate the number of services available for those wanting to stub out the habit. Fresh Smoke Free North East estimates that there are 14,500 smokers aged between 11 and 15 years old in the North East.

And research has shown that children who begin smoking before they turn 16 are three times more likely to die of cancer than some one who starts in their mid-20s. A regional action plan draft on smuggling will be revealed tomorrow at a conference led by Fresh Smoke Free North East when it meets at Hardwick Hall, Sedgefield, 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.

At a conference yesterday it was revealed that more needed to be done to promote nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and for the producers to halve the price. Campaigners also urged that NHS Stop Smoking Service 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."

Regionwide there are more than 500,000 people who smoke and 5,500 smoke-related deaths in the North East. 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: journallive.co.uk, 24 June 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/o64ap

South East takes views on tobacco advertising

Representatives from organisations across the South East, came together today to give their views on new proposals to restrict tobacco advertising in the South East and across the country. The event, organised by the South East Regional Public Health Group, looked at the main issues raised in the Department of Health consultation document 'The Future of Tobacco Control' and their impact on the South East.

The consultation document aims to start a debate around further measures that would stop people smoking and prevent young people starting to smoke. The ideas and proposals in the consultation include:

* removing branding and logos from all tobacco packaging;

* having a minimum pack size of 20 - to stop young people, who can only afford packs of 10, buying cigarettes;

* restricting access to cigarette vending machines by young people - whether by banning vending machines altogether or through systems that only allow adult purchase;

* restricting the display of tobacco products in shops. which may include putting cigarettes under the counter; and

* banning the advertising of smoking paraphernalia, such as cigarette papers.

The take up of smoking in young people is lower than a decade ago, but over 200,000 of all under 16's start smoking each year. As a result they are 3 times more likely to die of cancer due to smoking than someone who starts in their mid-20s. Professor John Newton, Regional Director of Public Health for the South East said: "It is important for parents to understand that stopping smoking will not only benefit their own health, but also help prevent future generations from suffering from the damaging effects of tobacco. I urge smokers to take advantage of the free professional NHS help available, to support them in stopping smoking."

Research has shown that children and young people are more receptive to tobacco advertising than adults, and that since the ban on tobacco advertising, prominent displays at point of sale have become vital as one of the few remaining means of tobacco promotion. Evidence suggests that this can persuade existing smokers to keep smoking and young non-smokers to start. The estimated cost to the NHS of treating smoking related illness is between £1.4 and 1.7 billion per year. Across the South East Region 20% of people are currently smokers, although in some areas this figure is much higher.

Source: nds.coi.gov.uk, 24 June 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/Gx8M1

Smoking ban has gone down a treat in English offices

As we approach the first anniversary of the smoking ban on 1 July 2008 it looks like it has had a positive effect in English workplaces. Monster research has shown that nearly two thirds of English workers (62%) have found that the smoking ban improved their work environment, however one in three also felt that time was wasted with co-workers/employees leaving the building for cigarette breaks. 

Monster.co.uk recently asked 545 workers in England, “Has the smoking ban improved your work environment?” and the overall results revealed the following:

34% (187 votes) Yes but time wasted with people leaving building for cigarette break
28% (155 votes) Yes – the office is a much nicer place to work
24% (132 votes) No - very inconvenient
13% (71 votes) Not really as no one smoked before

While the smoking ban has had less of an effect in offices than in other public places, as many offices have banned smoking for a while, clearly it has still had an impact. Figures show that an average smoker takes six 10 minute breaks each day, which results in a loss of one hour a day per smoker, or five hours a week *. Employees who smoke are also more prone to ill health. It is in every company’s interest to encourage their employees to quit smoking by providing support and raising awareness.

* UK smoking law resource centre http://www.nosmokinglaw.co.uk

Source: onrec.com, 25 June 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/2NX3F

Abbey encourages smokers to save

Abbey is urging Britain's current and former smokers to save the money they spend on cigarettes. The bank estimates that an average 20-a-day smoker spends £170 per month on their habit and suggests that the cash could be put to better use. July 1st marks the first anniversary of England's smoking ban and many smokers chose that day last year to give up the habit for good.

Abbey estimates that a 20-a-day smoker could have built up a whopping gross balance of £2,119.26 since the smoking ban simply by paying the money they spent on cigarettes in a high interest paying savings account such as the Abbey Fixed Rate Monthly Saver, which currently pays 7.25 per cent gross fixed for one year.

Paying cash into a six per cent tax-free Abbey Direct ISA, a leading cash mini ISA, would have built up £2,099.84 over the course of a year and the money could be used by smokers to ease the burden of the credit crunch by helping them to overpay on the mortgages and reduce their lending term. Reza Attar-Zadeh, Abbey director of savings and investments, said: "It goes without saying that giving up smoking is not only great for your health but also for your bank balance. Using the saving wisely could knock years off your mortgage."

Source: moneynews.co.uk, 24 June 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/aR4zk

BAT Turkish acquisition completed

British American Tobacco today completed its acquisition of the cigarette business assets of Tekel, the Turkish state-owned tobacco company.  The completion follows earlier approval by Turkey’s Competition Board and ratification by the Turkish Privatisation High Council. British American Tobacco won the auction for the assets on 22 February this year with a bid of US$ 1.72 billion.

Source: bat.com, 24 June 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/3puzw