Liverpool's smokefree bill to go before Lords
Liverpool's plans to ban smoking in every work place in the city will face its next parliamentary hurdle this month.
On Wednesday 20th July, the House of Lords will give a second reading to Liverpool City Council's Bill.
The date has been confirmed following the Bill's revival in the new Parliament a couple of weeks ago.
The second reading is a crucial stage in the progress of the Bill, and could pave the way for it to go to the House of Commons in the autumn - with the prospect of all workplaces in Liverpool going smoke free next year.
Leader of Liverpool City Council, Councillor Mike Storey, said: "More and more people are getting the message that smoking kills. More than 1,000 people are killed by smoking in Liverpool every year, and something must be done to end this health scandal.
"It's great news that we are now taking the next step towards outlawing smoking in every workplace in Liverpool. It is a major success that we have secured the parliamentary time to get the Bill read in the Lords before the Summer Recess. It's a big boost for the campaign.
"The Lords will now have the opportunity to debate the important health issues that concern every Liverpool resident. Our smoke free proposals will protect the public and all employees who are currently exposed to smoke in the workplace.
"Liverpool City Council is determined to outlaw smoking in all enclosed public areas and workplaces. It is to the government's shame that their half-hearted measures only ban smoking
where food is being served. Smoking kills. If you are serious about protecting people's health, there can be no half-measures."
Chair of Smokefree Liverpool, Andy Hull, said: "The Government's proposals don't go far enough as far as we're concerned.
"They are saying smoking can continue in some pubs and clubs even after their legislation is introduced in 2008.
"We just can't see the logic of this. If it is accepted that workers need to be protected from the effects of second-hand tobacco smoke, then surely all workers should be protected?
"The people who work in pubs and clubs which would be exempt from the Government's legislation deserve the same protection as other workers."
Under the Liverpool City Council (Prohibition of Smoking in Places of Work) Bill any individual or business in breach the new law will face fines of up to £5,000. The legislation is similar to laws already in force in Ireland, New York, Norway and Los Angeles.
Liverpool City Council has been joined by the association of London Government (ALG) who represents London's 33 councils. They are also petitioning Parliament to ban smoking in clubs, pubs, restaurants, shops and offices in the capital.
Source: Liverpool.gov, 8th July 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/amtfx |
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Doctors and charities campaign for smokefree legislation
A campaign for a total ban on smoking in all enclosed public places in England has been launched by a coalition of medical organisations and health charities. Smokefree Action, set up this week by the BMA, the Royal College of Physicians, and five charities, warns that the government's proposed partial ban has not gone far enough.
John Britton, chairman of the royal college's tobacco advisory group, said: "The coalition is making clear the extent of support throughout the whole health professional community for radical leadership on tobacco policy." He said it was "frustrating that in the face of strong advice from health professionals and the chief medical officer we seem to be the slowcoaches of the UK in England in introducing good tobacco policy."
Professor Alex Markham, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: "A comprehensive ban on smoking in enclosed public places, without exceptions, is the only practical way we can give workers the protection they deserve."
The new campaign group will ensure that medical organisations and health charities campaigning against smoking speak with a single voice, he added. "We all agree on the simple message that secondhand smoke kills and exposure in the workplace is unacceptable."
Smokefree Action, whose members include Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), Asthma UK, the National Heart Forum, the British Heart Foundation, and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, is launching a summer of campaigning as the government consults on its proposals. Members are set to meet the health minister Caroline Flint next week to press their case. Further action will include publishing medical research on passive smoking, economic research on the effect of a ban on the pub industry, and legal action to support employees who are seeking damages for workplace exposure to environmental tobacco.
Professor Britton criticised the government for "failing to lead by example" by waiting until 2006 before making all NHS premises smoke free.
Research unveiled by the campaigners this week shows that 75% of local councils in England have failed to take action on smoking beyond a ban in their own buildings.
Source: BMJ, 8th July 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/86ca8
Related link: www.smokefreeaction.org.uk |
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Cancer map of Britain shows North South divide
The stark geographical divides in the nation's health and the devastating effects of smoking and drinking are revealed today in an atlas of cancer in the British Isles.
The 400-page atlas, the largest study to date of geographical disparities in the prevalence of different cancers, identifies areas such as northern England and Central Scotland where rates are far higher because of unhealthy lifestyles.
People living in these communities, often in working-class industrial areas, are shown to be more likely to die of cancers of the lung, voice box, lip, mouth and throat - diseases linked to excessive alcohol and smoking.
The atlas provides further damning evidence of the health divide between the North and South of Britain and the strong association with poverty and social deprivation. Rates for deaths and new cases were generally three times higher in the most deprived
areas than the most affluent.
Experts said that if all cancer rates were reduced to the level of the lowest areas, it would save at least 17,000 lives a year.
The atlas, which covers the UK and Ireland and is published by the Office for National Statistics, also indicates high rates of skin melanoma in the South West of England, a trend linked to greater exposure to the sun. Incidence of the cancer was also higher than average in Scotland and Ireland, but the regions had lower than average death rates. This was attributed to a greater awareness among the communities of the impact of sun on pale complexions, prompting earlier skin cancer detection.
The map also shows large variations in the incidence of cervical cancer, with much higher than average rates in the urban West Midlands, in a band across the North of England, and parts of Scotland. Cervical cancer is directly related to sexual activity, as it is triggered by a sexually transmitted virus.
Analysts said that there was again a strong correlation between high rates of the cancer and living in deprived areas.
Lesley Walker, the director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, said that the data backed the pressing need for a smoking ban in enclosed public places and an end to health disparities.
She said that half of all cancers, equivalent to about 135,000 cases a year, could be prevented by changes to lifestyle.
The Department of Health said that the statistics would help the NHS to form a baseline against which the success of its NHS Cancer Plan could be measured. Since 1997 there has been a 12 percent reduction in cancer deaths and the Government hopes to reach the 20 per cent mark by 2010.
Source: Times, Telegraph, Mail, Guardian, Observer, 6th July 2005
Article links:(Times) http://tinyurl.com/783n3 :
(Reuters) http://tinyurl.com/9uqlm :
(Observer) http://tinyurl.com/ch5rf
Related link
(ONS): http://tinyurl.com/azpxn |
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Africa’s new best friends
Journalist George Monbiot comments on the future of Africa on the eve of the new Business Action for Africa summit which opens tomorrow in London with a message from Tony Blair. Chaired by Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, the head of Anglo-American, its speakers include executives from Shell, British American Tobacco, Standard Chartered Bank, De Beers and the Corporate Council on Africa.
Few would deny that one of the things Africa needs is investment. But investment by many of ourmultinationals has not enriched its people but impoverished them. The history of corporate involvement in Africa is one of forced labour, evictions, murder, wars, the under-costing of resources, tax evasion and collusion with dictators.
Source: The Guardian, 5th July 2005
Article Link |
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Passive smoke exposure, in womb or childhood, linked to Asthma
Children's exposure to pre and post-natal tobacco smoke carries a substantial risk for them to develop asthma and respiratory symptoms as adults, according to study results in the first issue for July 2005 of the American Thoracic Society's (ATS) peer-reviewed American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Investigators conducted an 11-year community cohort study on the incidence of asthma and respiratory symptoms among a sample population in western Norway.
The researchers noted that the combined total exposure for the children to environmental tobacco smoke could explain almost one-quarter of the cases of adult asthma.
They said that the estimated attributable fractions suggest that almost a quarter of the incidence cases of adult asthma could be prevented if children were not exposed to pre and post-natal environmental tobacco smoke. They pointed out that they believed this was the first study to show that pre and post-natal passive smoking induces a lasting vulnerability to asthma or respiratory symptoms.
In addition to their results on passive smoking, the investigators found no statistically significant relationship between the exposures in question and such confounders as the subject's sex, age, educational level, smoking habits, pack years, occupational exposure, and hay fever.
Source: Medical News Today, 4th July 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/d68yg
Related link: http://www.thoracic.org |
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Women's weight fears over quitting smoking
Fear of putting on weight is preventing thousands of women from quitting smoking, research suggests.
A survey of more than 7,000 adults found 76% of women smokers who were interested in kicking the
habit were worried about pile on the pounds if they did.
More than two-thirds (68%) said they had put off an attempt to quit because they feared becoming fat.
The research, conducted for the Click2Quit website run by NiQuitin CQ, suggests women are sacrificing their long-term health for the short-term benefit of staying slim.
Nutritionist Rimi Obra said: "Weight gain is a serious issue for women, who are under a lot of pressure to look good. Yet ironically, quitting smoking is probably the best thing smokers can do for their appearance in addition to their health. From better skin and hair to increased capacity for exercise, it's all good news when you quit."
Ms Obra said the average weight gain when people quit smoking is between four and eight pounds.
"This may be due to an increase in appetite during the first few weeks, or because their eating habits have changed in line with the change in their smoking habits.
"The good news is that smokers can control weight gain while they quit. And long-term weight control, which can be achieved with healthy eating and regular exercise, may actually increase the health benefits of giving up," she said.
Source: Daily Mail, Sun, 4th July 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/aeok8 |
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Telegraph readers voice their opinions on smoking law
The opinions of Telegraph readers on the proposed smoking law are published in today's edition of the paper in the letters page, alongside an editorial from Boris Johnson who bumbles his way through an argument stating that the state need not intervene as the social ostracism of smokers is effective enough. Here he cites his own inner voice as force enough to constrain him:
'As soon as I reach for that cigar, I can feel him tapping his feet and reminding me that 114,000 smokers are killed every year by smoking. "One person in four dies from cancer," this creepreminds me, and he goes on to point out that lung cancer is especially nasty'.
Amongst the tired and irrational argument and comparisons between Blair's Britain and Saddam Hussein's Iraq is the following, sensible, letter:
'Sir - Non-smokers put up with smoking in indoor public areas not because they tolerate or approve of the habit, but because there is a near certainty of an unsuccessful outcome or even an aggressive response should they ask anyone to refrain.
Yet smoking remains one of the few legal activities where complete strangers may inconvenience
others in such settings. Most non-smokers, after a night out, would rather not have their hair and clothes stinking from the breath of complete strangers. Only new laws will allow this to happen'.
Paul Horgan, Crowthorne, Berks
You can send in your opinion to the following address: dtletters@telegraph.co.uk
Source: Telegraph, 23rd June 2005
Article link (letters): http://tinyurl.com/79zlt:(editorial)
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Toy retailers risk breaking the law with miniatures
The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion (Brandsharing) Regulations 2004 which come into effect at the end of this month have serious implications for toy manufacturers. They are being warned that miniature replicas of racing vehicles must be free of tobacco company logos.
Many miniatures feature logos on stickers, mimicking the branding on their full sizecounterparts, but from June 31 all references to tobacco must be removed from both the real andtoy versions.
Source: Marketing Week, 23rd June 2005 |
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Poll: most people want children protected from smoke in the home
Nearly three-quarters of people believe smoking in households with children should be banned. A survey by Developing Patient Partnerships, found 72% of respondents, including 65% of smokers, were in favour of a ban.
However, it also found many people were unaware of the full negative impact of smoking around children in the home.
Doctors say it damages children's health, and increases the likelihood they will become smokers themselves. The only way for parents to protect their children from tobacco smoke is by making their homes entirely smoke free. More than four out of ten (42%) children live in homes with at least one smoker and a third smoke around children.
The survey also found the vast majority of people were unaware of how rapidly health improves after giving up smoking.
Only 9% were able correctly to say that the health benefits start to kick just 20 minutes after the final cigarette.
Most people (66%) believe that employers should offer smokers support to give up.
Deborah Arnott, director of the anti-smoking ASH, welcomed the move to raise awareness about the health hazards of smoking in the home.
"Although knowledge about the dangers of passive smoking is growing, many people underestimate the harm that it causes, especially to children.
"The only way for parents to protect their children from tobacco smoke is by making their homes entirely smoke free."
The poll, by ICM Research, was based on telephone interviews with 1,275 adults.
Source: BBC, 22nd June 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/cmq4k
Related link: http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/default.asp |
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Smoking and obesity make you grow older, faster
If you smoke or are obese you are most likely biologically older than other slim non-smoking individuals, according to an article published online today by The Lancet.
Obesity and smoking are important risk factors for many age-related diseases. Tim Spector (St. Thomas' Hospital, UK) and colleagues in the USA looked for evidence of ageing at a molecular level in smokers and obese individuals. They analysed telomeres, which cap the ends of the chromosomes in our cells and protect them from damage. Every time a cell divides, and as people age, their telomeres get shorter.
The investigators measured the concentrations of a body fat regulator called leptin and telomere length in blood samples from 1122 women. They found that telomere length decreased steadily with age and the telomeres of obese women and smokers were much shorter that those of lean women and never-smokers.
Lean individuals had significantly longer telomeres than women with midrange BMIs, who, in turn, had longer telomeres than obese individuals. Each pack-year smoked was equivalent to a loss of an additional 18% on top of the average annual shortening of telomeres.
Professor Spector states: "Our findings suggest that obesity and cigarette smoking accelerate human ageing. . . the difference in telomere length between being lean and being obese corresponds to 8.8 years of ageing; smoking (previous or current) corresponds on average to 4.6 years of ageing; and smoking a pack per day for 40 years corresponds to 7.4 years of ageing.
Our results emphasise the potential wide-ranging effects of the two most important preventable exposures in developed countries- cigarettes and obesity."
Source: Medical News Today, BBC, 14th June 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/827
ro: http://tinyurl.com/99rz5
Related link: http://www.thelancet.com/journals |
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Scotland considers raising cigarette buying age to 18
Ministers in the Scottish Executive indicated last night that they will accept a backbench amendment to raise from 16 to 18 the minimum legal age for buying tobacco products.
The new age limit will be debated by the Scottish Parliament's health committee today. It appears certain that it will win support.
The only part of the British Isles to have a similar ban on 16 and 17-year-olds buying cigarettes is Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, which has seen a 50 per cent reduction in the number of smokers.
Mr McNeil, explaining the thinking behind his amendment, said that while most smokers would like to stop, there was an even greater percentage who wish that they had not started in the first place. "If we make it more difficult for people to purchase cigarettes and to start and sustain a smoking habit, then I believe we would get support for that right across the board," he said.
The Scottish Executive said in a statement last night that ministers were happy to consider any amendment that would open up further ways of discouraging young people from taking up the smoking habit.
Calls to the national smoking helpline have soared by an unprecedented 50% in the year since ministers unveiled the cigarette ban, which is due to become law next year.
Scottish GPs have also confirmed that many of those asking for help to stop smoking cite the imminent ban as a key factor. Anti-smoking prescriptions and sales of nicotine patches have also soared.
Source: Times, Scotsman, 14th June 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/bohgw
http://tinyurl.com/8864a |
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Smokefree action coalition formed
Groups fighting for a total ban on smoking in public places have formed a coalition to persuade the new health secretary to change the government's proposals, it was revealed today.
Anti-smoking lobby group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the British Medical Association, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) and charities including the British Heart Foundation are among the organisations joining the new coalition.
The coalition is to launch a new Smoke Free Action campaign website on July 5: http://www.smokefreeaction.org.uk - two weeks after the new health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, is due to launch the government's consultation document on its proposals to ban smoking in some public places, which were confirmed in the Queen's speech last month.
ASH is confident that the departure of John Reid as health secretary provides an ideal opportunity for the government to rethink its smoking ban policy.
Ian Willmore from ASH said today: "I am optimistic that there will be a change because nobody who has advised ministers think the exceptions [to a total ban] make sense.
As the campaign to make England "smoke free" steps up, a survey carried out on behalf of the Tobacco Manufacturer's Association (TMA) revealed that 72% of 1,100 adults questioned wanted smoking to be allowed to continue in pubs, clubs and bars, while 26% supported a total ban.
Forty-five per cent of people questioned wanted both smoking and non-smoking areas set aside.
The chief executive of TMA, Tim Lord said: "This latest poll shows us yet again that the British public is overwhelmingly opposed to legislation that would ban smoking outright in the nation's pubs."
Source: Guardian, 8th June 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/a5jdl |
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Malawi: farmers suffer poverty while tobacco industry thrives
It's heaven for the world's heavy smokers and giant cigarette companies, but no one else: a warehouse the size of several football grounds stacked 20ft high with a million bales of dried tobacco and just one small sign saying "No smoking".
The building in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, contains enough leaf to make about 150bn cigarettes, not far short of 10% of the world's tobacco supply this year; and it's so cheap that £50 buys enough to keep a 20-a-day smoker stocked up for 20 years.
Malawi, one of the 15 poorest countries in the world, provides most of the tobacco for Britain's cigarettes, and the sweet smell of the dried plant in its warehouses disguises a distinct whiff of despair being felt this week by the millions of small farmers across southern Africa who grow the crop.
The collapse in prices, as much as 22% down on last year, is a windfall for the tobacco industry, which had to pay more than 50% more for its raw material six years ago, but it consigns many of the poorest and most ill-educated people in the world to penury and practical destitution.
The farmers who are dependent on growing the crop tell of the effect the price fall has on their livelihoods: "It means we cannot buy food and the children will certainly go hungry. Yes, tobacco is bad for health but we cannot afford the seeds and fertiliser to grow anything else. People in rich countries should pay more for it. We only know how to grow tobacco."
A third of the Malawian crop is believed to be bought annually by one company, Philip Morris, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, and 80% of the crop goes to Europe.
Malawi's small farmers have been encouraged by a succession of governments and by World Bank and IMF policies to grow tobacco as a cash crop for export. Less than 2% of the tobacco produced in the country is smoked in Malawi.
"Prices have fallen 50% in the past 10 years and this year reached an almost historic low," says Robbie van Ensburger, a South African auctioneer on the Lilongwe tobacco auction floor. "The small growers have not got much of a chance. This is the big boys eating the small boys again."
The price collapse is a disaster, too, for Malawi's government. The industry brings in more than 60% of the country's foreign exchange and contributes 34% of its total revenue, providing vital seasonal cash for up to 70% of the population.
The low prices have forced the country's weak currency even lower, and make a mockery of its attempts to climb out of poverty.
According to the World Health Organisation and the World Bank the decline in price is partly due to the low quality of tobacco sold and partly because tobacco companies are now trying cut costs in order to fund smoking litigation in the west.
Source: Guardian, 8th June 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/cly5t |
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Clearing the haze of smoking myths
Sweden last week became the latest country to outlaw smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants, in the wake of similar bans enacted in Ireland, Italy, Norway and Malta.
Hoping that this trend would continue, health experts and government officials at a conference called Smokefree Europe 2005 sought to dispel a number of myths surrounding efforts to promote a smoke-free workplace:
Myth: Creating designated smoking areas in one corner of an enclosed space, be it office, restaurant or airport terminal, is effective.
Reality: "Smoke can't read signs," said Shane Allwright, a professor of public health at Trinity College in Dublin. Smoke will travel throughout a building, even sometimes through the ventilation system itself.
Myth: Second-hand smoke is not deadly.
Reality: Second-hand smoke is responsible for an average of 30 deaths a day in Britain, according to a recent article in the British Medical Journal. Exposure to passive smoke has been linked to heart disease, cancer, reduced lung performance and lower birth weights in babies of pregnant women exposed to it. Nonsmoking bartenders in California recorded an overall improvement in lung function of 5 percent to 7 percent after smoking was banned from bars in the 1990s.
Myth: Ventilation is the solution.
Reality: for a ventilation system to clear out the harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke, you would need hurricane-like conditions. Dimitris Kotzias, a scientist at the European Commission Joint Research Center, performed tests on an enclosed space where tobacco smoke was introduced. The chemicals in the smoke were not fully dispersed from the room until "wind-tunnel" conditions were applied.
Myth: Smoking bans in bars and restaurants hurt business.
Reality: In the year after New York banned smoking from all indoor spaces in 2003, business tax receipts went up 8.7 percent, and employment in restaurants and bars increased by 2,800, seasonally adjusted. In Ireland, sales at bars decreased 3.3 percent in the year after the March 2004 smoking ban, but this followed a three-year trend of falling sales.
For years the campaign against smoking in the workplace has been considered a case of David versus Goliath, with cash-strapped anticancer leagues and medical associations fighting the huge and profitable tobacco industry.
But the conference here also revealed that David now has a big brother looking out for him: the pharmaceutical industry has joined the antismoking campaign. There were no advertising signs at the conference to indicate the sponsorship by drug companies. But the fine print on the invitation showed that GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, both of which make products to help people quit smoking, helped finance the meeting.
The larger question here seems to be whether the participation of drug companies in antismoking efforts could somehow taint a campaign that until now has been seen by the public as being without a profit motive.
Will citizens become more cynical about the antismoking drive if they know that it is being partly financed by drug companies?
"We are insistent on the fact that our independence is not compromised," said Fiona Godfrey, a member of the organizing committee of the Smokefree Europe 2005 conference. "We both realized that we have common objectives," Godfrey said. She added that drug companies had not financed any of their research.
Source: International Herald and Tribune, 8th June 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/bctc4
Related link: http://www.smokefreeeurope.com/ |
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£50 fine for cigarette butt littering
Smokers will now face an on-the-spot £50 fine for dropping cigarette butts on the street under new laws which come into force today. Similar penalties will be handed out to people discarding chewing gum.
For the first time chewing gum and cigarette butts are classified as litter. Fines for dropping butts and gum will be £50, rising to £75 in April next year. It will also become an offence to drop litter on other people's property.
Ben Bradshaw, the minister responsible for local environment issues, said: "The new rules will give local authorities more power to tackle environment crime and make everyone think about the environment around them.
"So I hope they will use these new powers to deter people from dropping anything, anywhere, at any time.
"Gum droppers and smokers chucking away cigarette butts can be given on-the-spot fines of £50, which will soon go up to £75. So why risk being fined when it's so easy just to pop the butt or your gum in the bin?"
Source: Standard, 8th June 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/bj8wu
Related link: http://www.buttsout.net/UK |
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Malawi tobacco profits slump
Earnings from Malawi's chief export crop, tobacco, are scheduled to drop a record 22.5 per cent in 2005 due to general slump in global prices, the watchdog Tobacco Control Commission said Friday.
Tobacco, dubbed Malawi's "green gold", is the country's chief foreign exchange earner. Currently, about one million people are employed by the tobacco industry, making it the nation's largest employer. But prices at the country's three auction floors have nose-dived over the past years, leading to protests from farmers.
Even though Malawi is the world's biggest exporter of burley tobacco, a thin-leafed variety dried in the open air, 60 per cent of Malawians still live under the poverty line.
The tobacco commission blamed the fall in revenue on high production costs, the collapse of multinational cigarette companies, high taxation imposed on cigarette makers and poor technologies used to produce the leaf.
Source: Yahoo, Herald, 4th June 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/c6mvt |
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NZ trials gr8 way 2 gv up smkng
A University of Auckland study that used text messaging to help young smokers quit shows the novel approach is effective in helping Maori kick the habit, with quit rates double those of the control group.
Co-authors of the report, Dr Dale Bramley and Dr Tania Riddell said the approach had real promise:
"The treatment effect was consistent in participants of different ages, sex, income level or geographic location - and was also effective for young Maori who have not been able to be reached via traditional smoking cessation programmes," said Dr Bramley.
While the prevalence of smoking has declined overall in New Zealand since the 1980s there is no such trend evident for Maori. In a survey undertaken in 2002, 42% of 14 -15 year old Maori females smoked at least weekly and 34% smoked daily.
"Being able to tailor the programme to suit the needs of individuals was the key to its success amongst Maori participants," said Dr Bramley. "We produced a number of messages on topics such as Te Reo, Maori legends and Maori traditions."
1705 young smokers from around New Zealand (who all wanted to quit) enrolled in STOMP. Half of them were in an "active" group and received intensive text intervention leading up to an agreed quit date and one month of free texting.
Director of the CTRU, Dr Anthony Rodgers said the trial worked in several ways. "Free texting acted like "chewing gum for the fingers" and helped with distraction as people texted friends and family. We sent personalised texts on things like coping with urges to smoke, avoiding weight gain, and just plain general interest stuff on sports, music and fashion.
Typical messages of support were: "Who else r u giving up smoking 4? Write down 4 people who will get a kick outta u kicking butt. Your mum, dad, m8s?"
Quit rates remained high at six months, but Dr Rodgers said further study was needed to more closely quantify progress, extend the range of follow up testing and establish how success compared with other interventions over the longer term.
Future studies would also look at the use of newer multimedia phones which offer further opportunity for providing quit information and distraction.
Source: Scoop, 2nd June 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/8ebcb |
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Bollywood reacts melodramatically to smoke law
Bollywood filmmakers have denounced the Indian government's announcement on Tuesday that smoking will be banned under strict regulation in all new Indian movies and television broadcasts from August 1. Older films and programs must display a health warning when a person who is smoking appears on the screen, it said.
The World Health Organization says tobacco claims 5 million lives a year, and according to government statistics more than 800,000 Indians die each year from smoking-related illness.
Nevertheless, some top film makers criticized the government decision as absurd.
"One would understand a ban on surrogate advertising, but to completely ban (smoking) is ridiculous, a joke taken too far," The Times of India quoted producer-director Mahesh Bhatt as saying.
Shyam Benegal, another film maker, said smoking was occasionally useful to illustrate a character's personality traits or emotions.
"It could be a style statement or an act of nervousness," Benegal told the newspaper. "The government should, instead, go after the source - the guys who produce tobacco and make tons of money."
One actor voiced concern that the ban indicated the government was leaning toward censoring Bollywood - the most prolific movie industry in the world.
"Tomorrow, the government can turn around and say don't show guns in movies as it will encourage violence," said Anupam Kher.
However, Sharmila Tagore, chairwoman of the Indian Film Censor Board, welcomed the government decision.
"I don't think this ban will impinge on the creativity of film makers," Tagore told The Times of India.
The new law also obliges manufacturers to display the tar and nicotine content on tobacco products, and the sale of tobacco products by anyone under the age of 18 and through vending machines will be banned.
Source: Khaleej Times, BBC, 1st June 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/du5x8 |
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Kenya plans tobacco ban, except for shooing elephants
The smell of dry, ground tobacco leaves is enough to send an elephant running.
Trans Mara residents, who are in constant conflict with wild animals, use the leaves to keep elephants at bay.
The district is one of the leading tobacco consuming areas, but other than warding off wild animals, farmers may soon find no other use for their crop if the amended Tobacco control Bill (2004) is passed.
The Bill seeks to control the use of tobacco products and make smoking in public punishable by law.
Smoking in Kenya's public places is set to be banned and tobacco taxes will also be increased by 15% Director of Medical Services (DMS) James Nyikal says.
He said tobacco kills some 12,000 Kenyans each year and that banning smoking in bars, churches and sport stadia would reduce that figure.
He said that Kenya spends five times more treating health problems from smoking than it raises in tobacco tax.
Health officials also urged Kenya's tobacco farmers to switch to other crops.
Mr Nyikal said that the Tobacco Control Bill 2004 was being examined to ensure that it did not conflict with existing legislation.
"There is an urgent need to increase tax on tobacco in the next financial year and the money will be used to treat the sick and educate Kenyans," he said.
Some 8,000 Kenyan smokers die each year, while some 4,000 are killed by the secondary effects of tobacco smoke, he said.
Neighbouring Uganda banned public smoking last year but the ban is not strictly enforced, reports the AFP news agency.
Tanzania has also outlawed smoking in public places.
Source: BBC, Standard, 31st May 2005, 1st June 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/arxul |
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World no tobacco day, calls on health professionals
Today is World No Tobacco Day and Health Professionals are being called upon by the World Health Organisation to help people change their behaviour and to advise and answer questions related to the consequences of tobacco use, so that they can help patients stop smoking.
By 2030, the World Bank predicts that smoking will kill about one in six adults globally per year.
"Tobacco continues to be a leading global killer, with nearly five million deaths a year", notes Dr Lee Jong-wook, WHO Director-General, "The health community plays a key role in the global effort to fight this epidemic. Health professionals are on the frontline. They need the skills to help people stop smoking, and they need to lead by example, and quit tobacco use themselves."
The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) is also calling on health professionals to join efforts toward tobacco control by underscoring the importance of effects of tobacco use which have been underestimated in the past.
Source: WHO, 31st May 2005
Article links: http://tinyurl.com/8pbue
Website: http://www.wntd.com/about_index.cfm
WHO Press Release: http://tinyurl.com/7le95
ESC Press Release: http://tinyurl.com/db8qu |
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Cigarette companies targeted women's neuroses
Tobacco companies chemically altered their cigarettes in a deliberate bid to make them more female-friendly and increase smoking rates among women and young girls.
New documents reveal that cigarette giants even looked at adding appetite suppressants to their brands to promote smoking as a form of weight control.
Published this week in the science journal Addiction, the papers show that tobacco firms spent more than 20 years, from the 1970s to 1990s, carrying out gender-based research to get women addicted to cigarettes.
The extent to which firms have designed cigarettes to appeal to women came to light after researchers at Harvard School of Public Health in the United States carried out a detailed analysis of internal papers from companies including Philip Morris.
Tobacco companies have always used advertising as a way of associating smoking with success and glamour. One brand of cigarettes that was marketed at women was Virginia Slims, launched by Philip Morris in 1968 with the slogan: "You've come a long way, baby." Within six years of the launch, the percentage of women who smoked in the US nearly doubled.
The findings are expected to have huge implications for women in developing countries. While smoking rates among men are declining, the number of women who smoke is expected to rise to 20 per cent worldwide over the next decade.
Clampdowns on tobacco advertising by Western governments have prompted tobacco manufacturers to
look elsewhere for opportunities to push their brands, especially countries where female smokers are in the minority.
Source: Independent, 29th May 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/8vw2f
Related link (Journal): http://tinyurl.com/7gsra |
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Passive smoking halves chances of motherhood
Just being near their partners' smouldering cigarettes damages non-smoking women's chances of pregnancy through IVF, researchers say today.
The effects are as damaging as if women are smokers themselves, according to a Canadian study.
Non-smokers achieved pregnancy rates about two and a half times better than either smokers or so-called side-stream smokers. These are people who are exposed to toxins in smoke from cigarettes, rather than, as in passive smoking, both lit cigarettes and smoke exhaled by the smoker.
The impact on IVF treatment from smoking has been known for some time, but the study in the journal Human Reproduction raises the need for more research into how smoke damages women's fertility.
Researchers from McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences in Hamilton, Ontario examined the quality of embryos, implantation and pregnancy rates of 225 women undergoing IVF or ICSI, where an egg is fertilised by injecting a single sperm.
They were grouped into non-smokers, smokers and side-stream smokers living with a partner who often smoked.
Michael Neal, a PhD candidate leading the research, said the pregnancy rates were 48% for non-smokers, about 19% for smokers and 20% for side-stream smokers.
Implantation rates were 25% for non-smokers, but only 12% for smokers and side-stream smokers.
Source: Sun, Guardian, Scotsman, Medical News Today, 26th May 2005
Article links: http://tinyurl.com/al6ns: http://tinyurl.com/blxvp
Related link (Journal): http://humrep.oupjournals.org/ |
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Children's airway development stunted by smoke
Smoking during pregnancy damages a baby's airways even before birth, research has shown.
Experts found babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy were born with smaller airways - making them more vulnerable to breathing problems.
Smoking has been linked to various health problems in babies, including premature birth and low birth weight.
The study was carried out by the Institute of Child Health, and Great Ormond Street and Homerton Hospitals.
The team, led by Professor Janet Stocks and Professor Carol Dezateux, found airflow through the breathing tubes was on average 20% lower in babies born to smoking mothers.
They found the effect appeared to remain with the child during the first 18 months of life.
This enabled them to show that the changes in the baby's airways were present not just in the last weeks of pregnancy - but at least two months before the baby was due to be born.
The team also found that babies born to mothers who smoke and those with reduced lung function shortly after birth were much more likely to suffer from wheezing illnesses in the first few years of life.
Professor Stocks said: "This research adds to a large body of evidence which highlights the health consequences for babies of maternal smoking during pregnancy.
"Every effort must be made to discourage women from starting to smoke and to help those who do smoke to stop, whether during pregnancy or after delivery.
"This would not only reduce the incidence and severity of respiratory illnesses in infants and children, but would reduce inequalities in health and improve the health of young children in general since exposure to smoking at home is by far the most important source for young children."
Figures show approximately a third of women in the UK smoke, and very few of these give up while pregnant.
Source: BBC, 24th May 2005
Article link (BBC): http://tinyurl.com/bwyko
Related link (ICH): http://tinyurl.com/bq4ye |
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Passive smoking heart risk like smokers'
Secondhand smoke's heart damage often rivals that of active smoking, and even a little exposure may have an impact, says a review by Joaquin Barnoya, MD, MPH, and colleagues, published in the medical journal 'Circulation'.
Secondhand smoke's heart effects are "rapid and large," like those of air pollution, say Barnoya and colleagues. How large? On average, the heart effects of even brief secondhand smoke exposure are about 80% to 90% as large as that from chronic active smoking, they say.
Smokers' hearts bear the biggest burden. They are exposed to more toxins from smoking than people who only get secondhand smoke. But that doesn't appear to make much difference to the heart, says the review.
Passive smoke has a much larger effect on the heart than would be expected from a comparison of the dose of toxins, they write.
The cardiovascular system may be "exquisitely sensitive to the toxins in secondhand smoke," write the researchers.
The researchers say that the effects of passive smoke are numerous and interact with each other, increasing the risk of heart disease. Here are some of the heart hazards that the review linked to secondhand smoke.
Increased blood clotting ability
Increased blood vessel wall abnormalities Higher risk of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) Lower levels of HDL "good" cholesterol (even in children) More buildup of LDL "bad" cholesterol in artery walls Higher blood levels of markers of inflammation that are inked to heart disease and blood vessel wall plaque buildup Increased source of cell-damaging free radicals Lower levels of antioxidants, which fight free radicals
Evidence about secondhand smoke's heart dangers has been growing since the mid-1980s, say the researchers.
Secondhand smoke may register on the heart in a short time, the review shows.
"The effects of even brief (minutes to hours) passive smoking are often nearly as large (averaging 80% to 90%) as chronic active smoking," says the review.
The mechanisms behind secondhand smoke's heart damage may gang up, egging each other on to raise heart disease risk, write Barnoya and colleagues.
Source: Newsday, Circulation, 24th May 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/9794r
Study link (Abstract): http://tinyurl.com/c2lf6 |
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Cross country trek for kicking addiction
Determined to kick his 10-year-old smoking habit, Thomas Song Chin Leong decided to walk across Malaysia in less than six months.
Armed with essential items like a map and sleeping bag in his backpack, the 31-year-old bachelor began his walking expedition from his home in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 15.
The Muar-born former product manager for a leading computer company has since covered more than 1,500km.
"I have decided to take six months of my life to prove to myself that my quitting smoking was not such a difficult thing if I can walk 3,000km alone through all the States in the peninsula.
"I am also walking for those people out there who have tried to quit smoking but failed, as I do not want them to ever give up trying to kick the habit," he said here today.
Song said sleeping on park benches and beaches had taught him valuable lessons in hardships and how not to take things for granted.
His efforts will place him in the Malaysia Book of Records once he reaches his final destination of Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 31.
Source: New Strait Times, 24th May 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/dze92 |
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Cigarettes are rubbish
Cigarettes and food wrappers were the most common types of litter plucked from beaches in a worldwide coastal cleanup last year, statistics show.
More than 300,000 volunteers from 88 countries removed nearly 4,000 tons of litter and debris during The Ocean Conservancy's daylong shoreline cleanup in September.
Of the more than 7.1 million pieces of trash collected worldwide, cigarettes accounted for 1.3 million, or about 18 percent, while food wrappers and containers came in next at almost 11 percent. People using the shoreline for recreational activities generated about 72 percent of the trash, the environmental advocacy group said.
In Canada, the coastal cleanup netted oddities including love letters, a full bottle of wine, a parking meter top, a 10-pound bag of onions and a hula hoop, said Tara Taylor, director of conservation programs at the Vancouver Aquarium & Marine Science Centre in British Columbia.
In Vienna a crackdown on rubbish has been launched. Citizens are urged to dispose of cigarette butts properly, those failing to do so receive a shaming red map from volunteers or a white map praising them for correct disposal.
Officials said that an estimated 300 tons of cigarette butts were illegally deposited on the streets of Vienna each year.
Source: International Herald and Tribune, 20th May 2005 |
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Japanese vending machines check purchaser's age
Experimental cigarette vending machines featuring an age-verification system have been installed in Tanegashima and have been effective in reducing the number of juvenile smokers, according to the local police.
The machines, developed and installed by a group of nation's tobacco industry bodies, including the Tobacco Institute of Japan, dispense cigarettes only after a purchaser's IC (integrated circuit) card had been scanned and verified.
The experiment began in May 2004 and is expected to run until 2008, when all cigarette vending machine in Japan will be equipped with a system of this kind.
According to the promoters, the measure is in line with the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which is aimed at preventing health damage from smoking and requires member nations to step up preventive measures for minors. The convention took effect in Japan earlier this year.
For tourists and travellers to the island, temporary IC cards that are valid for one week are issued. So far, about 800 temporary cards are issued every month.
"If the new models are installed nationwide, it would go a long way toward preventing smoking by minors," said an official.
However, the system has a loophole. There are still underage smokers. They use parents' IC cards or those of adult acquaintances.
Source: Siys.com, 20th May 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/9fhuy |
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Tobacco still rife in children's films
The number of tobacco brand appearances in US films aimed at children has not fallen significantly despite an agreement to stop them, a study says.
Major tobacco companies agreed to stop pushing for their products to be promoted in the arts from 1998.
Before the deal 15% of films aimed at children showed tobacco brand names, or trademarks, while after it, 12% did.
The study by
Hanover's Dartmouth Medical School appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The findings contrasted to the sharp drop in tobacco brand appearances in adult films, which fell from 30% before the agreement to 13% after it.
Researchers looked at 800 top box office films in total - 400 made before the agreement and 400 produced after it.
Overall, the appearances dropped from 21% of films to 11%.
Report author Dr Anna Adachi-Mejia said the difference in reduction of tobacco brand appearances in films rated R - which stands for restricted viewing in the US and is only allowed to be viewed by adults - and PG-13 - films which require parental guidance for under 13s - was surprising.
And she added: "It's worrisome because part of the intent of the agreement was to reduce tobacco advertising directed towards youth, and our study demonstrates that tobacco brands are still appearing in films rate for adolescents."
She said films such as Men in Black II, What Women Want and Mona Lisa Smile - all of which were rated PG-13 in the US - had tobacco brand appearances.
John Beyer, director of campaign group Mediawatch UK, said the use of such branding in films was "worrying".
"Companies, and not just the tobacco industry, like to use films to promote their products. It is a way of reaching their audience almost subliminally.
"It is particularly concerning when it is targeted at children and also when it involves a product such as cigarettes."
Source: BBC, 18th May 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/885lu
Study link (Abstract): http://tinyurl.com/d86ve |
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Smoking legislation in the Queen's speech
The Queen, in her address today, made it clear that comprehensive smoking legislation is to be introduced; here is the relevant extract from her speech:
"My government will continue to reform the National Health Service in a way that maintains its founding principles. Measures will be brought forward to introduce more choice and diversity in healthcare provision and to continue to improve the quality of health services and hospital hygiene. Legislation to restrict smoking in enclosed public places and workplaces will also be introduced."
Source: BBC, FT, 17th May 2005
Full text of speech: http://tinyurl.com/b3kzk |
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European passive smoking concern report
The 'HELP - For a life without tobacco' campaign spearheaded by the ENSP has produced an article that focuses on passive smoking and the actions that are taking place across Europe on the issue, in the wake of smoking bans in Ireland, Italy and Malta.
Some of the passive smoking facts included in the report:
* It was estimated that in 2001 within the EU-15 alone, exposure to second-hand smoke accounted for between 50,000 and 100,000 deaths each year.
* The smoker inhales only 15% of smoke from a cigarette. The remainder contributes to passive smoking.
* Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 chemical substances of which more than 50 are known to be carcinogenic and more than 100 to be toxic.
* There is a 15% higher risk of mortality in adults who live with a smoker even if they have never smoked themselves.
* People who lived with smokers ran a 25% greater risk of suffering from a coronary heart disease.
At the outset of the campaign Markos Kyprianou, the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, said: "The sickness and death caused by smoking costs EU countries EUR100 billion a year. Prevention and information campaigns like "HELP" are an investment in a healthier and more prosperous future for our citizens.
Source: Response source, 10th May 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/d9z3t
Related link: http://www.help-eu.com
Related link: http://www.ensp.org/index.cfm |
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Girl dies trying to hide the smell of smoking
A schoolgirl died after she tried to hide the smell of cigarettes by spraying herself with a fabric deodorant, her family said last night.
Helen Coffey, 14, was secretly smoking in the bathroom of her family home, even though she knew her mother would disapprove.
They suspect Helen breathed in the aerosol spray as it filled the bathroom and collapsed in a choking fit. She died a week later in hospital.
Her mum bought the Neutradol Deofab to freshen up the family home in Rumney, Cardiff.
Her mother had warned Helen, a typical fashion- conscious teenager, against starting smoking at her age.
Agnes said, "I was always telling her that if I caught her smoking she would be in trouble.
"I told her it would kill her. But being a teenager, she ignored me and it did kill her."
Source: IcWales, BBC, 10th May 2005
Article link (BBC): http://tinyurl.com/7sez5 |
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Father sentenced for forcing child to smoke
In New Zealand, a Turangi forestry worker has been sentenced to 18 months' supervision for making his 10-year-old daughter smoke seven cigarettes as punishment for smoking.
Johnny Paru, 33, who pleaded guilty to cruelty to a child, was sentenced in Taupo District Court yesterday.
The court was told that Paru came home intoxicated after drinking with workmates last October and locked himself in his daughter's bedroom.
He then forced her to smoke seven hand-rolled cigarettes and threatened her with a "hiding" if she didn't "puff it up".
The girl suffered a minor burn to her face when Paru tried to light one of the cigarettes. He demanded she stub them out on his leg, which she did not want to do.
Paru told her to "just burn me" and then grabbed her hand so tightly her knuckles cracked.
The victim's seven-year-old brother was also trapped in the room. He awoke to a room full of smoke and afterwards vomited several times from fear and trauma, the police summary of facts stated.
Eventually family members were able to break into the room and retrieve the children.
Police said Paru showed no remorse and felt he was entitled to treat his children that way.
Source: New Zealand Herald, 7th May 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/dyxv3 |
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Scottish cigar sellers argue for smoking ban exemption
Scotland's independent cigar merchants have written to Health Minister Andy Kerr in a last-minute bid to have their shops exempted from the impending ban on smoking in public places.
The letter reads: "It is essential for the conduct of their business that these outlets, their consenting staff and customers on the premises should be able to taste products in order to assess their quality and flavour."
Simon Chase, of cigar importers Hunters and Frankau, said: "Specialist tobacconists are more like wine merchants than corner shops selling cigarettes. When you sell hand-made cigars you have to understand their taste and judge their quality, so testing them is an essential part of the business."
A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: "Those premises would be caught by the legislation because they are places of employment. Obviously the minister will respond once he has considered the points put to him by the retailers."
Source: Scotsman, 7th May 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/88s5v |
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Calls for driving smoking ban in Germany
Several German lawmakers want to ban smoking while driving, saying it's hazardous.
"The dangers of causing an accident rise drastically when you smoke and drive," said Peter Danckert of the ruling Social Democrats. "I want a complete ban on smoking for drivers."
Danckert and Katherina Reiche of the opposition Christian Democrats told Germany's best-selling newspaper, Bild, they will push for legislation to outlaw smoking for drivers.
Reiche noted parliament had passed a law outlawing the use of cell phones for drivers.
"Cigarettes are just as much of a distraction as cell phones," she said.
"We need a new law banning it with fines."
Source: Reuters, 3rd May 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/am2ht |
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Snooker makes a break from its unhealthy past
The health of the world championship is set to improve from today as it ditches the tobacco habit. This year's Embassy world championship will be the last sponsored by Imperial tobacco.
"Times have certainly changed", says Crucible legend Dennis Taylor, "I recall playing Alex Higgins once and I sat in his seat by mistake, I picked up what I thought was a glass of water and it was neat vodka."
He says that the heightened competitiveness of the game nowadays means that players must be in good physical shape.
"It's a whole new image the game is getting. Players are more professional but it only reflects what is happening in the sport as a whole."
Source: Times, Sun, 3rd May 2005 |
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Protesters wish a happy Deathday to Malboro
Over 100 tobacco control activists attended the AGM of Altria in New Jersey on Thursday of last week, 30 students went inside to attend the shareholder's meeting.
Others outside marked the 50th anniversary of the modern Marlboro pack with a "Happy 50th Deathday" cake, black balloons, a 15-foot-high Marlboro pack labelled "50 Years of Death," and photos of the company's tobacco promotions.
Among the protesters was Isha Gupta, a teenaged Indian girl, studying in the US, who voiced concerns over product placement in Indian cinema: "the cigarette producers are increasing their product placement in Bollywood movies to circumvent a new tobacco advertising ban."
"The Indian film industry is the largest in the world and 76 per cent of the movies made here portray tobacco consumption. And to get around a new Indian tobacco advertising ban, the industry is increasing its product placement in these movies."
She pointed to the "aggressive" placement of Malboro products in recent films like 'Swadesh' and 'Lucky,' and has written a letter to the Altria Group CEO Louis C Camilleri asking him "what role did his company play in getting the Malboro featured in the Bollywood movies?"
Source: Hindustan Times, WSTM, 2nd May 2005
Article link (HT): http://tinyurl.com/btojt
Article link (WSTM): http://tinyurl.com/cslor |
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Rich and poor gap reminiscent of Victorian era, policy study
Health inequalities between Britain's rich and poor today are akin to those seen in the Victorian era, researchers claim today.
A study found an 11-year difference between the life expectancy of those living in Kensington and Chelsea (82.4 years), Britain's most advantaged area, and Glasgow City (72.9 years), the nation's most disadvantaged.
Researchers from the universities of Bristol and Sheffield found health inequalities widened in the 1980s and 1990s despite numerous government interventions.
They forecasted inequalities would further widen in the coming decades as income differentials increase and urged more "substantial redistributive policies".
Dr Mary Shaw from Bristol University said Labour's policies on closing the health gap were failing.
"When you compare the wealthiest areas to the poorest, instead of comparing the poorest areas to the national average as the government likes to do, it is clear that, although income inequalities are showing a slight improvement, the gap between the health of the richest and poorest is still getting wider," she added.
But a Labour spokesman insisted the government's policy was starting to see results.
"We have seen this in a reduction of death from heart disease through the widespread use of statins [which reduce cholesterol] and success in our smoking cessation courses in some of the most deprived areas," he said.
Source: Daily Mail, Telegraph, 29th April 2005
Article link (DeHavilland): http://tinyurl.com/bu3em
Report link: (BMJ, Extract): http://tinyurl.com/8vwsd
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Malaysian Athletes face expulsion for smoking
The Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union (MAAU) has
declared that it will expel any national track and
field athlete who smokes.
"I don't know about other national bodies but as
far as MAAU is concerned, we will drop any
national athlete who smokes" said MAAU deputy
president First Admiral Datuk Danyal Balagopal.
Although the hazards of smoking are known, most
sports bodies have turned a blind eye to athletes
who smoke.
With national athletes struggling to make an
impact internationally, the last thing MAAU wants
is for athletes to hinder their own progress and
have all the money spent on them go up in smoke.
Source: New Straits Times, 29th April 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/885lu |
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DOH anti-smoking push to youth
The Department of Health has appointed Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw to execute an anti-smoking direct campaign targeting young smokers. The work will highlight the dangers of smoking, such as its effect on sexual performance.
Source: Precision Marketing, 29th April 2005 |
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The man who saved a million lives, Sir Richard Doll
The Observer carried a piece yesterday celebrating the remarkable achievements of ASH's honorary president, Sir Richard Doll, in whose honour a research building is being built:
The Richard Doll building, in Headington, on the outskirts of Oxford will house several research and medical departments whose work over the past half-century has been significantly influenced by Professor Doll's endeavours, not least the Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit.
Professor Doll did not set out in life to be a medical statistician in search of the causes of disease, but he will leave the profession as its most famous British practitioner. He has studied diet, radon gas, HIV, ulcers and radioactivity, but he will be widely remembered for just one thing: as the man who proved that smoking causes lung cancer.
He did not achieve this feat alone, and it has taken 50 years to complete the study, but his work bears comparison with the greatest discoveries of the modern age.
During the Second World War, when Sir Richard was a medical student and officer, smoking was the second biggest cause of death after military action, but the link between smoking and cancer had not been recognised.
In 1949, Bradford Hill and Professor Doll analysed 649 cases of lung cancer and found that there were only two non-smokers. Doll was so struck by the certainty of his research that he instantly gave up smoking. 'It wasn't so difficult'.
They extended their research to cover a wider area of the UK and covered over 5000 cases. They got exactly the same results. But when they published their findings they were surprised that no one took much notice. So they changed their tack and wrote to 59,600 Doctors, asking them if
they smoked. 40,500 replied.
By 1954 Doll and Hill were getting similar results to those from their hospital patients and they published their first findings in the British Medical Journal, in June last year this was commemorated by the BMJ reprinting the first page on their front cover.
The Richard Doll Building is almost finished. Viewed from a certain angle it looks like an ocean liner from the beginning of the last century, a sharp white prow suggesting fleetness and fortitude. In March of last year, the man responsible for its name and for defining the entire field of population-based study of disease, put on his black peaked cap and performed the topping-out ceremony on the roof.
Doll's greatest legacy lies among the statistical files and graphs at Cancer Research UK. Here, there is clear evidence that the decrease in smoking from the Seventies onwards has had a distinct impact on both incidence and mortality. His work has been responsible for the preservation of millions of lives.
On Desert Island Discs, three years ago, Professor Doll told Sue Lawley he wasn't too bothered by someone lighting up in his company, a comment which was appropriated by some as denying the detrimental effects of passive smoking. In fact he had just published a study from 12 European countries showing that non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke are 20-30 per cent more likely to
develop lung cancer.
In the same program he gave the following advice, for a new strategy towards health education:
'Find out what the tobacco industry supports and don't do it, and find out what they object to and do it.'
Source: Observer, 24th April 2005
Article link (Observer): http://tinyurl.com/bmnsc |
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Insurance rewards for healthy customers
The Prudential is offering incentives to customers to adopt a healthier lifestyle. New subscribers to Prudential's 'vitality points' scheme will receive money for attending a gym
regularly, eating healthy food, giving up smoking or having regular health checks.
"I was very sceptical", says Charles Frost, who has signed up to the scheme, "I'm a slob. I'm overweight and I smoke. I've never been able to stick to a diet or give up smoking, but I was straight onto the internet to see how many 'vitality points' I could get and how much money I could earn".
Mr Frost intends to put the money he receives from his first year's efforts towards a smoking cessation course, which should pay for itself in the long run - not just in terms of life expectancy, but in monetary benefits, under the scheme, also.
Prudential will monitor people on the scheme, with random blood tests and even checking the information from member's supermarkets loyalty cards to see what food they are buying.
Source: Sunday Times, 24th April 2005
Article link (Sunday Times): http://tinyurl.com/8blea |
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US Judge could order tobacco spending on health education
A federal judge on Thursday raised the idea of ordering cigarette makers to spend specific amounts on educating the public about the dangers of smoking if she concluded the industry broke the law.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler mentioned the idea as a possible remedy the U.S. Justice Department could seek if it prevailed in its racketeering suit accusing tobacco companies of deceiving the public for decades about the dangers of smoking.
The tobacco companies deny they illegally conspired to promote smoking and say the government has no grounds to pursue them after they drastically overhauled marketing practices as part of the 1998 state settlement.
Justice Department lawyer Stephen Brody said Kessler should impose remedies that would "open the window on defendants' business practices much wider" than they have been opened by the states settlement.
Brody told the judge getting help quitting smoking should be made "as easy as it is in this country to walk down the street and buy a pack of cigarettes."
Source: Reuters, 22nd April 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/dt8jr |
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Paris study shows teenagers spurning cigarettes
The cigarette is not what it once was to Parisian teenagers. Smoking rates have dropped by half in students aged 12 to 19 between 2001 and 2005, according to the annual survey carried out by PST (Paris sans Tabac).
In 2004 smoking prevalence in this age group was just 17 per cent for girls and 15 per cent for boys, although a slight
upward trend was noted in 2005.
Source: La Figaro, 20th April 2005
Article link: (In French): http://tinyurl.com/9kp64 |
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Hollywood speaks out on tobacco
Hollywood's addiction to tobacco is explored in a new book, 'Hollywood speaks out on tobacco', in which film stars talk about their experiences of tobacco and smoking.
Hollywood's addiction was cultivated many years ago, when cigarette companies sent free products to stars and paid money to have their products placed in movies.
A Philip Morris marketing study reported that "we believe that most of the strong, positive images for cigarettes and smoking are created by cinema and television."
Teri Hatcher and Penelope Cruz are among the stars that fear being offered smoking roles and wish that they were able to refuse. Other actors say smoking is an "occupational hazard".
Rock star Ozzy Osbourne was quoted by Rolling Stone as saying, "Every time I sit in this room, I want a cigarette. ... And they say it's not addictive."
Ozzy then accentuates his disgust for cigarettes with the f-word, which, if you say twice in a movie, will get it an
automatic R rating. But, you can smoke all you want in G, PG or PG-13 films.
Source: Medical News Today, 18th April 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/8btfy
Press release (pdf): http://tinyurl.com/aroy2 |
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‘Too easy’ for child smokers, awards for vigilant retailers
Vending machines in pubs and hotels are making it too easy for children to buy cigarettes, according to consumer watchdogs in Leicestershire.
Thirteen-year-olds were sent into 34 firms across the county to try and buy tobacco, while Trading Standards officers secretly filmed them.
Of 29 attempts to buy tobacco from retailers, only 5 were successful. However, of the 5 occasions on which youngsters tried to buy from machines, they managed to do so each time without being stopped and asked for proof of age.
Across Sunderland, awards are to be presented to shops in recognition of efforts to stop cigarettes being to sold to
children.
The ‘Responsible Retailer Award’ will be given to 23 shops for their support in stopping “cigarettes being sold either
unwittingly or unknowingly to youngsters”, according to principal environmental health officer, Susan Goodchild.
Source: Leicester Mercury, The Journal (Newcastle), 15th/16th April 2005 |
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New Zealand study proposes government regulation
Tobacco researchers in New Zealand say allowing the government to take over supplying cigarettes to smokers would help reduce the profit motive in tobacco marketing.
A study suggests the New Zealand government should outlaw tobacco brands and set up a tobacco authority to distribute tobacco products.
One of the report's authors, Nick Wilson, says the authority could control how tobacco is packaged and marketed. Wilson says this would be similar to the prescription drug model, where the industry is highly regulated and companies can't undermine public health efforts.
Co-author George Thomson from the Wellington School of Medicine says smokers need nicotine, but marketing should be limited.
But New Zealand's largest tobacco distributor says the suggestion would lead to more bureaucracy.
British American Tobacco spokesman Carrick Graham says New Zealand already has some of the most restrictive tobacco controls in the world with the government spending over $30 million on tobacco control each year.
The research also found that taxes on tobacco are effective at reducing tobacco consumption.
Source: One news, 15th April 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/ckpx7
Related link: http://tinyurl.com/dx27a |
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Lung cancer deaths in men fall to new low
The proportion of men suffering and dying from lung cancer has fallen to the lowest level in recent times, according to new statistics.
While far more men than women suffer from lung cancer, the rate among men has dropped by more than a quarter in a decade while the rate among women has increased slightly.
Experts point to recent data suggesting that the proportion of men who smoke has decreased while levels of smoking among woman remain constant and are even increasing in younger age groups.
Deaths from breast cancer have dropped to the lowest proportion for more than 50 years, although reported incidents of prostate cancer in England Wales have increased significantly.
The figures were released by the Office for National Statistics.
The incidence of lung cancers in England and Wales 2001 was 64.7 per 100,000 in men, down from 90.3 a decade earlier, and 33.3 in women, up marginally from 32.9 per 100,000 in 1991.
Source: Daily Telegraph, 1st April 2005 |
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Study of adolescent substance abuse
An article in the British Medical Journey looks at the abuse of tobacco, alcohol and drugs amongst adolescents with an emphasis on harm reduction.
The article states that alcohol and tobacco are by far the most commonly used substances by young people and result in 95% of morbidity and mortality related to substance misuse in this age group. Despite the public and political concerns about use of illicit drugs, such drugs are much less commonly used than alcohol and tobacco.
Source: British Medical Journal, 31st March 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/3n85g |
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