Kids Against Tobacco Smoke

Smoke Signals for Teenagers

The Times wrestles with the conundrum of how adults can best convey the stop smoking message to teenagers. Writer and broadcaster Mike Rosen confesses: "You can count me as a complete failure in that respect."

Rosen is a non-smoker but that hasn't prevented his off-spring from taking up the habit: "My three boys started smoking in their late teens, my stepdaughters in their early teens. I tried the rationalist approach, which is just two words: 'It kills.' Did it have any effect? Not a glimmer. Smoking is its own culture. It's so much part of the way they are, the way they choose to live. The rationality comes later, it comes at all."

For author Ann McPherson lays emphasis on parents themselves not smoking: "Parents not smoking is the most important thing. If you don't smoke, you can say, 'You can't smoke in my house.'"

Ms. McPherson does concede that teenagers have different reason for taking up smoking: Many feel pressure to try it. They want to experiment. They think it looks cool; there are role models who smoke. Groups of friends smoke together, it's something to do with your hands. Girls think it helps control their weight.

Health campaigners have sought tighter controls on the way cigarettes and tobacco are marketed at teenagers. In the US, these have included proposals to ban tobacco manufacturers' logo on clothing, hats and bags and teaching kids how to deconstruct such images.

According to Aidan MacFarlane, co-author of Drugs: the Truth states: "You have to start talking to children before they are fully exposed to smoking. Somewhere between 13 and 15 they start experimenting, which is fine - but there are so many things they want to try out. Unfortunately,
with tobacco, they are dealing with highly addictive substances, so their parents don't want to wait until they are already doing it."

Ian Willmore of ASH pointed out that accuses cigarette manufacturers have paid actors to smoke in films.

Source: Times, 25^th June 2004.
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Smoking and Life Expectancy

There is continued widespread coverage over the research that found smoking can shorten life expectancy by up to ten tears.

Two leading research scientists Sir Richard Doll and his colleague Sir Richard Peto first revealed 50 years ago the link between smoking and lung cancer. In a follow-up study published by the British Medical Journal they revealed that half of the doctors who smoked in the original study were killed by their habit.

The Times notes Sir Richard Doll is "as lucid in his nineties as he was when he first published his groundbreaking research", and goes on to state "he has more than 400 works and more than 20 major scientific awards to his name."

Asked for his conclusion on a half century of research Professor Doll, who smoked a packet of cigarettes a day until the age of 37 said: "If you enjoy life like I do then it is damn silly to smoke . . . you are simply not going to have as much of it."

Source: The Guardian, 23^rd June, Times, 23^rd June, Independent, 23^rd June, Daily Mirror, 23^rd June 2004
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No Smoking in Hell's Kitchen

Famous for his short temper and colourful language, celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsey has banned smoking from his restaurants from September 1^st.

The star of ITV programme Hell's Kitchen announced that from the start of September diners light up at their peril. He said many of his Michelin-starred customers had requested the ban, and that he was giving people plenty of advance warning.

"As a Chef with a sensitive palate, I have always found it unpleasant to be surrounded by smoke while eating in a restaurant", he said. Mr Ramsey acknowledged the depth of feeling on the subject when he said: "I have received many letters from non-smokers, and even a few from smokers, complaining that eating in the restaurants had been marred by smoke and urging us to ban smoking."

The ban will affect all seven restaurants which form Mr Ramsey's gastronomic empire. Total bans will be enforced in three eateries and partial bans in four others.

Source: Independent, June 23^rd, Daily Mirror, June 23^rd, Evening Standard, June 23^rd 2004

London's Burning is a Drag

Department of Health figures revealed that Primary Care Trusts (PCT) from four of the five London strategic health authorities are the worst in the country at persuading patients to stop smoking.

A Health Service Journal survey of London PCT Chief Executives found smoking to be the single biggest public health worry.

The ability of PCTs to persuade patients to cease smoking for four weeks is one of the central targets in this year's star-ratings. The HSJ notes: "The NHS priorities and planning framework for 2003-06 sets a target of 800,000 four-week quitters by 2006 and makes it clear that the smoking cessation service will play a key role in reducing smoking mortality and tackling health inequalities. But London appears to be failing."

The PCT's Director of Public Health Dr. Andrew Burnett gave the statistics an optimistic twist by pointing out that the figures will improve in the final quarter. He added by way of mitigation that London's mobile population makes it harder for GPs to raise the subject of smoking cessation with patients. He said there was evidence which suggests GPs had been reluctant to encourage patients to cease smoking, for fearing of damaging doctor-patient relationship, unless their complaint is clearly smoking related.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, who sits on Brent PCT's as a professional executive argued that even the wealthier suburbs of London are beset with problems associated with implementing public health measures in the Capital. Dr Nagpaul cites four challenges London poses: a high proportion of non-English speakers, a highly mobile population, and a shortage of health visitors and a high level of deprivation.

The survey notes that 40 percent of the population in north-east London is from an ethnic minority, and that there are pockets of ethnic groups where smoking is widespread. Turkish men in Hackney and Bangladeshi men in Tower Hamlets have high smoking rates.

However there are grounds for optimism. Waltham Forest PCT is the only PCT in the area expected to hit its delivery plan target this year. A key plank of its success was illustrated by the approach outlined by PCT executive committee chair Dr Ken Aswani. He said a decision was taken that "everyone" would get involved in promoting smoking cessation, including dentists, maternity workers, nurses and GPs. "We used the energy of all the frontline professionals." As a consequence the PCT achieved 894 quitters last year, surpassing its target by several hundred.

Dr Aswani stressed that the emphasis must be placed on good communication. His PCT utilises community advocates to advice members of the south Asian community, and he believes that patients will ignore the stop smoking message if the channels of communication are not appropriate.

Source: Health Service Journal, June 17^th 2004

80% Back Workplace Smoking Ban

Four out of five people support the idea of a ban on smoking in the workplace, the largest poll of public attitudes to prohibition shows. A workplace ban would in effect outlaw smoking in most public places, and similar laws have been introduced in Ireland, Norway, Canada and New Zealand.

The Government is under increased pressure to ban public smoking, despite the reluctance of John Reid, the Secretary of State for Health, to introduce legislation. He infuriated health campaigners by suggesting that their backing for a ban was merely an "obsession of the learned middle classes".

He said smoking was one of the few pleasures available to poor people on sink estates. Ministers are concerned that a ban on smoking in public could lead to accusations of "nanny statism", so they have focused on pouring money into helping people to give up. The Government has introduced a new target of reducing smoking rates to 21 per cent by 2010.

But a Mori poll of more than 4,000 people, by the charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), found 80 per cent supported a workplace ban.

The charity said Mr Reid's claims were contradicted, because 72 per cent of people in the lowest DE social class also backed a law on smoking in all enclosed work environments. Six out of 10 daily smokers also supported such legislation, the survey showed.

Deborah Arnott, director of ASH, said: "This poll is the most authoritative and largest conducted on the proposal for a smoke-free law. It shows overwhelming public support for such a law, after its success in Ireland, New York and elsewhere. The poll sends the Government a clear message. The public wants action to end secondhand smoke at work."

Independent Article
ASH Press Release
Source: The Independent, 11^th June 2004

Controversy over 'Natural' Cigarette Launch

Controversial preparations are being laid to launch a so called "natural" cigarette.

AE Lloyd says its cigarettes will be promoted as additive-free, with the word "natural" being considered as part of the product name. A spokeswoman for ASH said: "It is worrying that people could be lured into to thinking this product is any healthier or more ethical. The product is inherently lethal, whatever you do or don't put in it."

Lloyd believes there is plenty of hitherto untapped potential in the market for mainstream, addictive-free cigarettes. AE Lloyd President Peter Lloyd will attempt to position the company's new product to take advantage of and "tap into the more health-conscious side of the brand."

The news comes in the wake of recent concern over BAT's flavoured cigarettes.

Source: Marketing Week, 10^th June 2004

Call for EU Ban on Flavoured Cigarettes

The animal rights group, the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, said last night it would write to British American Tobacco to demand that the company end live animal tests involving cigarettes. And ministers are to push for a Europe-wide ban on chocolate-flavoured cigarettes after The Independent revealed that Britain's largest tobacco company had tested them on rats.

The Department of Health said it wants to tighten EU laws on cigarettes to ban chocolate and other flavouring additives. Cigarettes tasting of vanilla and liquorice are sold in the UK, but chocolate is banned. Ministers want the rest of Europe to follow British restrictions. In yesterday's Independent, a scientific report showed BAT had tested ingredients including chocolate, maple syrup, tea, wine and spearmint in Canada.

Full Article
Source: The Independent, 4^th June 2004

Following yesterday's story in the Independent on BAT trials of flavoured tobacco, several national newspapers pick up the story today: Daily Mail, Daily Express, Daily Star, Daily Mirror, Evening Standard. Daily Telegraph coverage:
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Unhealthy, Unhappy and Disaffected - British Teenagers Lag behind World's Young

They drink too much, smoke too much, feel under massive work pressures and don't even really like each other - British children are among the unhealthiest and unhappiest in the world, according to a report published today.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) study of more than 150,000 young people in 35 countries found that the physical and mental health of children in the UK is more like that of poverty-stricken former communist nations than our western European neighbours.

Teenagers in England in particular but also their counterparts in Scotland and Wales, have some of the highest rates of drinking, smoking, drug use and underage sex - and the lowest levels of life satisfaction, fruit consumption and feelings of physical well-being.

The WHO survey on Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) is conducted every four years and interviews 11, 13 and 15-year-olds from the United States, Canada and nearly all eastern and western European countries.

It is the largest international study of adolescent attitudes and provides an intriguing - and worrying - snapshot into the lives of British teenagers compared with their peers across the world.

Full Article
Source: The Independent, The Guardian, 4^th June 2004

Heart attack in the UK every 2 Minutes

The number of people living with coronary heart disease in the UK is steadily rising on the back of soaring obesity rates and is estimated by the British Heart Foundation to have reached a record 2.7 million.

Every two minutes, someone suffers a heart attack in the UK, says the foundation, which launches an alarming compendium of heart disease statistics today.

Almost one in every eight people (12%) has been diagnosed with a disease of the heart or circulatory system.

The numbers diagnosed with heart disease are rising year on year, and although treatment has improved and deaths are falling, they are coming down more slowly than in some other countries.

The UK has the third highest death rate from coronary heart disease in Europe, after Finland and Ireland.

A man of working age is more than twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease in the UK as in Italy.

Full Article
Source: The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, 4^th June 2004

BAT Accused of Flavouring Cigarettes

Britain's largest tobacco company British American Tobacco (BAT) stands accused of adding sweeteners to cigarettes in an underhand attempt to entice youngsters to smoke, reports the Independent.

Apparently, BAT whose products include Lucky Strike and Rothmans has been conducting scientific trials on animals in Canada. The additives that are believed to have been tested include chocolate, wine, cocoa, maple syrup and vanilla.

The experiment has drawn a furious response from Director of ASH, Deborah Arnott. "Adding sweets to tobacco is appalling. It shows that we need more tobacco regulation to prevent anything being added that could make tobacco more attractive, or smother, or easier to use. These are the sort of ingredients that could make cigarettes more attractive to children, why would they want to test these sorts of additives?" she asked.

The controversial trials were outlined in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology. BAT admitted it had indeed commissioned the work to see if cigarettes with additional ingredients had different effects on health compared to cigarettes without additives.

The study, conducted over a 90 day duration and used laboratory rats in Canada because testing tobacco on live animals in Britain has been outlawed since 1997.

A BAT spokesman admitted that food additives such as cocoa butter and liquorice are already used in brands such as Lucky Strike to add a subtle taste. The spokesman added: "The amounts are tiny but they allow you to play very subtly with the taste of cigarettes. They (the additives) are handy, they are useful, they are food-type ingredients."

Source: The Independent, 3^rd June 2004.
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Could Smoke and Saliva lead to Mouth Cancer?

Scientists have found that cigarette smoke turns healthy saliva into an unhealthy mixture that can accelerate mouth cancer.

Saliva normally forms a protective barrier in the mouth from toxins. However, researchers have found when combined with tobacco it can damage the cells in the mouth and make them cancerous, reports The Daily Express.

The findings may be a significant explanation into why smoking is the biggest cause of mouth cancer. The results were published in the British Journal of Cancer. One of the researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology said: "Most people will find it shocking that the mixture of saliva and smoke is more lethal to cells in the mouth than cigarette smoke alone. Cigarette smoke is not only damaging on its own, it can turn the body against itself."

Source: Daily Express June 2^nd 2004. The Times June 2^nd 2004. The Sun, June 2^nd 2004
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Toronto enters Smoke-free Arena

The International Tribune Herald reports that Toronto, Canada's largest metropolis has barred smoking in all but a few bars and restaurants with a designated smoking room.

The ruling has been phased in since 1999. Restaurants have been smoke-free since 2001. Smoking is also prohibited in bars, casinos, bingo halls and at Toronto's horse racing track.

Those who contravene the bylaw face a fine of $225 (Canadian) and $5000 for repeat offenders.

Source: International Herald Tribune. June 2^nd 2004