ASH Daily News for 28/04/2006
HEADLINES
ASH, 102 Clifton Street, LONDON, EC2A 4HW.
Tel 020 7739 5902 Fax 020 7613 0531
ASH Daily News
28 April 2006
[View html version: http://www.globalink.org/nbuk]
HEADLINES
France: smokefree?
Cigarettes with added vitamin C
Dot and EastEnders may go smokefree
If the part demands it
NHS smoking target may not be met
Spain: cigarette sales down
FULL TEXT
France: smokefree?
President Jacques Chirac took a cautious step on Thursday toward a smokefree future, unveiling a proposal at the Élysée Palace to fight cancer and dangled the prospect of a government decision on banning smoking in public places.
"A debate and a thorough dialogue must take place" as a preliminary step, Chirac said, he added that "the final decisions will be made before the end of the year."
Xavier Bertrand, the health minister, confirmed that a ban was on the agenda and that he intended to address it as quickly as possible. However Bertrand has recently been promoting the importance of "vast consultation" on the issue.
Nicolas Villain, co-director of the National Committee Against Tobacco, said "there is a lack of political courage. It is good that President Chirac mentioned this subject. We are quite sure that something will come. The question is, Will it be a clear, simple and courageous decision? Or will it be something halfway, with smoking rooms to try to be nice to everybody?"
A government poll indicated that 78 percent of those surveyed favoured a total smoking ban in public spaces, although fewer were ready to extend that to cafés.
Source: International Herald Tribune 28/4/06
Link to Article: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/27/news/smoke.php
Cigarettes with added vitamin C
A new cigarette injected with vitamin C (the VitaCig) has been created by Canadian non-smoker Roger Ouellette. He claims the cigarettes are less likely to stain teeth and create less of a smell than ordinary brands. Mr Ouellette claimed vitamin C reduced the harmful effects of smoking. He said: "We give you all the vitamins you lose, plus some to help you."
Amanda Sandford from ASH dismissed the cigarettes as "barmy", saying: "I sincerely hope they never reach these shores. I find it hard to believe anyone would take the claims seriously, but some people might be fooled. It is quite a disgraceful form of marketing because it could lure innocent or naive people into thinking they can smoke to get the vitamins they need."
The cigarettes are being distributed by Canadian company Vita-C Tobacco. They will be available in about 2,000 outlets in Quebec and, if they prove successful, could be sold across world.
Source: Daily Mail 28/4/06
Link to Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=384446&in_page_id=1774&in_a_source=
Dot and EastEnders may go smokefree
Dot Branning, a character from East Enders is set to quit smoking as the Queen Vic (the pub in the show) and the whole EastEnders set goes smoke-free.
Actress June Brown, will not be seen smoking in the boozer which, like every pub in Britain, will become smoke-free from next year.
But actors will not be able to smoke anywhere in the Square as it is a BBC workplace. So Dot may not even be seen having a cig at home.
Source: The Sun 28/4/06
Link to article: http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2001320029-2006190548,,00.html
If the part demands it
Mark Lawson writes an opinion piece for the Guardian on the possible exemption of smoking on stage and screen.
Caroline Flint, the public health minister is considering an exception, to allow characters on stage, TV or film to smoke if is "integral" to the plot.
There would, presumably, be teams of civil servants trained to make these near-theological distinctions. For example, do almost all Ibsen's male characters smoke because it is central to the argument of the drama or because Ibsen was a social realist and, at the time, being in a room after dinner was like walking alongside a steam train?
Under the Flint rules, smoking might become for future generations of actors equivalent to nudity in the past, with respectful reference to performers who were "prepared to light up" but only "if the part absolutely demanded it".
I should probably make clear that, never having smoked a cigarette, my derisive tone comes not from my lungs but my mind. There are numerous activities that, though illegal or discouraged in real life, have long been tolerated in theatrical performance: including murder, the plucking out of the Earl of Gloucester's eyes and the abandonment of infants in handbags at railway terminuses. Yet, through centuries of performance, no need has been felt for warnings in theatre programmes advising patrons not to try these things at home.
The only half-decent argument for including simulated cigarettes in the clean-air sweep is that depictions of smoking might encourage emulation from viewers.
But do we really believe that after seeing a play by Simon Gray - whose dramas actually do advocate smoking, much as Brecht's champion Marxism - people are likely to rush out for a packet of fags? It's as ridiculous as worrying that each new production of Antony and Cleopatra will lead to a rush of snake-assisted suicides, or that Hamlet will encourage Danes to think dithering is a good thing.
The truth is that the ban on smoking in public was never intended to hit fiction: the risk to theatres and film sets is a classic example of legislative friendly fire.
Source: The Guardian 28/4/06
Link to Article: http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1763290,00.html
NHS smoking target may not be met
The NHS is unlikely to meet 11 of 26 targets it is due to hit by 2008, health secretary Patricia Hewitt said over the weekend.
The Prime Minister's delivery unit reported last week that many of the targets that may not be met were mainly in the public health area.
Smoking cessation and 48-hour access to genitourinary clinic targets are believed to be two of the targets that may go unmet.
Senior public health figures said the news did not surprise them. Rod Griffiths, Faculty of Public Health president said the smoking target was deliberately ambitious. Though David Hunter, Chair of UK Public Health Association, said if there was slippage on hitting targets at this stage it would be very difficult to get back on track by 2008.
Source: Health Service Journal 27/4/06
Link to article: only available to subscribers: http://www.hsj.co.uk/
Spain: cigarette sales down
Vendors in Spain sold 4.5% fewer cigarettes in the first quarter after Spain banned smoking in the workplace. Cigar sales slumped 23% after restrictions on their sale have come into force.
Source: International Herald Tribune 28/4/06
----------------------------------
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Sarah Ward
Information Manager
Action on Smoking & Health (ASH)
102 Clifton Street
London
EC2A 4HW
Tel: 020 7739 5902
Fax: 020 7613 0531
e-mail: sarah.ward@ash.org.uk
web: http://www.ash.org.uk
map: http://uk2.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?pc=EC2A4HW
Tel 020 7739 5902 Fax 020 7613 0531
ASH Daily News
28 April 2006
[View html version: http://www.globalink.org/nbuk]
HEADLINES
France: smokefree?
Cigarettes with added vitamin C
Dot and EastEnders may go smokefree
If the part demands it
NHS smoking target may not be met
Spain: cigarette sales down
FULL TEXT
France: smokefree?
President Jacques Chirac took a cautious step on Thursday toward a smokefree future, unveiling a proposal at the Élysée Palace to fight cancer and dangled the prospect of a government decision on banning smoking in public places.
"A debate and a thorough dialogue must take place" as a preliminary step, Chirac said, he added that "the final decisions will be made before the end of the year."
Xavier Bertrand, the health minister, confirmed that a ban was on the agenda and that he intended to address it as quickly as possible. However Bertrand has recently been promoting the importance of "vast consultation" on the issue.
Nicolas Villain, co-director of the National Committee Against Tobacco, said "there is a lack of political courage. It is good that President Chirac mentioned this subject. We are quite sure that something will come. The question is, Will it be a clear, simple and courageous decision? Or will it be something halfway, with smoking rooms to try to be nice to everybody?"
A government poll indicated that 78 percent of those surveyed favoured a total smoking ban in public spaces, although fewer were ready to extend that to cafés.
Source: International Herald Tribune 28/4/06
Link to Article: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/27/news/smoke.php
Cigarettes with added vitamin C
A new cigarette injected with vitamin C (the VitaCig) has been created by Canadian non-smoker Roger Ouellette. He claims the cigarettes are less likely to stain teeth and create less of a smell than ordinary brands. Mr Ouellette claimed vitamin C reduced the harmful effects of smoking. He said: "We give you all the vitamins you lose, plus some to help you."
Amanda Sandford from ASH dismissed the cigarettes as "barmy", saying: "I sincerely hope they never reach these shores. I find it hard to believe anyone would take the claims seriously, but some people might be fooled. It is quite a disgraceful form of marketing because it could lure innocent or naive people into thinking they can smoke to get the vitamins they need."
The cigarettes are being distributed by Canadian company Vita-C Tobacco. They will be available in about 2,000 outlets in Quebec and, if they prove successful, could be sold across world.
Source: Daily Mail 28/4/06
Link to Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=384446&in_page_id=1774&in_a_source=
Dot and EastEnders may go smokefree
Dot Branning, a character from East Enders is set to quit smoking as the Queen Vic (the pub in the show) and the whole EastEnders set goes smoke-free.
Actress June Brown, will not be seen smoking in the boozer which, like every pub in Britain, will become smoke-free from next year.
But actors will not be able to smoke anywhere in the Square as it is a BBC workplace. So Dot may not even be seen having a cig at home.
Source: The Sun 28/4/06
Link to article: http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2001320029-2006190548,,00.html
If the part demands it
Mark Lawson writes an opinion piece for the Guardian on the possible exemption of smoking on stage and screen.
Caroline Flint, the public health minister is considering an exception, to allow characters on stage, TV or film to smoke if is "integral" to the plot.
There would, presumably, be teams of civil servants trained to make these near-theological distinctions. For example, do almost all Ibsen's male characters smoke because it is central to the argument of the drama or because Ibsen was a social realist and, at the time, being in a room after dinner was like walking alongside a steam train?
Under the Flint rules, smoking might become for future generations of actors equivalent to nudity in the past, with respectful reference to performers who were "prepared to light up" but only "if the part absolutely demanded it".
I should probably make clear that, never having smoked a cigarette, my derisive tone comes not from my lungs but my mind. There are numerous activities that, though illegal or discouraged in real life, have long been tolerated in theatrical performance: including murder, the plucking out of the Earl of Gloucester's eyes and the abandonment of infants in handbags at railway terminuses. Yet, through centuries of performance, no need has been felt for warnings in theatre programmes advising patrons not to try these things at home.
The only half-decent argument for including simulated cigarettes in the clean-air sweep is that depictions of smoking might encourage emulation from viewers.
But do we really believe that after seeing a play by Simon Gray - whose dramas actually do advocate smoking, much as Brecht's champion Marxism - people are likely to rush out for a packet of fags? It's as ridiculous as worrying that each new production of Antony and Cleopatra will lead to a rush of snake-assisted suicides, or that Hamlet will encourage Danes to think dithering is a good thing.
The truth is that the ban on smoking in public was never intended to hit fiction: the risk to theatres and film sets is a classic example of legislative friendly fire.
Source: The Guardian 28/4/06
Link to Article: http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1763290,00.html
NHS smoking target may not be met
The NHS is unlikely to meet 11 of 26 targets it is due to hit by 2008, health secretary Patricia Hewitt said over the weekend.
The Prime Minister's delivery unit reported last week that many of the targets that may not be met were mainly in the public health area.
Smoking cessation and 48-hour access to genitourinary clinic targets are believed to be two of the targets that may go unmet.
Senior public health figures said the news did not surprise them. Rod Griffiths, Faculty of Public Health president said the smoking target was deliberately ambitious. Though David Hunter, Chair of UK Public Health Association, said if there was slippage on hitting targets at this stage it would be very difficult to get back on track by 2008.
Source: Health Service Journal 27/4/06
Link to article: only available to subscribers: http://www.hsj.co.uk/
Spain: cigarette sales down
Vendors in Spain sold 4.5% fewer cigarettes in the first quarter after Spain banned smoking in the workplace. Cigar sales slumped 23% after restrictions on their sale have come into force.
Source: International Herald Tribune 28/4/06
----------------------------------
Unsubscribe:
Public subscribers: http://www.ash.org.uk/?unsubscribe
Globalink members: http://member.globalink.org
----------------------------------
Sarah Ward
Information Manager
Action on Smoking & Health (ASH)
102 Clifton Street
London
EC2A 4HW
Tel: 020 7739 5902
Fax: 020 7613 0531
e-mail: sarah.ward@ash.org.uk
web: http://www.ash.org.uk
map: http://uk2.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?pc=EC2A4HW
