ASH Daily News for 10 September 2008

Public backs tougher tobacco control to protect the young

More than 8,000 people have written to the Department of Health calling for tougher tobacco control to protect young people and put tobacco out of sight and out of mind. This comes as new Cancer Research UK findings from the University of Stirling reveal that the more cigarette brands young people can name, the more likely they are to smoke. In fact, for every cigarette brand a young person can recall having seen at the point of sale their chance of smoking increases by 35 per cent.

The calls for stronger legislation are being submitted alongside Cancer Research UK's response to the Government consultation on the future of tobacco control. The charity believes that three measures - removing tobacco products from sight at the point of sale, removing cigarette vending machines and making plain packaging compulsory for tobacco products - should be adopted as part of a broader national tobacco control strategy.

The prime location of point of sale displays still offer tobacco companies a key opportunity to promote the packs and the product. Beginning in 2003 most forms of tobacco advertising and promotion have been prohibited across the UK but this has not included restrictions on point of sale displays or on pack design. In response the tobacco industry has continued to develop displays in shops by using lighting, brand specific colours on surrounding areas and attention-grabbing designs as well as making the packs themselves even more enticing. These loopholes are having a dramatic impact on young people.

The tobacco industry claims that smokers need these displays to help choose their brand of cigarettes and that they are not designed to attract new smokers. However, Cancer Research UK evidence shows that only 6 per cent of smokers decide on which product to buy based on these displays. The overwhelming majority of smokers always buy the same brand. The report also shows that tobacco related products - roll your own papers, lighters and matches - make use of a variety of marketing techniques that are prohibited for the marketing of tobacco. The techniques are increasingly targeted, directly or indirectly, at young people.

Many young people, particularly underage smokers, buy cigarettes from vending machines. Removing these machines altogether is the only effective means of preventing underage smokers obtaining cigarettes from these sources. Professor Gerard Hastings, director of social marketing at the University of Stirling, said: "We know that the younger you are when you start smoking the harder it is to quit. Our research shows that the point of sale displays allow tobacco companies to package and market cigarettes with powerful brand imagery to entice new smokers. This turns the pack, or 'silent salesman', into a small advertisement and the wall of cigarettes into a big one. Children are still being exploited and ultimately, they will only be truly protected when tobacco promotion and marketing in all its forms ceases to exist."

Scotland currently leads the UK with plans to introduce legislation in the coming year to remove the display of tobacco products at point of sale. This current consultation is for England but these measures to protect young people could also be introduced in Wales and Northern Ireland. Jean King, Cancer Research UK's director of tobacco control, said: "We've come a long way - introducing smokefree laws and making it illegal to sell cigarettes to under 18's - but the job isn't done. The evidence is clear and strong support from the public is there - we need to put tobacco out of sight and out of mind to protect all young people. The Government has the opportunity to act with conviction and further reduce the devastating impact that tobacco has on so many lives."

Source: News-Medical.net, 07 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/8OBwg  

Government urged to shelve tobacco plans

The Tobacco Manufacturers Association (TMA) has called on the Government to shelve plans to push sales under the counter because there is no firm evidence it would result in a reduction in smoking. In its consultation to the Government’s Future of Tobacco Control document, which proposes a vending machine ban and pushing sales below the counter, the TMA said that where product dipslays have been banned in Iceland and some parts of Canada, there has been no reduction in smoking. It believes POS displays are necessary for fair and undistorted competition between manfacturers and retailers.

Source: Morning Advertiser, 09 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/ZtGpg  

Stop smoking work not helping young

Smoking cessation programmes often fail to help young people because they do not see themselves as lifelong smokers and believe the interventions are for older people, according to a British Medical Journal report. Report authors Dr Gill Grimshaw, of Warwick University Medical School, and Alan Stanton, of Solihull Care Trust, said several Scottish NHS programmes had struggled to recruit young smokers. After one year only 11 young people - 2.4 per cent - from all seven projects managed to quit long term.

Martin Dockrell, policy and campaigns officer at anti-smoking pressure group Ash, told CYP Now: "Young people often say to themselves they'll quit before they're 30. The problem is the younger you start to smoke the more addictive smoking tends to be. More than 90 per cent of 16-year-old regular smokers live in a household with at least one other smoker so it could be especially important to consider young people's social environment if we want them to make their choice to quit stick." In the UK around 12 per cent of teenagers smoke and research has shown that 70 per cent of young smokers express a desire to quit soon after taking up the habit. But there is no clear evidence available to show what programmes work best.

Source: Children & Young People Now, 10 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/O21Fd

Rampton patients win right to appeal smoking ban

Psychiatric patients at Rampton Hospital have won the right to appeal against a smoking ban on their premises. An appeal court judge gave the patients the right to fight against the ban, which was imposed by the High Court in March 2007. Solicitors have argued that said the high security mental health unit, just outside Retford, is their 'home' and should not be subject to a ban.

Granting permission, Lord Justice Tuckey said the patients' argument should be considered. He said: "It is obviously a case of importance - not just to those detained at Rampton, but also to the many other mental patients who are smokers. We are told that 70 per cent of detained patients smoke, as opposed to 22 per cent of the general population." The appeal hearing is likely to take place later this year.

Source: Retford Today, 05 September 2008
Link:  http://tiny.cc/yBAeI

Reynolds American to cut 570 jobs

Reynolds American Inc. and its tobacco unit, R.J. Reynolds, said Tuesday they would cut about 570 jobs, or 10 percent of their American work force, as cigarette sellers prepare to compete more aggressively for sales of smokeless tobacco products. The company expects the job cuts at its headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C., to save $100 million by the end of 2010 and $55 million a year after that. Employees will begin losing their jobs in the third quarter, but some cuts will take until the end of 2009.

Source: Yahoo Finance, 09 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/QhtxX

US: Tobacco bill unlikely to pass this year

Landmark legislation that would give federal health authorities the power to regulate the tobacco industry is unlikely to pass this year. The House overwhelmingly approved the bill this summer, and a majority of senators, including presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, support the legislation. But President Bush has threatened a veto, and the prospect of a drawn-out debate will probably keep the Senate from taking up the measure as it races through a tight schedule this month, senior congressional officials of both parties said.

Source: Yahoo Finance, 09 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/U5NIU

Australia: Stoner a 'smoke pusher'

Australia's MotoGP champion Casey Stoner has been accused of pushing cigarettes onto thousands of young Australians. Stoner's sponsorship by Marlboro Cigarettes has raised eyebrows given their name and brand is plastered across much of his clothing and protection gear. Anti-smoking groups are now calling on the 22-year-old to reject tobacco giant Philip Morris' sponsorship of his MotoGP campaign.

The anti-tobacco group Action on Smoking and Health say that Stoner's use of the Philip Morris brand is sending the wrong message to many young Australians who regularly watch the MotoGP and Stoner. "Casey Stoner is the new Marlboro Man and while he might have a lucrative contract with his sponsor, as a champion he is a role model to children and young people worldwide and he's being exploited as a high-speed drug pusher," one campaigner said.

While advertising tobacco products is banned in Australia, news media coverage of Stoner nearly always shows the cigarette brand in clear sight. Stoner has rejected the calls, saying that he believed adults should be left to make their own decisions and that young Australians are not the target of the Marlboro advertising. "I firmly believe that every adult human being should retain the right to make his or her own decisions in life, whether correct or not," he said.

Source: The Biker Zone, 29 August 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/ftWod  

Quitting ciggies goes to pot

Cannabis use is the biggest obstacle in getting teenagers to give up cigarettes, a study warned. Smokers are extremely unlikely to quit while regularly enjoying a joint, said a British Medical Journal report.  And for some “this may be an insurmountable barrier to quitting”. Part of the problem is that young people do not see themselves as lifelong smokers and stopping is not a priority. Martin Dockrell, of anti-smoking campaigners ASH, said: “The younger you are when you start to smoke the more addictive it tends to be.”

Source: The Sun, 10 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/jpM0W