ASH Daily News for 18/10/2005
HEADLINES
ASH, 102 Clifton Street, LONDON, EC2A 4HW.
Tel 020 7739 5902 Fax 020 7613 0531
ASH Daily News
18 October 2005
[View html version: http://www.globalink.org/nbuk]
HEADLINES
2007 Ulster smoking ban showing the way for England
Smoking reduces male fertility, study
Clarke's leadership dreams to be stubbed out
US Court rejects government appeal in tobacco suit
FULL TEXT
2007 Ulster smoking ban showing the way for England
Northern Ireland is to follow the example of the Irish Republic by banning smoking in all workplaces and enclosed public spaces by April 2007.
The legislation will make lighting up in bars and restaurants illegal and is designed to protect workers and non-smokers from the dangers of passive smoking.
Shaun Woodward, the Northern Ireland health minister, said it was an "historic decision".
Deborah Arnott, the director of Action on Smoking and Health, said: "This welcome move throws into stark relief the protracted dithering by the UK Cabinet about a decision for England."
Mr Woodward said the success of the ban in the republic, which was the first place in Europe to do it, had persuaded him to go for similar legislation.
Although Mr Woodward admitted that pub trade in Ireland fell by 0.2 per cent in the year after the March 2004 ban, he said: "Things continue to pick up in the hospitality sector. Fourteen hundred new jobs in the last quarter bear testimony to that."
Two separate studies in the British Medical Journal suggested that the legislation was protecting bar workers.
In one study, 329 staff in rural and urban pubs in the republic and Northern Ireland were surveyed in the six months leading up to the 2004 ban. A year later, 249 workers were followed up.
The authors found work-related exposure to second hand smoke dropped significantly in the republic, but only slightly in Northern Ireland. There was also a significant drop in the proportion of bar staff experiencing respiratory symptoms in the republic.
Source: Telegraph, Caterer and Hotelkeeper, Independent, 18 October 2005
Article links: (T) http://tinyurl.com/ddxjk: (C) http://tinyurl.com/cve53 (I) http://tinyurl.com/7h4ne
Related link (DHSSPNI): http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/
Smoking reduces male fertility, study
Smoking can reduce fertility in men, and the more one smokes, the more the ability of sperm to bind to an egg is diminished, a new study finds.
Researchers studied the sperm of 18 men who had smoked at least four cigarettes a day for more than two years. Using a test called the Hemizona Assay, the scientists compared sperm function in the 18 smokers with the sperm of nonsmokers.
The researchers found that the sperm from almost two-thirds of the smokers failed the test. Although none was infertile, their sperm function was greatly reduced.
"This study confirms what's known," said Dr. Jamie Grifo, director of reproductive endocrinology at New York University Medical Center in New York City.
"If you're smoking and you're infertile, you better stop smoking, because you're not helping your chances," Grifo said. "It's just one of the negative impacts that smoking has on the human body, and it's another reason why one shouldn't smoke."
Source: Forbes, News-Medical Net, 18 October 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/ajqoz
Related link: http://www.asrm.org/
Clarke's leadership dreams to be stubbed out
Kenneth Clarke joined a last-minute march away from the centre ground of politics yesterday as he struggled to avoid the wooden spoon in today's first ballot for the vacant Tory leadership, a result which would, in effect, end his ambitions in public life.
He will battle it out with Liam Fox to survive a knockout ballot of Conservative MPs.
However, Kenneth Clarke, who earlier admitted he may be too old to lead the party, is remaining upbeat about is chances.
He said: "I actually sense that what the membership want is David Cameron and myself to go forward at the end."
Source: Guardian, Channel 4, Evening Standard, Scotsman, 18 October 2005
Article link: (G) http://tinyurl.com/73udc: (S) http://tinyurl.com/a28gt
US Court rejects government appeal in tobacco suit
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Monday the government's appeal aimed at reinstating a potential $280 billion penalty in its landmark racketeering case against cigarette makers.
Without comment, the justices denied a request by the Justice Department to review a U.S. appeals court ruling that barred the government from seeking $280 billion in past tobacco profits as a legal remedy for decades of alleged fraud by the tobacco industry.
The appeals court, by a 2-1 vote, ruled in February that the civil racketeering law only allows for forward-looking remedies designed to prevent future violations.
The appeals court reversed a decision by the trial judge, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, who had concluded that the law does allow the government to seek disgorgement of industry profits as a way to "prevent and restrain" future misconduct.
The appeals court's ruling took away the government's biggest weapon in the landmark case, which was filed in 1999.
Source: Reuters, 18 October 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/76e5y
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Michael Fredman
Web Manager
ASH
102 Clifton St
EC2A 4HW
020 7739 5902
Tel 020 7739 5902 Fax 020 7613 0531
ASH Daily News
18 October 2005
[View html version: http://www.globalink.org/nbuk]
HEADLINES
2007 Ulster smoking ban showing the way for England
Smoking reduces male fertility, study
Clarke's leadership dreams to be stubbed out
US Court rejects government appeal in tobacco suit
FULL TEXT
2007 Ulster smoking ban showing the way for England
Northern Ireland is to follow the example of the Irish Republic by banning smoking in all workplaces and enclosed public spaces by April 2007.
The legislation will make lighting up in bars and restaurants illegal and is designed to protect workers and non-smokers from the dangers of passive smoking.
Shaun Woodward, the Northern Ireland health minister, said it was an "historic decision".
Deborah Arnott, the director of Action on Smoking and Health, said: "This welcome move throws into stark relief the protracted dithering by the UK Cabinet about a decision for England."
Mr Woodward said the success of the ban in the republic, which was the first place in Europe to do it, had persuaded him to go for similar legislation.
Although Mr Woodward admitted that pub trade in Ireland fell by 0.2 per cent in the year after the March 2004 ban, he said: "Things continue to pick up in the hospitality sector. Fourteen hundred new jobs in the last quarter bear testimony to that."
Two separate studies in the British Medical Journal suggested that the legislation was protecting bar workers.
In one study, 329 staff in rural and urban pubs in the republic and Northern Ireland were surveyed in the six months leading up to the 2004 ban. A year later, 249 workers were followed up.
The authors found work-related exposure to second hand smoke dropped significantly in the republic, but only slightly in Northern Ireland. There was also a significant drop in the proportion of bar staff experiencing respiratory symptoms in the republic.
Source: Telegraph, Caterer and Hotelkeeper, Independent, 18 October 2005
Article links: (T) http://tinyurl.com/ddxjk: (C) http://tinyurl.com/cve53 (I) http://tinyurl.com/7h4ne
Related link (DHSSPNI): http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/
Smoking reduces male fertility, study
Smoking can reduce fertility in men, and the more one smokes, the more the ability of sperm to bind to an egg is diminished, a new study finds.
Researchers studied the sperm of 18 men who had smoked at least four cigarettes a day for more than two years. Using a test called the Hemizona Assay, the scientists compared sperm function in the 18 smokers with the sperm of nonsmokers.
The researchers found that the sperm from almost two-thirds of the smokers failed the test. Although none was infertile, their sperm function was greatly reduced.
"This study confirms what's known," said Dr. Jamie Grifo, director of reproductive endocrinology at New York University Medical Center in New York City.
"If you're smoking and you're infertile, you better stop smoking, because you're not helping your chances," Grifo said. "It's just one of the negative impacts that smoking has on the human body, and it's another reason why one shouldn't smoke."
Source: Forbes, News-Medical Net, 18 October 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/ajqoz
Related link: http://www.asrm.org/
Clarke's leadership dreams to be stubbed out
Kenneth Clarke joined a last-minute march away from the centre ground of politics yesterday as he struggled to avoid the wooden spoon in today's first ballot for the vacant Tory leadership, a result which would, in effect, end his ambitions in public life.
He will battle it out with Liam Fox to survive a knockout ballot of Conservative MPs.
However, Kenneth Clarke, who earlier admitted he may be too old to lead the party, is remaining upbeat about is chances.
He said: "I actually sense that what the membership want is David Cameron and myself to go forward at the end."
Source: Guardian, Channel 4, Evening Standard, Scotsman, 18 October 2005
Article link: (G) http://tinyurl.com/73udc: (S) http://tinyurl.com/a28gt
US Court rejects government appeal in tobacco suit
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Monday the government's appeal aimed at reinstating a potential $280 billion penalty in its landmark racketeering case against cigarette makers.
Without comment, the justices denied a request by the Justice Department to review a U.S. appeals court ruling that barred the government from seeking $280 billion in past tobacco profits as a legal remedy for decades of alleged fraud by the tobacco industry.
The appeals court, by a 2-1 vote, ruled in February that the civil racketeering law only allows for forward-looking remedies designed to prevent future violations.
The appeals court reversed a decision by the trial judge, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, who had concluded that the law does allow the government to seek disgorgement of industry profits as a way to "prevent and restrain" future misconduct.
The appeals court's ruling took away the government's biggest weapon in the landmark case, which was filed in 1999.
Source: Reuters, 18 October 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/76e5y
-------------------------------------
Unsubscribe:
Public subscribers: http://www.ash.org.uk/?unsubscribe
Globalink members: http://member.globalink.org
----------------------------------
Michael Fredman
Web Manager
ASH
102 Clifton St
EC2A 4HW
020 7739 5902
