ASH Daily News for 13/10/2006
HEADLINES
ASH, 102 Clifton Street, LONDON, EC2A 4HW.
Tel 020 7739 5902 Fax 020 7613 0531
ASH Daily News
13 October 2006
[View html version: http://www.globalink.org/nbuk]
HEADLINES
EU takes legal action against tobacco ad ban violators
Psychiatrists urged to help patients quit smoking
NI smoking age could be raised
Nicotine vaccine trials underway
FULL TEXT
EU takes legal action on tobacco ad ban violators
The European Commission said it has taken legal action of various forms against Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain and Hungary for violating the EU tobacco advertising ban.
It is taking Italy to the EU's highest court, the European Court of Justice for failing to correctly transpose the sponsorship ban for cross-border events into domestic law.
In addition, it decided to send a 'reasoned opinions' - the second stage in the EU's infringement proceedings - to the Czech Republic, Spain and Hungary for failing to correctly transpose the sponsorship ban into national law.
EU laws from 2003 ban tobacco advertising in printed media, on radio and over the internet. It also prohibits tobacco sponsorship of cross-border events or activities.
It applies only to advertising and sponsorship with a cross-border dimension.
The laws had to be transposed into national legislation by 31 July 2005. By this date, member states had to adopt national transposition measures and communicate them to the commission.
Source: Forbes, IOL, International Herald and Tribune, 13 October 2006
Article link: (F) http://tinyurl.com/yfwlqy: (IHT) http://tinyurl.com/ygfcrp
Psychiatrists urged to help patients quit smoking
Smokers who are receiving outpatient psychiatric treatment for depression can also be helped to quit smoking, a study shows.
"The mental health system has been reluctant to identify and treat tobacco dependence despite exhortations to diagnose and treat this often fatal disorder," Dr Sharon M. Hall, of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues write in the American Journal of Public Health.
"This phenomenon can be linked to the belief on the part of mental health professionals that they do not have the skills to provide smoking treatment, the failure to understand that mental health patients can succeed in quitting smoking, reimbursement concerns, and fear of exacerbation of symptoms during nicotine withdrawal."
Dr Hall's team examined the efficacy of a staged care intervention to reduce cigarette smoking among 322 patients receiving psychiatric treatment for depression and who smoked at least one cigarette a day.
Patients in the staged care intervention group received computerised motivational feedback at entry and three, six, and 12 months.
They were also offered a six-session psychological counselling and drug cessation treatment programme.
Subjects in the control group received a self-help guide and a referral list of local stop-smoking programmes.
Compared with control subjects, those in the staged care intervention group had higher abstinence rates at 12 and 18 months. The abstinence rate at 18 months was roughly 25 per cent in the intervention group and 19 per cent in the control group.
Staged care intervention subjects were also likely to have more stringent smoking cessation goals.
Source: Reuters, 13 October 2006
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/y9pvjb
NI smoking age could be raised
The legal age of smoking in Northern Ireland could be raised to 18 or over if devolved Government is restored, a Government spokesman said.
Lord Rooker said legislation banning smoking in public places also gives any future restored Assembly the power to increase the smoking age, currently at 16.
The Health Act which bans public smoking in England and Wales states that the age for buying tobacco should not be raised above 18.
But the Smoking (NI) Order, which will introduce Ulster's separate ban, has no such restriction - effectively giving members in any future Assembly the right to set whatever age limit they please.
Tory peer Lord Glentoran accused the government of spreading confusion by delaying crucial regulations which will list exemptions for the ban.
"If the Government do not bring out sensible and clear regulations soon, places of work will have a very difficult time identifying whether they are to be smoke-free and in making provisions for smokers," he said.
Last month, Health Minister Paul Goggins proposed exemptions to certain hotel rooms, long stay mental health units, certain rooms in nursing and residential homes, and hospices.
In addition, prisons will not be required to go smokefree under the new regulations.
A consultation on the regulations - which includes the power to raise the smoking age - is running from September 25 to November 3.
Full implementation of the smoking ban in Ulster is due by April next year.
The British Medical Association, which recently carried out a report showing 19% of 15-year-olds are smoking regularly, is in favour of an over-18 policy.
Source: Belfast Telegraph, Publican, 13 October 2006
Article link: (BT) http://tinyurl.com/yhpfjj: (P) http://tinyurl.com/y5mpoj
Nicotine vaccine trials underway
Nabi Biopharmaceuticals has completed enrolment for its phase IIB "proof-of-concept" study for NicVAX the company's vaccine being developed to treat nicotine addiction and prevent smoking relapse.
Enrolment for the trial was completed three months earlier than anticipated, paving the way for the release of trial results early in the second quarter of 2007.
"The successful completion of patient enrolment puts us in a highly advantageous position to rapidly advance partnering efforts for NicVAX," stated Thomas McLain, CEO and president, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals
NicVAX is designed to prevent the 'rush' effect when nicotine reaches and binds to receptors in the brain. The vaccine stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies that bind to nicotine. Nicotine attached to the antibodies is too large to cross the blood brain barrier, preventing nicotine from reaching the receptors in the brain.
Source: Yahoo, 13 October 2006
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/y3exc2
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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
13 October 2006
[View html version: http://www.globalink.org/nbuk]
HEADLINES
EU takes legal action against tobacco ad ban violators
Psychiatrists urged to help patients quit smoking
NI smoking age could be raised
Nicotine vaccine trials underway
FULL TEXT
EU takes legal action on tobacco ad ban violators
The European Commission said it has taken legal action of various forms against Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain and Hungary for violating the EU tobacco advertising ban.
It is taking Italy to the EU's highest court, the European Court of Justice for failing to correctly transpose the sponsorship ban for cross-border events into domestic law.
In addition, it decided to send a 'reasoned opinions' - the second stage in the EU's infringement proceedings - to the Czech Republic, Spain and Hungary for failing to correctly transpose the sponsorship ban into national law.
EU laws from 2003 ban tobacco advertising in printed media, on radio and over the internet. It also prohibits tobacco sponsorship of cross-border events or activities.
It applies only to advertising and sponsorship with a cross-border dimension.
The laws had to be transposed into national legislation by 31 July 2005. By this date, member states had to adopt national transposition measures and communicate them to the commission.
Source: Forbes, IOL, International Herald and Tribune, 13 October 2006
Article link: (F) http://tinyurl.com/yfwlqy: (IHT) http://tinyurl.com/ygfcrp
Psychiatrists urged to help patients quit smoking
Smokers who are receiving outpatient psychiatric treatment for depression can also be helped to quit smoking, a study shows.
"The mental health system has been reluctant to identify and treat tobacco dependence despite exhortations to diagnose and treat this often fatal disorder," Dr Sharon M. Hall, of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues write in the American Journal of Public Health.
"This phenomenon can be linked to the belief on the part of mental health professionals that they do not have the skills to provide smoking treatment, the failure to understand that mental health patients can succeed in quitting smoking, reimbursement concerns, and fear of exacerbation of symptoms during nicotine withdrawal."
Dr Hall's team examined the efficacy of a staged care intervention to reduce cigarette smoking among 322 patients receiving psychiatric treatment for depression and who smoked at least one cigarette a day.
Patients in the staged care intervention group received computerised motivational feedback at entry and three, six, and 12 months.
They were also offered a six-session psychological counselling and drug cessation treatment programme.
Subjects in the control group received a self-help guide and a referral list of local stop-smoking programmes.
Compared with control subjects, those in the staged care intervention group had higher abstinence rates at 12 and 18 months. The abstinence rate at 18 months was roughly 25 per cent in the intervention group and 19 per cent in the control group.
Staged care intervention subjects were also likely to have more stringent smoking cessation goals.
Source: Reuters, 13 October 2006
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/y9pvjb
NI smoking age could be raised
The legal age of smoking in Northern Ireland could be raised to 18 or over if devolved Government is restored, a Government spokesman said.
Lord Rooker said legislation banning smoking in public places also gives any future restored Assembly the power to increase the smoking age, currently at 16.
The Health Act which bans public smoking in England and Wales states that the age for buying tobacco should not be raised above 18.
But the Smoking (NI) Order, which will introduce Ulster's separate ban, has no such restriction - effectively giving members in any future Assembly the right to set whatever age limit they please.
Tory peer Lord Glentoran accused the government of spreading confusion by delaying crucial regulations which will list exemptions for the ban.
"If the Government do not bring out sensible and clear regulations soon, places of work will have a very difficult time identifying whether they are to be smoke-free and in making provisions for smokers," he said.
Last month, Health Minister Paul Goggins proposed exemptions to certain hotel rooms, long stay mental health units, certain rooms in nursing and residential homes, and hospices.
In addition, prisons will not be required to go smokefree under the new regulations.
A consultation on the regulations - which includes the power to raise the smoking age - is running from September 25 to November 3.
Full implementation of the smoking ban in Ulster is due by April next year.
The British Medical Association, which recently carried out a report showing 19% of 15-year-olds are smoking regularly, is in favour of an over-18 policy.
Source: Belfast Telegraph, Publican, 13 October 2006
Article link: (BT) http://tinyurl.com/yhpfjj: (P) http://tinyurl.com/y5mpoj
Nicotine vaccine trials underway
Nabi Biopharmaceuticals has completed enrolment for its phase IIB "proof-of-concept" study for NicVAX the company's vaccine being developed to treat nicotine addiction and prevent smoking relapse.
Enrolment for the trial was completed three months earlier than anticipated, paving the way for the release of trial results early in the second quarter of 2007.
"The successful completion of patient enrolment puts us in a highly advantageous position to rapidly advance partnering efforts for NicVAX," stated Thomas McLain, CEO and president, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals
NicVAX is designed to prevent the 'rush' effect when nicotine reaches and binds to receptors in the brain. The vaccine stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies that bind to nicotine. Nicotine attached to the antibodies is too large to cross the blood brain barrier, preventing nicotine from reaching the receptors in the brain.
Source: Yahoo, 13 October 2006
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/y3exc2
----------------------------------
Unsubscribe:
Public subscribers: http://www.ash.org.uk/html/about/subscribe.php
Globalink members: http://member.globalink.org
----------------------------------
Michael Fredman
Web Manager
ASH
102 Clifton St
EC2A 4HW
020 7739 5902
