ASH Daily News for 13/10/2004

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ASH Daily News

13 October 2004

HEADLINES

Euro-MPs join campaign for smoking ban
Euro-wide Tobacco Control survey
Images of smokers affect young people's own lifestyles
Australia: Smokers will be bar-ed


FULL TEXT

Euro-MPs join campaign for smoking ban

The campaign to ban smoking in Northern Ireland has received support
from two Euro-MPs.

Sinn Fein's Northern Ireland MEP Bairbre de Brun and her counterpart
from the Republic, Mary Lou McDonald said: "An all-Ireland ban on
smoking in the workplace would be a step towards a truly health
conscious society."

The MEPs said they were calling on Northern Ireland Office Minister
Angela Smith to begin a dialogue with the appropriate bodies to discuss
how a workplace smoking ban might be implemented.

They referred to a recent study that found 7,000 people in the Republic
had given up smoking or attempted to since the introduction of the
smoking ban.

The two Sinn Fein politicians were speaking in the wake of an all-party
group of British MPs and Peers visit to Dublin, to examine the success
of the smoking ban.

Support for a smoking ban in the workplace has been growing in Northern
Ireland.

Source: Belfast Telegraph, 8 October 2004


Euro-wide Tobacco Control survey

A Europe-wide study of anti-smoking policies criticised German and Czech
efforts to curb the habit whilst applauding Iceland and Britain for
their battle against tobacco.
Luk Joossens, who co-ordinated the report for the European Network for
Smoking Prevention, told Reuters that the dossier would single out
Luxembourg and the Czech Republic for criticism over their cheap
cigarettes.
The report ranks the European Union's 25 member states, as well as
neighbours Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland, for their improvement on a
range of anti-smoking measures recommended by the World Bank.
The study classified countries on six anti-smoking measures to calculate
a total score. The criteria include raising tax on cigarettes,
smoke-free policies in offices, bars and restaurants, anti-tobacco
advertising and clear warnings on cigarette packets.
The survey also rated access to treatment for nicotine addiction and
increased government "tobacco control" budgets, which go to fund other
anti-smoking measures.
The World Health Organisation says tobacco is the world's second biggest
killer, claiming some 5 million lives every year.
Joossens said his study, which also examined smoking rates over the last
two decades, showed a fall in adult smoking. But smoking among young
people has not fallen over the last 10 years in most regions.
Source: Reuters, 11 October 2004

Reuters link:
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6
00497
Link to report: http://www.ensp.org/files/effectivefinal2.pdf


Images of smokers affect young people's own lifestyles

Images young people see of those who smoke, drink or take drugs have
greater impact on their behaviour than anything others may say to them,
according to new research sponsored by the ESRC.

These impressions can affect people without them being conscious of it
says the study, led by Professor Paschal Sheeran of the University of
Sheffield.

His report is at odds with the idea that images found in advertising and
the mass media, such as pictures of slim young women, have no effect on
those who view them. 450 secondary school-age pupils and 118
undergraduates took part in the research, which included surveys and
carefully controlled experiments to examine whether, and how much, young
people's own health choices are influenced by portrayals of smokers as
'cool' or drinkers as 'one of the lads'.

The results are useful information for the Government and others anxious
to reduce potentially unhealthy activities, particularly among the
young.

The study points out that when it comes to smoking, young people may not
intend indulging, but might be willing to do so under certain
circumstances. However, it argues that just being willing to smoke
affects whether they end up doing so, regardless of their intentions.

Source: ESRC, 13 October 2004


Australia: Smokers will be bar-ed

Smoking in hotels and bars will be banned for most of Australia by 2007,
in an attempt to protect bartenders from inhaling second-hand smoke.

The ban in New South Wales, including Sydney, will be phased in from
2005. Only the outback Northern Territory State is not introducing a
ban. Sydney city council said it was also waiting for a report on
whether to ban smoking in city parks.

"For a person working in a bar for eight hours, that's equivalent to
smoking half a packet of cigarettes and we can't ask bar workers to put
their health at risk," New South Wales Premier Bob Carr said in a
statement.
Restrictions on public smoking in Australia already exist. In New South
Wales, it is forbidden to smoke in parts of public bars and on two of
the country's most famous beaches - Bondi and Manly.
Source: BBC News Online. 13 October 2004
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3738534.stm


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Harold Wilson
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