ASH Daily News for 01/10/2003
HEADLINES
ASH, 102 Clifton Street, LONDON, EC2A 4HW.
Tel 020 7739 5902 Fax 020 7613 0531
ASH Daily News
1 October 2003
HEADLINES
Passive smoking increases risk of CHD
Pollution higher indoors
New health warnings compulsory
Out of sight, out of mind... carry on smoking jo
Smoke screen
FULL TEXT
Passive smoking increases risk of CHD
The impact of smoking on the risk of developing coronary heart disease
(CHD) has been hugely underestimated, a 20 year landmark study has
found. Researchers said the risk was nearly four fold higher in non
smokers with high exposure to passive smoke, such as cigarette smoking
by a partner, compared with non smokers with low exposure.
Study lead Professor Peter Whincup, professor of cardiovascular
epidemiology at St Georges Hospital Medical School, London, said the
effect of passive smoking by someone you live with was originally
thought to increase the risk of CHD by 30 percent.
The study followed 2,105 non smoking men from the British Regional Heart
Study and measured levels of cotinine in their blood. Of these, 308
suffered a major CHD event during follow up.
During the first five years of follow-up, patients with the highest
level of cotinine in the blood had nearly 4 times the risk of having a
cardiac event compared with those who registered the lowest levels of
cotinine.
Dr Mike Kirby, a GP and member of the Primary Care Cardiovascular
Society, said GPs and practice nurses could use the results to call
passive smokers in for a cardiac risk assessment. "The results are quite
useful because it gives us something definite to tell the patients and
in this evidence-based environment, it could be used to focus our
resources," he added.
Source: Pulse, 29 September 2003
Pollution higher indoors
Pollution inside homes and offices can be up to double the level
recorded outdoors, new research has revealed.
Tests carried out for the European Commission show that levels of the
chemical benzene are twice as high indoors as outside. The toxin, found
in both fitted carpets and cigarette smoke, is a major cause of
leukaemia.
It is thought the chemical could be responsible for up to six million
cases of the disease across Europe. Despite fears that industrial
pollution and fumes produced by heavy traffic pose the biggest
environmental threat to health, the study by the Commission found that
plastics, furniture, computers, carpets and cigarette smoke are causing
an increase in the number of people suffering from allergies. The
research suggests a combination of tobacco smoke, asbestos, radon and
benzene released in buildings could be causing an increase in cancer
rates.
Full article:
http://www.thisislondon.com/lifeandstyle/articles/6948944
Source: Daily Mail, Evening Standard, 1 October 2003
New health warnings compulsory
New health warnings on packets of cigarettes were made compulsory as of
yesterday when the EU directive on product labelling and packaging came
into force. All packets of cigarettes with the old style warnings are
now deemed illegal and stock should have either been sold or withdrawn.
Out of sight, out of mind... carry on smoking jo
Tired of staring death in the face, Spanish smokers have come up with a
novel way of eradicating the doomsday health messages that from today
must appear on every cigarette packet in the European Union.
For while their cigarette packets now tell them in large letters that
smoking may "damage sperm and reduce fertility", or "reduce blood flow
and cause impotence", Spain's rebellious smokers have rediscovered the
old-fashioned cigarette case.
The cases are on sale at the same government-licensed tobacco shops, the
estancos, through which every Spanish cigarette packet must pass, and
feature flowers, ducks, love-hearts or cannabis leaves.
"You just put your packet of Fortuna or Ducados into it and the health
warning simply disappears," Marisol Sanchez, an assistant at a Madrid
tobacco shop, explained.
Full article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1052941,00.html
Source: The Guardian, 1 October 2003
Smoke screen
Reporting on a new brand of cigarettes being rolled out by Taiwan
Tobacco and Liquor Corporation (TTLC), the Financial Times says: One to
make the anti-tobacco smoking lobby choke - the names of the TTLC
brands? Longlife Extra and Longlife Ultra.
[FT should realise that ANY cigarette brand is enough to make an
anti-tobacco lobbyist choke]
Source: Financial Times, 1 October 2003
----------------------------------
Unsubscribe:
Public subscribers: http://www.ash.org.uk/?unsubscribe
Globalink members: http://member.globalink.org/nbuk
----------------------------------
Tel 020 7739 5902 Fax 020 7613 0531
ASH Daily News
1 October 2003
HEADLINES
Passive smoking increases risk of CHD
Pollution higher indoors
New health warnings compulsory
Out of sight, out of mind... carry on smoking jo
Smoke screen
FULL TEXT
Passive smoking increases risk of CHD
The impact of smoking on the risk of developing coronary heart disease
(CHD) has been hugely underestimated, a 20 year landmark study has
found. Researchers said the risk was nearly four fold higher in non
smokers with high exposure to passive smoke, such as cigarette smoking
by a partner, compared with non smokers with low exposure.
Study lead Professor Peter Whincup, professor of cardiovascular
epidemiology at St Georges Hospital Medical School, London, said the
effect of passive smoking by someone you live with was originally
thought to increase the risk of CHD by 30 percent.
The study followed 2,105 non smoking men from the British Regional Heart
Study and measured levels of cotinine in their blood. Of these, 308
suffered a major CHD event during follow up.
During the first five years of follow-up, patients with the highest
level of cotinine in the blood had nearly 4 times the risk of having a
cardiac event compared with those who registered the lowest levels of
cotinine.
Dr Mike Kirby, a GP and member of the Primary Care Cardiovascular
Society, said GPs and practice nurses could use the results to call
passive smokers in for a cardiac risk assessment. "The results are quite
useful because it gives us something definite to tell the patients and
in this evidence-based environment, it could be used to focus our
resources," he added.
Source: Pulse, 29 September 2003
Pollution higher indoors
Pollution inside homes and offices can be up to double the level
recorded outdoors, new research has revealed.
Tests carried out for the European Commission show that levels of the
chemical benzene are twice as high indoors as outside. The toxin, found
in both fitted carpets and cigarette smoke, is a major cause of
leukaemia.
It is thought the chemical could be responsible for up to six million
cases of the disease across Europe. Despite fears that industrial
pollution and fumes produced by heavy traffic pose the biggest
environmental threat to health, the study by the Commission found that
plastics, furniture, computers, carpets and cigarette smoke are causing
an increase in the number of people suffering from allergies. The
research suggests a combination of tobacco smoke, asbestos, radon and
benzene released in buildings could be causing an increase in cancer
rates.
Full article:
http://www.thisislondon.com/lifeandstyle/articles/6948944
Source: Daily Mail, Evening Standard, 1 October 2003
New health warnings compulsory
New health warnings on packets of cigarettes were made compulsory as of
yesterday when the EU directive on product labelling and packaging came
into force. All packets of cigarettes with the old style warnings are
now deemed illegal and stock should have either been sold or withdrawn.
Out of sight, out of mind... carry on smoking jo
Tired of staring death in the face, Spanish smokers have come up with a
novel way of eradicating the doomsday health messages that from today
must appear on every cigarette packet in the European Union.
For while their cigarette packets now tell them in large letters that
smoking may "damage sperm and reduce fertility", or "reduce blood flow
and cause impotence", Spain's rebellious smokers have rediscovered the
old-fashioned cigarette case.
The cases are on sale at the same government-licensed tobacco shops, the
estancos, through which every Spanish cigarette packet must pass, and
feature flowers, ducks, love-hearts or cannabis leaves.
"You just put your packet of Fortuna or Ducados into it and the health
warning simply disappears," Marisol Sanchez, an assistant at a Madrid
tobacco shop, explained.
Full article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1052941,00.html
Source: The Guardian, 1 October 2003
Smoke screen
Reporting on a new brand of cigarettes being rolled out by Taiwan
Tobacco and Liquor Corporation (TTLC), the Financial Times says: One to
make the anti-tobacco smoking lobby choke - the names of the TTLC
brands? Longlife Extra and Longlife Ultra.
[FT should realise that ANY cigarette brand is enough to make an
anti-tobacco lobbyist choke]
Source: Financial Times, 1 October 2003
----------------------------------
Unsubscribe:
Public subscribers: http://www.ash.org.uk/?unsubscribe
Globalink members: http://member.globalink.org/nbuk
----------------------------------
