ASH Daily News for 24 September 2008

Rochdale first to see anti-smoking film

Cinemagoers to the Odeon cinema in Rochdale will see one of the most hard hitting anti-tobacco short films ever seen on British screens. 'Slaughterhouse' is currently being screened before 15 certificate films at the Rochdale cinema and other cinemas across the North West. The film carries the message: ‘You wouldn’t pay to kill yourself. Why smoke?'

Lisa Barker, tobacco free leader for Rochdale, said: “It is notoriously difficult to engage young people on this issue so it’s great to be the first region to support this groundbreaking film. We are working hard in the Borough to get more people to quit smoking and this film will help us to tap into a younger audience.”

Smokefree North West has funded the film for Cinema, making the North West the first region to screen Slaughterhouse, which graphically challenges young people not to smoke. The film is a pilot which will be rolled out across the region if it is well received by young people. It was produced by the winner of Channel 4’s 4Talent competition, in partnership with Cancer Research UK. Created by teenagers for teenagers, the short film was one of three that highlight the dangers of smoking to young people. The film is designed to encourage teenagers to question the tobacco industry’s methods and think about their own, or their friends, smoking. It forms part of Smokefree North West’s approach to combat youth smoking and to continue to de-normalise tobacco use.

Source: Rochdale Online, 23 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/3JYHI  

Ban on street smoking suggested

A Leicestershire council is considering whether smoking should be banned from the streets in a bid to cut littering. Councillor Nick Rushton from North West Leicestershire District Council said he had received a number of complaints about cigarette ends on the street. The idea to ban smoking on the districts' street is being discussed but no decisions have yet been made.

The Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (FOREST) said the ban would not work. "I am pretty sure nothing will come of this as it has already been tried...and got howled down," FOREST spokesman Simon Clark said. "I have a lot of sympathy for the argument about excessive cigarette litter...but local authorities need to do much more in terms of providing cigarette bins and we would encourage smokers to use them."

Cllr Rushton said his constituents were concerned about the litter problem. "I get a lot of people who don't smoke and who don't like litter...such as cigarette ends on the street on a Saturday and Sunday morning when it's been a busy night in the pubs. If this litter is a major driver of public dissatisfaction, it's something which could be improved. I get equally as many complaints from people who have to walk through crowds of smokers and that's not just at night." Mr Rushton said he would consult his fellow cabinet members to see how to best resolve the issue.

Source: BBC News, 23 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/9NIpw

Casual smokers more likely to binge drink

Casual smoking may encourage binge drinking and increase the risk of alcoholism, a study claims. The research showed that casual smokers were by far the heaviest drinkers, consuming more units than heavy smokers and non smokers and were also more likely to suffer from alcohol abuse. The scientists who carried out at the research believe casual smoking and drinking "mutually promote each other" with cigarettes increasing the pleasure from, and counteracting the sedative effects of, alcohol. Heavy smoking on the other hand tended to slow down drinking.

The study by Yale University School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh discovered that "non-daily smokers" - classified as those who typically smoke two or three cigarettes a couple of times a week - were 16 times more likely to binge drink than non-smokers. They were also five times more likely than non-smokers to have a drink problem and twice as likely to hazardously drink than their heavy smoking counterparts.

"Young adult non-daily smokers typically only smoke when they are also drinking," said Sherry McKee, associate professor of psychiatry at Yale. "The mechanisms underlying these behaviours has not been well studied, but it is possible that cigarette use in non-daily smokers increases the reward for continued alcohol use within an episode, and also possibly counteracts the sedating effects of alcohol allowing for continued heavy drinking."

The team said that the findings were particularly relevant because casual smokers were a fast growing section of society, making up a quarter of adult smokers in the USA. For the study, published in the Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research journal, researchers queried 5,838 young adults on their current smoking behaviour as well as their weekly consumption of alcohol. Binge drinking was classified as five or more drinks a night for men and four for women.

The findings could help further justify smoking bans in pubs, said Saul Shiffman, a professor of psychology and pharmaceutical science from the University of Pittsburgh co-author of the study. "Drinking and smoking may mutually promote each other, leading to bouts of heavy drinking and smoking," he said. "Interfering with the link could yield long term public health benefits."

Source: The Telegraph, 23 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/rX9ak

Stopping smoking reduces postoperative complications

Patients who stop smoking four weeks before an operation reduce the risk of complications, according to a doctoral thesis from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet. Moreover, many of those who receive help with this ahead of operations remain non-smokers for a long time afterwards. Smokers who undergo surgery suffer complications, such as wound infections and poorly healing wounds, more often than non-smokers. Research has shown that the risk of complications is reduced if the patient stops smoking ahead of the operation, but it is unclear how long beforehand it has to happen.

Dr David Lindström works as a surgeon at the Stockholm South General Hospital (Södersjukhuset). He now shows in his doctoral thesis that quitting tobacco use as late as four weeks prior to an operation is effective. His study involved 117 patients, half of whom were offered a chance to take part in a stop smoking programme four weeks before surgery. The patients in the control group went on to have roughly twice the number of complications as the programme patients. "The complications are unpleasant for the patients and expensive for the health services," says Dr Lindström. "Since help with quitting tobacco use is both effective and cheap compared with other preventative measures, it should always be offered as an option before an operation."

Dr Lindström's thesis shows that relatively many of the patients who took part in the stop smoking programme managed to actually quit their habit, both in the short and long terms. Approximately 58 per cent of the patients who received help stopped smoking before their operations, and 33 per cent were still non-smokers one year later. "This is a very good result when you compare with other quit smoking programmes," says Dr Lindström. "It seems as if surgery is a motivation-boosting factor for people who are already trying to kick the habit."

Thesis: The impact of tobacco use on postoperative complications, David Lindström, Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical Research and Education at Södersjukhuset (KI S-S).

Read thesis: http://diss.kib.ki.se/2008/978-91-7409-071-0/

Source: Medical News Today, 23 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/hxjkw

India: Special Task Force to implement smoking rules in Goa

Goa government will form a special task force to ensure implementation of new amendments in the Smoking in public places Rules 2008, that are being enforced from October 2.  State Health Minister Rane said that the Goa cabinet would resolve to give more teeth to the task force which will be headed by a top bureaucrat and will comprise of all the stake holders. The health minister on Tuesday convened a special meeting with all the stakeholders to take the feedback and brief them about the task force.

"All the stakeholders will play vital role in implementing the law. We need co-operation from everyone," Rane said during the meeting held at secretariat here. The National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE), an NGO working for tobacco-eradication, said that under the new amendment, the onus lies on the hotel managers and college principals to ensure that the area is free from smoking. "If the task force finds a person smoking in the hotel then the manager will be fined at the rate of Rs 200 per person," NOTE General Secretary Shekhar Salkar told reporters after the meeting.

Although initial apprehensions were raised that the tourism industry might not take well the new amendments, the industry players have welcomed the move. "There is need to make travellers aware about this law," Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) President Ralf D'Souza said. During the meeting, it was briefed by the health minister that the hotel or restaurant with more than 30 seating capacity may provide a separate smoking zone. The meeting decided that proper sign boards should be put up to make people aware about the existing law so that the violations can be curbed to much extend.

Source: The Times of India, 24 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/2qjth