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ASH Daily news for 08 September 2010

HEADLINES

  • Smoking mothers link to infertility

    Mothers who smoke early in pregnancy may sow the seeds of infertility in their unborn sons by arresting the development of sperm cells, new research suggests.

    Scientists found numbers of immature reproductive cells were dramatically reduced in male embryos exposed to the effects of tobacco.

    The findings echo those of previous research showing a similar effect on female embryos.

    They were published alongside the results of a second study explaining why men who smoke may be putting their fertility at risk.

    The new work sheds further light on the links between smoking and infertility, and reinforces public health advice urging couples to quit the habit before attempting to conceive.

    The first team led by Professor Claus Andersen, from the University Hospital of Copenhagen in Denmark looked at 24 embryonic testes obtained from legally terminated pregnancies.

    Each of the aborted male embryos was between 37 and 68 days old.

    The scientists compared the number of germ cells - immature cells that become sperm in males and eggs in females - in the testes of embryos from smoking and non-smoking women.

    Those from smokers contained less than half as many germ cells as those from non-smokers. The number of non-reproductive somatic cells was also reduced by more than a third in the testes of embryos from smoking mothers.

    The effect was dose dependent, so that the more a woman smoked the more impact it had on the embryo.

    Source: The Press Association, 08 September 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/dqpIa0

  • Non-UK duty paid tobacco sales in further drop

    The market share for illicit cigarettes is continuing to fall, experts have claimed.

    Tobacco sources believe the upper estimate for smuggled cigarettes now stands at about 13% a 23.5% drop on the HMRC's 17% upper estimate revisions recorded in March.

    The drop in smuggled tobacco was the "surprise result" of the recession as 17% fewer people holidayed in the EU, a senior industry source said. "When people do go on holiday, they're stocking up less because the 25% devaluation in sterling meant the difference in price was not as keen," he said. "There's also more risk involved for smugglers as the margin declined."

    But tobacco manufacturers cautioned that sales of counterfeit and illicit white products were on the rise.

    "Counterfeit tobacco is cheaper to buy so the profit is greater," said a Tobacco Retailers' Alliance spokeswoman.

    "And the ­recent recovery in sterling, combined with tax increases on tobacco we've had 30p this year so far plus the VAT hike in January could stimulate cross-border shopping again."

    Source: The Grocer, 04 September 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/aitb1d

  • USA: General Tobacco ceases operations

    General Tobacco, America’s sixth-largest tobacco company, plans to cease operations after failing to make payments due under the Master Settlement Agreement, reports.

    Based in Mayodan, North Carolina, the company stopped producing cigarettes and other tobacco products several months ago and is said to be winding down operations.

    The maker of brands such as Bronco, Silver and GT, General Tobacco entered the market in 2000 and rapidly snatched market share from larger rivals. By 2004, it posted annual sales of $335 million and held a 2 percent market share.

    The company joined the MSA in 2004 and agreed to make payments for both ongoing sales and those recorded prior to joining.

    However, the combination of stiff competition and MSA obligations proved too much for General Tobacco.

    In 2008, General Tobacco sued many attorneys general and tobacco companies, alleging that the MSA gave competitors an unfair advantage. A judge in Kentucky dismissed the case. General Tobacco filed an appeal this year, which it continues to pursue.

    Source: Tobacco Reporter, 03 September 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/caVbi6

  • USA: Smoking rate still stuck at 1 in 5 adults

    U.S. smoking rates continue to hold steady, at about one in five adults lighting up regularly, frustrated health officials reported.

    About 21 percent of U.S. adults were smokers in 2009, about the same percentage as the year before, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The smoking rate, which fell dramatically since the 1960s, has basically been flat since about 2004.

    Teen smoking, at nearly 20 percent, has not been improving lately, either.

    Health officials believe they've lost momentum because of cuts to anti-tobacco campaigns and shrewd marketing by cigarette companies.

    The new report suggests that more than 46 million American adults still smoke cigarettes

    "It's tragic," said CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden, who calls smoking the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the United States. He estimates that smoking kills 1,000 Americans a day.

    Some experts were particularly disheartened by a CDC finding in a second report that nearly all children who live with a smoker — 98 percent — have measurable tobacco toxins in their body.

    Experts say tobacco taxes and smoking bans are driving down rates in some states. But nationwide, they say progress has been halted by tobacco company discounts or lack of funding for programs to discourage smoking or to help smokers quit.

    The annual smoking report was based on government surveys. The second report looked at levels in the blood of cotinine, a chemical from tobacco smoke, in a total of more than 30,000 nonsmokers between 1999 and 2008.

    Overall, detectable levels of cotinine dropped over the 10 years, from about 52 percent to 40 percent. That may be due in part to more smoking bans in workplaces, restaurants and other places.

    Although the statistics are largely unchanged, advocates said the reports are important. They plan to use the data to pressure national, state and local governments to do more against smoking.

    "Without bold action by our elected officials, too many lives, young and old, will suffer needlessly from chronic illness and burdensome health care expenses," Nancy Brown, chief executive of the American Heart Association, said in a statement.

    Source: The Guardian, 07 September 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/dlFaBc

  • Czech Republic : Cigarette sales down in 2010 after price hike

    The year 2010 will apparently be worse for cigarette producers and sellers in the Czech Republic than last year because the January VAT hike followed by the February increase of excise duty on cigarettes has cut their consumption, according to Philip Morris's half-yearly report.

    The tobacco market increased by 8.5 percent in Jan to March this year, but Q2 saw a drop of almost 6 percent, CTK has learnt from the report of the biggest producer of tobacco products in the Czech Republic. Cigarette consumption is expected to be lower also during the remaining months of the year, according to the report.

    Tobacco producers say that raising taxes on cigarettes aimed at regulating the consumption of these harmful products and bringing in money to the state fails to have the required effect and boosts the black cigarette market instead.

    Smoking opponents, however, say that the price of cigarettes is low in the Czech Republic compared to the rest of Europe, which is the reason for their still high consumption.

    Philip Morris's estimate of cigarette sales in the Czech Republic last year is 21.7 billion units, up 35 percent on the year. Adjusted for the effect of stocking up on cigarettes, the entire market would fall by 6 percent last year.

    According to data from the Czech Statistical Office, average daily consumption of cigarettes increased by around a fifth to nearly six cigarettes per person between 1989 and 2008. Statisticians started recording cigarette consumption back in 1955 and since that time it has grown by almost 60 percent.

    According to a survey published recently by the EC, around 26 percent of people smoke in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia, the two countries being slightly below the EU average of 29 percent.

    Source: Prague Daily Monitor, 08 September 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/bBwwnA