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ASH Daily News

Wednesday 1 December 1999

Headlines
Women at greater risk of lung cancer
Judgement on FDA tobacco jurisdiction
1.3 million quit attempts predicted for Millennium
Laser acupuncture as aid to stopping smoking

Tobacco taxes and the NHS


Full Text

Women at greater risk of lung cancer

Women are more vulnerable than men to a genetic mutation that causes
an aggressive form of lung cancer, new research suggests. A study
published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute tracked
patients after lung cancer surgery and found that a common
cancer-causing mutation affects women smokers three times more often
than men. The mutation is detected in about 10 per cent of all lung
cancer and those who carry it tend to have aggressive tumours early on
and are four times more likely to die. The study, by a team at the
University of California and Harvard University, suggests that this
mutation, known as k-ras, helps the tumour to proliferate in response
to the body’s natural hormones. The prevalence of the mutation among
women smokers led the researchers to suspect that the female sex
hormone oestrogen played a role.

Source: Daily Telegraph, 1/12/99


Judgement on FDA tobacco jurisdiction

Hearings begin today in the US to determine whether the Food and Drug
Administration has the power to regulate tobacco products. Nine US
supreme court justices will hear evidence. A federal appeals court
ruled last year against FDA jurisdiction. A ruling granting the FDA
powers to regulate tobacco could also revive restrictions on youth
sales and advertising, which were announced by the FDA but never
implemented.

Source: Financial Times, 1/12/99


1.3 million quit attempts predicted for Millennium

Health charities are predicting that an unprecedented number of
smokers will be trying to quit smoking for the Millennium. Calls to
the Quitline, the world’s busiest smokers’ helpline, are up by 29 per
cent this year and it is expected that the Millennium will encourage
at least 1.3 million quit attempts.

Source: The Times, 1/12/99, Smoking Control Network press release,
1/12/99


Laser acupuncture as aid to stopping smoking

A modern version of the ancient Chinese practice of acupuncture is
reviewed in the Evening Standard as a method of aiding smoking
cessation. Laser acupuncture works in a similar way to the
conventional treatment but the laser beams replace the needles. At
Middlesex University, trials of the laser treatment have shown that
out of 35 patients who had five treatments over three weeks, 85 per
cent had stopped smoking after three months. After six months, a
fifth had gone back to smoking but had reduced their consumption by
about half.

Source: Evening Standard, 30/11/99


Tobacco taxes and the NHS

The issue of hypothecated taxes is discussed in the BMA News Review,
following the Chancellor’s announcement that extra revenue raised from
future tobacco tax rises would go to the NHS. The chairman of the BMA
’s public health doctors committee, Dr Sarah Taylor, said she had
“mixed feelings” about the issue, noting that it is “clearly a good
thing to be raising taxes on tobacco as a disincentive for people to
smoke”. However, Dr Taylor adds: “The problem with it directly
funding the health service is that it gives the perception that the
more people smoke, the more money the service will get.”

Source: BMA News Review, 27/11/99

Karl Brookes
Project Manager
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London EC2A 4HW
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