Home / Media Room / News / ASH Daily News / ASH Daily News for 01/12/2000 / ASH Daily news for 25 June 2010

ASH Daily news for 25 June 2010

HEADLINES

  • Scotland: Tobacco firm challenges Scotland's ban on shop display

    One of the world’s largest tobacco firms has mounted a legal challenge against Scotland’s ban on shop displays and cigarette vending machines.

    Cigarette maker Imperial Tobacco wants to overturn the proposed ban in court, in a move which could hamper the Scottish Government’s flagship anti-smoking policy.

    MSPs backed the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services Act 2010 earlier this year, which will come into effect in 2013.

    The raft of measures will see tobacco products hidden out of sight under the counter, and is seen as key to battling to improve Scotland’s woeful cancer and heart disease record and halting the creation of a new young generation of smokers.

    Bristol-based Imperial Tobacco, which makes over 20 brands including Lambert and Butler and Embassy, is seeking to have the legislation set aside in a judicial review, claiming the measures are beyond the legal scope of Holyrood.

    Imperial, which is the world’s fourth largest tobacco firm and posted £1.2billion half-yearly profits in April, argued that the measures would force some shopkeepers out of business and criminalise many more. Alex Salmond’s SNP administration announced that the display ban would come into effect for large retailers next year and for smaller shops in 2013.

    The Lord Advocate, Elish Angiolini QC, is contesting the action and maintains tobacco sales are within Holyrood’s remit. She said the introduction of the Bill was part of a programme to improve public health in Scotland.

    The action at the Court of Session in Edinburgh is due to begin next week, but called before Lord Bracadale yesterday, who allowed the firm to make adjustments to its pleadings.
        
    Simon Clark, director of smoking lobby group Forest, said: “There is no evidence that removing the displays will have any effect on people’s health.”

    But a spokeswoman for anti-smoking group ASH Scotland added: “This looks like a delaying tactic from a multinational that puts profit ahead of lives.”

    The Scottish Government last night said the legislation had a “crucial” role to play in stopping children from starting the habit. “The Scottish Government will rigorously defend the Act against the tobacco industry’s legal challenge,” a spokeswoman added.

    Links to further coverage:

    The Guardian: http://bit.ly/c3NCzK

    Source: Scottish Daily Express, 25 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/9DWlCV

  • Hundreds of pregnant women quit smoking after help from health workers

    Specialist midwives and advisors have helped 600 pregnant women quit smoking in the past two years, it has emerged.

    Every mum-to-be across Leicestershire is being offered a breath test to gauge carbon monoxide levels – and indicate how much of the poison might be going into their unborn baby's blood.

    The Government's health watchdog, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice), has now recommended that the practice be taken up at maternity wards and hospitals up and down the country.

    Almost all mums-to-be in the city and county take up the offer and, according to officials, welcome regular testing as they try to give up smoking. It is estimated that as many as half the pregnant women in some parts of the city are smokers.
    Click here for more

    Carbon monoxide monitors were issued to every midwife three years ago. The midwives have also been trained by stop smoking advisors on how to approach women. All those wanting help to quit are referred to stop smoking services.

    Kelly Hagger, 28, quit in October after she found out she was pregnant with baby Joshua, who was born in March. She was prescribed nicotine patches and given help and support from an advisor.

    Kelly, said: "As soon as I found out I was pregnant I wanted to give up.I had regular carbon monoxide tests and it was really good. It was a real wake up call and good motivation to quit. I am really glad I have given up."

    The Nice guidance says smoking during pregnancy can increase the risk of miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth and sudden unexpected death in infancy, or cot death.

    Exposure to smoke in the womb is also associated with psychological problems in childhood such as attention and hyperactivity problems.

    Older children of parents who smoke tend to suffer from more respiratory problems such as asthma or bronchitis and have more problems of the ear, nose and throat than children in non-smoking households.

    Tina Booth, manager of the NHS Leicestershire County and Rutland stop smoking service, said: "Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland is seen as one of the leaders nationally in this service and we have helped in developing the guidelines drawn up by Nice.

    "We have four full-time advisors who support women and their families, often with home visits, in giving up smoking."

    Jane Haslam, a senior midwife at Leicester's hospitals, said: "We encourage women to give up smoking because of the benefits to themselves and their babies. But we realise it is a stressful time for them and we don't want to add to their anxiety."

    Louise Ross, stop smoking manager at NHS Leicester City, said: "Midwives are offering women carbon monoxide tests in Leicester. We'd strongly encourage women to take this up.

    "Smoking puts the health of the woman and her unborn baby at great risk.The benefits of quitting for your baby start straight away."

    Source: thisisleicestershire,
    Link: http://bit.ly/a4Cxmw

  • USA: Oregon trial court to reconsider $100M tobacco case

    The Oregon Supreme Court has ruled that Philip Morris does not have to pay $100 million in punitive damages to the family of a smoker who sued the tobacco giant over its low-tar cigarettes.

    The case, however, is going to another jury to decide just how much the death of Michelle Schwarz from lung cancer in 1999 will cost Philip Morris — and legal experts say it could easily be another big award.

    A Multnomah County jury in Portland originally awarded the Schwarz family $150 million in March 2002 before the trial judge reduced it to $100 million.

    On Thursday, the Oregon Supreme Court vacated the $100 million award and sent the case back to the trial court to reconsider the punitive damages after ruling the judge failed to properly instruct the jury.

    The court said the judge should have told the jury it could not punish Philip Morris directly for harm caused to others besides Schwarz.

    But the court also supported the trial judge, who had rejected jury instructions the tobacco company had requested.

    Ben Zipursky, a Fordham University law professor and expert on punitive damages, said many state appellate courts have been trying to follow recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on punitive damages limits but there has been no clear guidance on jury instructions.

    "It's not so much blaming the judge," Zipursky said. "It's a question of whether at some point we need to be able to look at the issue of whether the trial courts are giving appropriate instructions in damages case."

    Zipursky noted that a similar Oregon case involving Philip Morris — the widow of a Portland man sued the tobacco company after her husband died of lung cancer — went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court without any clear guidance on instructions.

    The U.S. Supreme Court did rule in the previous Oregon case that the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment bars punitive damages for harm caused to individuals not involved in the litigation — a ruling the Oregon Supreme Court cited Thursday in its decision in the Schwarz case.

    In the unanimous opinion by Justice Martha Walters, the Oregon court also said the U.S. Supreme Court "has thrust upon state courts the role of determining whether a jury award of punitive damages exceeds the outer limits that substantive due process allows."

    But Walters noted that "a jury may consider evidence of harm to others when assessing the reprehensibility of the defendant's conduct and the appropriate amount of a punitive damages verdict."

    Schwarz, a nurse, and her husband, Richard Schwarz, a doctor, claimed the Merit brand of "low-tar" cigarettes introduced in the late 1970s were just as dangerous as other cigarettes.

    As noted by the court, Michelle Schwarz began smoking in 1964 at age 18 and switched to Merit after attempts to quit.

    Philip Morris welcomed the Oregon Supreme Court ruling, saying in a statement that it "properly recognized the constitutional limits in assessing punitive damages."

    But Zipursky noted the tobacco company was denied a new trial, which may encourage a settlement because the only remaining question is how much it should pay.

    "It's more than likely that a competent trial team can show the conduct of Philip Morris was reprehensible and requires some extraordinary remedy," said Mark Gottlieb, an attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project.

    Gottlieb said a series of lawsuits called the "Engle progeny" cases that have emerged as a result of a Florida Supreme Court ruling allowing individual claims against tobacco companies by former members of a class-action lawsuit has provided a model for assessing punitive damages.

    "This is going to be lot easier than if it had been remanded a couple of years ago," Gottlieb said.

    Source: The Associated Press, 24 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/bVxMPN

  • USA: Candy Cigarettes Officially Banned By FDA

    Candy cigarettes have officially been banned by the Food and Drug Administration.

    The ban is a part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act. Officials have been arguing for years to eliminate candy cigarettes because of the likelihood that children would eventually move on to the real thing.

    A recent poll revealed that 22 percent of current or one-time smokers ate candy cigarettes during their childhood. On the contrary, just 14 percent of non-smokers used the fake cigarettes.

    Flavored cigarettes were banned a year ago when the original law was put into act. Now all of the fake smokes have been banned.

    The Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act was signed into law in June 2009.

     

    Source: RTT News, 24 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/bF0SPt

  • Thailand attempts to remove tobacco from free trade deal

    Health activists have praised Thailand’s Commerce Ministry's efforts to remove alcohol and tobacco products from a list of products covered by a free trade deal with the EU, according to a story in the Bangkok Post.

    The director of the Center for Alcohol Studies, Thaksaphon Thamarangsi, said alcohol and tobacco should be considered ‘special products’ not included on the list of products to be discussed at trade negotiations with the EU.

    Source: Tobacco Reporter Magazine, 24 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/bnWxtc

  • 1bn cigarettes smoked in Qatar

    At least one billion cigarettes are smoked in Qatar each year, averaging 12,000 per individual, according to a recent study by Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q).

    The study also shows that $65m is spent on cigarettes annually, while $150m is spent to cover the healthcare costs of patients affected by smoking-related diseases, according to the study.

    Studies in the United States have shown that smoking can cut the lifespan of an adult male smoker by 13.2 years and that of a female smoker by 14.5 years. Smokers can also suffer difficulties in breathing, movement and physical work many years prior to death.

    Complications caused by smoking vary from diseases of the heart, stroke, lung cancer, emphysema, bronchitis, high blood pressure and poor vision to persistent cough and discolouration of teeth.

    In the long run, smoking can cause mutation of lung cells, leading to serious health problems and premature death.

    Source: The Peninsula, 25 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/9WBAKt