HEADLINES

• Is an addiction to cigarettes the reason England's World Cup dream went up in smoke?
• Massive Dublin cigarette haul - 'UK-bound'
• NHS Grampian hospital smoking clampdown delayed
• Australia: Libs should not accept ciggie funds: ALP
• Canada: Smoking ban to take effect for schools

• Is an addiction to cigarettes the reason England's World Cup dream went up in smoke?

  Fans have blamed lazy players, poor management and insurmountable tension within the team.

  But the reason for England's  excruciating World Cup defeat may be far simpler - an unhealthy penchant for cigarettes.

  Key members of the squad, including Wayne Rooney, Aaron Lennon and Ashley Cole, have all been spotted lighting up in the last few weeks.

  Rooney was also photographed puffing on a cigarette outside Manchester's Panacea bar at the weekend as he enjoyed a lads' night out which went on until 5am.

  
  According to experts, the effects on fitness of regularly smoking either cigarettes or cigars - viewed as a more sophisticated option by afficiandos, including David Beckham- can be catastrophic.
  Writing in The Daily Mail, Mark Leather, senior lecturer in sports therapy at Edge Hill University, Lancashire, highlighted the health risks.

  
  'It is baffling to see Wayne Rooney smoking because the long-term effects are well documented and are not conducive to professional athletes,' he said.  'If you smoke regularly, your airways become blocked, it is tougher for oxygen to get round your body to your muscles and you can have respiratory problems.  'It was much more common in the past - Johann Cruyff smoked 20 or 30 a day - and in the short tem it is not such a problem, but it is daft in the long term as it can curtail your career.'

  Professor John Britton, an expert in the health effects of smoking from the University of Nottingham said: 'The main impact of smoking is on the respiratory system and how oxygen is carried around the body.

  
  'Carbon monoxide from cigarette smoke binds to red blood cells which stops them from carrying a full load of oxygen. 'It also introduces thousands of toxins into your system. 'This means the maximum performance of a footballer like Wayne Rooney will be less because he smokes. His decision doesn't seem logical because professional athletes usually want to be the best that can be.
  '

  
   

  Source: Daily Mail, 5 August 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/bNvUse

• Massive Dublin cigarette haul - 'UK-bound'

  The illegal 20-packs, marked Benson and Hedges and bearing UK government health warnings, were stuffed into a container on a ship from China.

  It is believed they could have been sold for almost €4m (£3.3m).

  A Customs spokeswoman refused to comment at this stage on whether the cigarettes were bound for Northern Ireland or Britain.
  "For operational reasons we can't comment any further because the investigation is ongoing," she said.

  Customs officers using so-called profiling techniques uncovered the huge stash in a cargo container marked 'disposable cups'.

  The container was on a ship from China delivering cargo to Ireland that docked in the capital on Wednesday morning.

  The seizure was part of an operation targeting the supply and sale of illegal tobacco. No arrests were made.

  The huge seizure follows the recovery of about 28 million illegally-imported cigarettes - worth €11.8m - in Dundalk, Co Louth, in February.

  Packets of the Regal King Size brand were hidden in the cavity of packs of timber which had been shipped into the country and tracked to a business premises.
   

  Source: Ulster TV News, 5 August 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/a9mkiJ

• NHS Grampian hospital smoking clampdown delayed

  A decision on whether to ban smoking from all of NHS Grampian's premises by 2012 has been delayed amid concerns over enforcing the measures.

  The board deferred the decision for six months after agreeing more discussion was needed with staff, patients, the public and other health authorities.

  Proposals included disciplinary procedures for staff and the possible withdrawal of care from patients.

  But some members expressed reservations that a total ban was unenforceable.

  Officials had originally put the plans on hold last year after they attracted widespread opposition.

  The Scotland Patients Association said the ban move could bring health benefits, but the Unite union said it was unfair and unworkable.
   

  Source: BBC News, 3 August 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/azOlMT

• Australia: Libs should not accept ciggie funds: ALP

  The West Australian Labor Party has accused the state government of being hypocrites for taking more than $70,000 in political donations from tobacco companies.

  In 2004, then federal Labor leader Mark Latham moved to ban all donations from tobacco companies to the party.

  At the time, Mr Latham told the ALP national conference that the fundraising of Australian political campaigns needed to be "more ethical".
  Mr Latham said he was "not comfortable ... taking campaign donations from tobacco companies".

  Since then the WA Liberal Party has received tens of thousands of dollars from tobacco companies, according to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), including $44,000 from Philip Morris.

  Between the 2004/05 and 2008/09 financial years, the WA Liberals also received more than $23,000 from British American Tobacco Australia (BAT), AEC figures show.

  Labor's health spokesman Roger Cook said on Thursday that the Liberal Party was being bankrolled by "companies whose product kills one in two of its regular users".

  "It is incredibly hypocritical of the Liberal Party to take money from these organisations that they know kill people and at the same time think they understand the health needs of Western Australians," Mr Cook said.

  Premier Colin Barnett said on Wednesday he supported restrictions on tobacco advertising and public displays of the product.

  "The message has probably got through to most people that smoking is very, very bad for your health," he said.

  "WA had done well over a long period of time to restrict the rate of smoking in this state and I hope it continues to decline."

  But Mr Barnett said tobacco companies were fully entitled to express their points of view through a planned advertising blitz against federal government plans for cigarettes to be sold in plain packets from 2012.

  He said he was not sure if cigarettes sold in packaging without brand logos, images and colours would make a difference in encouraging smokers to quit.

  Comment was being sought from Mr Barnett on Mr Cook's accusations.
   

  Source: Sydney Morning Herald,
  Link: http://bit.ly/alxVqO

• Canada: Smoking ban to take effect for schools

  
  No smoking will be allowed in or near schools in Saskatchewan after an expanded tobacco ban takes effect in August.

  The provincial government passed the ban in May and announced Wednesday it will be in force as of Aug. 15, in time for the new school year.

  Most schools in Saskatchewan resume operations in late August and early September.

  Saskatchewan already outlaws smoking in restaurants and other public places, but now will prohibit it specifically in schools and on school grounds.

  Students will have to light up far from the school grounds.

  "We believe the [new law] will have a significant impact in protecting Saskatchewan residents from the harms of environmental tobacco smoke and will reduce the use of tobacco, most notably among our province's young people," Don McMorris, Saskatchewan's minister of health, said in a news release.

  Other provisions of the Tobacco Control Act will take effect later in 2010 and 2011, including:

  •Effective Oct. 1, 2010: No smoking in vehicles with children under the age of 16 and no smoking in common areas of apartments and condos.
  •Effective early in 2011: No cigarette sales in pharmacies.
  According to Saskatchewan's budget documents for 2010-11, the government will collect $235 million in tobacco taxes this year, an increase from $199 million the year before.

  Cigarette taxes went up to $5.25 a carton last March.

   

  
   

  Source: CBC News, 4 August 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/ckmnXd