Why David Cameron must put Damian Green behind him and back new smoking laws

Mirror Editorial - Restricting cigarette sales should help save thousands of people from an early grave.

We acknowledge some smokers feel persecuted yet the majority also want to give up so, on balance, we support limiting access to fags in shops and pubs.

The ban on lighting up in public buildings has proved a great success and so, in time, would fresh curbs on buying cigarettes.

The plan is in today’s Queen’s Speech that at its heart will wrestle with social problems as the Prime Minister simultaneously battles to save the economy.

That’s how it works in a democracy, and David Cameron should not disrupt Parliament over the arrest of Tory Damian Green.

We condemned the police’s heavy-handed tactics but MPs must not ignore issues of real importance.

Source: The Mirror, 03 December 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/57cgs3

Media exposure of children linked to obesity, tobacco use: study

Greater exposure of children and teenagers to television, music, movies and other media is linked to obesity, tobacco use and other negative health issues, according to a study published on Tuesday.

"The results clearly show that there is a strong correlation between media exposure and long-term negative health effects to children," said Ezekiel Emanuel of the National Institutes of Health, lead researcher on the study.

The study, "Media and Child and Adolescent Health: A Systematic Review," was done by the Yale University School of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, and California Pacific Medical Center.

It looked at the best studies on media and health from the last 28 years, a total of 173 in all, and found that 80 percent of them showed that greater media exposure led to negative health effects in children and adolescents.

The study examined media exposure and seven health outcomes: tobacco use, childhood obesity, attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, low academic performance, drug use and alcohol use.

"This review is the first ever comprehensive evaluation of the many ways that media impacts children's physical health," said Emanuel.

Eight-eight percent of 24 studies examining media and tobacco use found a statistically significant relationship between increased media exposure and an increase in smoking at an early age.

Of eight studies on media and drug use, 75 percent found a statistically significant relationship between media exposure and drug use while 80 percent of 10 studies reported a statistically significant association between media exposure and early alcohol use.

Sixty-five percent of 31 studies evaluated reported a statistically significant association between increased media exposure and poor academic outcomes such as low standardised test scores or grades.

Sixty-two percent of 26 studies which analysed the number of hours spent watching television reported a significant relationship between greater media exposure and low academic achievement..

The authors of the study recommended that parents place limits on the amount of media their children consume, ensure they watch age-appropriate programs and encourage them to spend more time playing outside.

"Parents and educators must consider the effects of media when they're trying to address issues with their child's health," said James Steyer, chief executive and founder of Common Sense Media.

Source: AFP, 03 December 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6nktk5

Smoking ban blow for landlords

Pub  landlords who let drinkers flout the smoking ban face losing their licence after a High Court ruling yesterday.

Hamish Howitt, 57, lost his licence after allowing customers to smoke in his pub. 

Magistrates later reinstated it, but yesterday Deputy Judge Denyer overturned that decision.

The judge said, allowing smoking breached landlords’ legal duty to prevent “crime and disorder” on their premises.

Mr Howitt, from Del-Boy’s Sports Bar in Blackpool, Lancs, argued that the law only referred to yobbish behaviour.

But the judge said landlords must prevent all crime, including breaking the smoking ban.

However, he did not make Howitt pay Blackpool Council’s legal costs due to public interest in the case.

Howitt — the first landlord in England prosecuted for flouting the ban — vowed to fight on to the House of Lords.

He said: “The law and justice are two different things.” 

Source: The Sun, 03 December 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/57lfj4

Newborns exposed to maternal smoking more irritable, difficult to soothe

Previous studies have shown that babies exposed to tobacco in utero are more likely to have a low birth weight and are at increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome. Now new research by The Miriam Hospital reveals that these babies are also less likely to self-soothe and are more aroused and excitable than newborns whose mothers did not smoke during pregnancy.

Researchers from The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine say early identification and targeted intervention efforts aimed at both infants and parents may help prevent possible disruption in early maternal-infant bonding and, ultimately, long-term adverse outcomes. The study is published online by the Journal of Pediatrics.

"A baby who is harder to soothe and more irritable could be more difficult to take care of and could potentially affect the developing mother-child relationship, especially for mothers who are already stressed and have fewer resources," says lead author Laura Stroud, PhD, a psychologist with The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine.

She added, "We need better treatment programs to help women not smoke during pregnancy, to keep them from starting smoking after the baby is born, and to help them take care of an excitable or colicky baby."

Between 11 and 30 percent of women continue to smoke during pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition to the physical side effects, tobacco exposure in utero has also been linked to long-term adverse neurobehavioural outcomes in children, including conduct disorder and hyperactivity. However, researchers say relatively less attention has focused on the effects of maternal smoking on newborn neurobehaviour.

In the study, Stroud and colleagues from Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, RI, and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University focused on newborns between 10 and 27 days old. The researchers decided on this infant age range because it is well past the half-life of nicotine, meaning the acute effects of nicotine withdrawal were unlikely to be a factor in the study. All 56 babies – 28 smoking-exposed and 28 unexposed – were healthy and full-term. Maternal social class, age and alcohol use were similar in each group.

Mothers in the study were assigned to the smoking or non-smoking group based on self-reports of cigarette use during pregnancy assessed shortly after babies were born. This was verified biochemically by measuring cotinine, the primary metabolite of nicotine, in the mother's saliva. Cotinine is readily passed from mother to infant, with the baby absorbing nearly as much as the mother does.

Postnatal smoke exposure was quantified by infant saliva cotinine levels. All infants were then assessed using the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Network Neurobehavioral Scale, a tool developed for the National Institutes of Health to measure the effects of prenatal drug exposure in infants, including withdrawal and general signs of stress.

According to the study's findings, smoking-exposed infants showed a greater need for handling, or external intervention, in order to be soothed and calmed down. These babies also tended to be more easily aroused and excitable.

Source: Science Daily, 02 December 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/5e7jsu