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ASH Daily news for 30 September 2011

HEADLINES

  • Tobacco sales from vending machines will be illegal from Saturday


    Premises with tobacco vending machines are being reminded that it will be illegal to have them in a public place from this weekend. [In England]

    It comes as new legislation comes into force on Saturday – under the Children and Young Persons (Protection from Tobacco) Act 1991 and Protection from Tobacco (Sales from Vending Machines) (England) Regulations 2010 – which means that any tobacco vending machine still in use will have to be out of reach of the public in any premises.

    The move has already been welcomed in Staffordshire.

    Coun Robert Marshall, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for public health and community safety, said: “We welcome this new legislation. Anything that reduces the number of people smoking in Staffordshire has to be a good thing.”

    Breaking the new legislation could result in prosecution and a fine of up to £2,500.


     

    Source: Birmingham Mail, 29 Sept 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/qCfyC7

  • Fall in illicit tobacco trade

    The illicit trade in tobacco and alcohol see-sawed in 2010, with black market tobacco sales taking a tumble while illicit beer sales rocketed.

    According to HMRC’s Measuring Tax Gaps report, sales of illicit beer shot up by 45% to £800m in 2009-10.

    The illicit cigarette market’s share of sales fell by three percentage points during the same period, from 19% to 16%.

    Commenting on the figures, outgoing Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association (TMA) chairman Christopher Ogden said: “The TMA and its member companies welcome the reduction in illicit tobacco volumes. Nevertheless, the fact that up to 16% of cigarettes and 50% of RYO is smuggled, losing revenue of £3.1bn, clearly shows it is still a very serious issue.

    “In addition, it should be noted that these figures refer to 2009/10, and since then tobacco taxation has increased markedly, leading to the price of cigarettes rising by as much as £1 per 20.

    “High tobacco taxes are an acknowledged driver of this illegal trade and there is widespread concern that the increases imposed over the past 18 months will lead to a rise in this criminal activity,” he added.

    According to a recent survey by the Tobacco Retailers Alliance six out of 10 retailers are aware of illicit tobacco being sold in their area.
     

    Source: The Grocer, 29 Sept 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/oPTFgH

  • Benefits of tobacco control outweigh lost taxes

    The health and economic benefits of tobacco control outweigh the lost tax revenues, the authors of a medical journal commentary say.

    In Thursday's online issue of The Lancet, Prof. Stanton Glantz and Mariaelena Gonzalez of the University of California, San Francisco, argue that tobacco controls such as eliminating exposure to second-hand smoke don't take decades to show benefits as is often assumed. Tobacco control measures don't take decades to show benefits as assumed, researchers say.

    Rather, studies since 2000 show important benefits of reducing smoking mount quickly. The risk of heart attack drops immediately on quitting and returns to that of someone who has never smoked after about five years. California's large-scale tobacco control program started to reduce heart disease death rates after one year, the authors said.

    They pointed to how implementing smoke-free laws has been generally been followed by rapid decreases in hospital admissions for heart attacks in the U.S., Italy, Scotland, Canada, Ireland, France, England and Argentina.

    Eliminating exposure to second-hand smoke may also help improve respiratory function. A Canadian study published last year in the Canadian Medical Association Journal also noted that respiratory admissions decreased by 33 per cent in the two years after a smoke-free restaurant law was introduced.

    Lost tax revenue is sometimes used to argue against tobacco control. The authors said the evidence doesn't support that claim.

    "The California tobacco control program cost $14 billion during its first 15 years, and saved $86 billion in direct health-care costs, a 6.1 times return on investment," Glantz and Gonzalez wrote.

    In the same time, the 36 billion packs of cigarettes not smoked during the first 15 years reduced tobacco tax revenues by only $31 billion, they said.
     

    Lancet article: http://bit.ly/o3RP8E

    Source: CBC News, 29 Sept. 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/mYnVJO

  • DH invites pharmacies to participate in their Quit Kit 3 2012 campaign

    The Department of Health is inviting pharmacies across England to distribute Quit Kits to smokers in a nationwide campaign running from January to March next year. These kits will contain some practical tools and advice which are designed to help people quit smoking.

    The 2012 campaign is designed to build on the success of this year’s Quit Kit campaign in which more than 3,700 pharmacies across England took part and patients who received the kits had a 70% success rate.

    Order lines are open from 3rd October and all contractors who decide to participate in the campaign can order their Quit Kits by calling 0800 678 3173. Any pharmacy interested in supplying these kits and requiring further information can do so by contacting smokefree@dh.gsi.gov.uk.

     

    Source: PSNC, 29 Sept. 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/pgLJDK

  • USA: Smoking still high in mining, food service sectors

    Cigarette smoking remains stubbornly high among workers in the mining, food services and construction industries despite dramatic overall declines in the United States in recent decades, a federal study has revealed.

    Thirty percent of workers in mining, hotel/motel and food services smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which analysed data from 2004-2010.

    The construction industry had the next highest smoking rate at 29.7 percent.

    "Since the first surgeon general's report in 1964, we've almost cut the smoking prevalence in half overall," said Ann Malarcher, senior scientific adviser at the CDC. "But then there are groups that are still at very high rates and are being left behind."
    The management and education sectors had among the lowest percentage of smokers. Only 9.7 percent of educators smoke, according to the study.

    "One of the things that has been studied is that persons with lower levels of education tend to have less access to health information," she said. "They tend to be less knowledgeable about the dangers of tobacco use."

    The CDC survey found the highest smoking rates among workers aged 18-24, males, those with high school or less education and those without health insurance. Midwestern workers had the overall highest rates.

    The CDC recommends that employers increase their anti-smoking efforts, including imposing smoke-free workplace policies and providing health insurance coverage for smoking cessation treatments.

    Adult smoking has decreased 42.4 percent since 1965, the CDC said. But the decline has slowed in the past five years, dropping to 19.3 percent of adults in 2010 from 20.9 percent in 2005.

    Source: Reuters, 29 Sept. 2011
    Link: http://reut.rs/qJCfjz

  • Canada: Sask. Government prepares to take tobacco industry to court

    The Saskatchewan government is another step closer to launching legal action against the tobacco industry, an avenue that several other provinces are also pursuing in an effort to recover health-care costs.

    Justice Minister Don Morgan announced that the province has reached an agreement with Bennett Jones, LLP and Siskinds, LLP, a consortium that will bring a health-care cost recovery action on behalf of Saskatchewan.


    Saskatchewan intends to join other provinces that are pursuing legal action including B.C., New Brunswick, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador. Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Quebec have also indicated their intent to pursue this type of tobacco litigation.


    "We are concerned about the impact tobacco has on the health of our residents and are committed to reducing tobacco use in the province through the work of the provincial tobacco strategy," Health Minister Don McMorris said in the statement. "Our actions, including steps to recover health-care costs from tobacco industry, honour our commitment to building a healthier Saskatchewan."

    The Saskatchewan Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act enables an action by the province against the tobacco industry for health-care costs resulting from tobacco use.

    Source: The Vancouver Sun, 29 Sept 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/oXKmED