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ASH Daily News

Headlines
'Kids give up cigs for cool mobiles'
'How mobile phones are helping wean girls off cigarettes'
'Mobiles 'taking over from smoking' as teenage fad'
'British teens swap smoking for the phone'
'Teenagers substitute phones for cigarettes'
'Drop in teenage smoking linked to rise in mobile use'
'Teenagers are swopping fags for phones claim health campaigners'
'Mobiles replace cigarettes for cool teenagers'

'Govt warns against trying to circumvent tobacco ads'
'Dog-end to a costly habit'
'Tobacco adverts ban leaves Irish Playboy exposed'
'Cigs smugglers face £22m X-ray checks'
'Smoking out smugglers'
'Smoke detector'
'It's fresh Air France'
'Chinese 'Regals' are sick wheeze'
'That's £10 fine.and no butts'

Full Text

There is comprehensive coverage on the BMJ letter submitted by Anne Charlton
and Clive Bates suggesting that mobile phones are replacing smoking among
teenagers.

The Times quotes from the BMJ letter "The mobile phone is an effective
competitor to cigarettes in the market for products that offer teenagers
style, individuality, sociability, rebellion, peer group bonding and adult
aspiration. Smoking may become seen as old technology, with the bright new
world of text messaging, e-mail, WAP and 3G phones becoming the new
aspirational gateway to adult life."

Most articles carry quotes from both co-authors. The Daily Mail quotes Anne
Charlton stating that mobile phones are "marketed in a similar way to
cigarettes, appealing to the user's sense of identify."
Clive Bates told the Sun "With the pay-as-you-go mobile phones, young people
are even spending their money in the same way as they would purchase
cigarettes."
The Independent carried a warning from Clive Bates against making 'lazy
comparisons' between the health risks of smoking and mobiles. "It is much
too simplistic to compare the health risks. When any new technology is
introduced on a wide scale, society should always be on its guard.but we
know for sure that smoking kills 120,000 a year and nothing else comes close
to that."

Sources: The Daily Telegraph, The Mirror, The Independent, Daily Mail,
Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, The Sun, The Times,

Links
ASH Press release
http://www.ash.org.uk/html/press/001104.html

BMJ letter
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/321/7269/1155

'Govt warns against trying to circumvent tobacco ad ban'

The Government warned the advertising and tobacco industries this week that
it would crack down on their attempts to get around the looming ban on
tobacco promotion.

In a white paper, the health secretary, Alan Milburn, said that the
Government would work with trading standards officers employed by local
authorities to monitor the effectiveness of the ban.

Milburn has admitted that 'innovative promotional efforts" planned by the
industry were a threat to the success of the ban.

Source: Campaign,

'Dog-End to a costly habit'

A couple who quite smoking for the love of a stray dog they rescued while on
holiday in Corfu have been voted Quitters Of The Year.

They spent £2,000, saved for buying for their first home, on vets bills, the
flight home and quarantine kennelling. The only way they could save the
money again was to stop smoking.

Source: The Mirror (2nd Nov).

'Tobacco adverts ban leaves Irish Playboy exposed'

In Ireland all newspapers and magazines with a monthly circulation of over
1,000 are barred from carrying any tobacco advertising. Playboy has a
circulation of almost 10,000 in the country, so faces the dilemma of either
reducing its circulation to 1,000 or producing a special edition for Ireland
without tobacco advertising.

Source: PR Week

'Smoking out smugglers'
'Cigs smugglers face £22m X-ray checks'

Britain's first x-ray scanner to detect hidden cartons of smuggled
cigarettes has gone into operation at Tilbury Docks, Essex. The machine can
scan a 40-foot container in just one minute. By March, there will be five
portable machines in the UK, which will move from port to port. Another 20
are planned once the initial trials are completed.

Source: The Mirror, Evening Standard, The Times

'It's fresh Air France'

Air France flight attendants have started to offer nicotine substitute
tablets to passengers as the airline extended its smoking ban on all routes
to Asia, South America, America, Africa and the Middle East.

Source: Evening Standard, International Herald Tribune

'Chinese 'Regals' are sick wheeze'

Smugglers selling fake packs of Regal cigarettes have left scores of smokers
ill. The packs, made in China, are being bought mostly in Barnsley in
South Yorks.

Source: The Sun

'That's £10 fine.and no butts'

A woman was fined £10 for dropping a cigarette end in the street in
Caerphilly in South Wales. The council have deemed that dropping cigarette
ends is littering. Forest suggested special bins should be installed if
the council don't want butts on the street.

Source: The Sun