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ASH Daily News

3 November 2003

HEADLINES

Britons are winning war on smoking
Smoking in public places
Gallaher, Shanghai Tobacco to sign Russia/China cigarette distribution deal
Insurance policies and smoking

FULL TEXT

Britons are winning war on smoking

The number of smokers in England and Wales has hit a record low, with levels now plummeting by 170,000 people each year, according to Cancer Research UK.

A huge drop over the past few years puts the current level of those who smoke at one out of four people, outstripping government targets for 2005 of 26 per cent. This means that half a million fewer people are indulging in the habit than in 2000.

The study, which looks at data from the General Household Survey (GHS) and the Omnibus survey, shows the lowest percentage of people smoking since figures using the GHS began in the early Seventies.

The new figures have delighted anti-smoking groups, who feared that the situation in the Nineties - where the rate stopped declining and there was a persistently high level of smoking - was irreversible.

Martin Jarvis, the author of the study from the charity's Health Behaviour Unit, said: 'There have been actions on a lot of fronts, and when Labour came in they gave a high priority to this. The study shows a clear decline, and this sort of change in smoking is what drives a decline in cancer.'

Ash, the anti-smoking group, welcomed the news. Its chief executive, Donal Reid, said: 'In 1997 the Government pretty well promised all the things we asked for and most have been put into place - we are very pleased. We ... will continue to push for a ban in all workplaces. That includes bars and restaurants.'

The Cancer Research UK figures will come as a relief to the Government, which considers smoking to be 'the greatest single cause of preventable illness and premature death in the UK'.

Source: The Observer, 2 November 2003



Smoking in public places

Several papers report on Zuma restaurant going smokefree. Favoured by celebrities, Zuma is to ban smoking from next week.
http://www.thisislondon.com/restsandbars/articles/7473286

Stephanie Marsh, writing for the Times reports on the London Health Comissions survey of Londoners opinions on smoking in public places
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-2-875590,00.html

Most of the North's shopping centres are to go smokefree. Only four out of 21 admitted to not having any plans to introduce restrictions.
Full article linked from:
http://www.tobacco.org/news/142154.html



Gallaher, Shanghai Tobacco to sign Russia/China cigarette distribution deal

The Shanghai Tobacco Monopoly Bureau and UK cigarette maker Gallaher Group PLC are signing a deal this morning to allow for the distribution of their respective products in China and Russia, a Shanghai Tobacco official said.

"The aim of the co-operation is in brand distribution, meaning that the British company can distribute Chinese cigarettes in Russia and we can distribute British cigarettes in China," the official said.

Full article linked from:
http://www.tobacco.org/news/142186.html
Source: Interactive Investor International, 3 November 2003



Insurance policies and smoking

The Guardian takes a look at insurance policies and the caveats reserved for smokers:

Smokers not only pay heavily for their habit - 20 a day now costs around £1,750 a year - they also have to pay a lot extra for life insurance and health insurance policies.

But what if you just smoke one or two a week? What if you've all but given up, suffering from just the occasional lapse? Currently the insurance industry will treat the one-a-month smoker as a "risk" of exactly the same degree as someone on 40 a day.

Full article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian_jobs_and_money/story/0,3605,1074984,00 .html
Source: The Guardian, 1 November 2003



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