HEADLINES

• Text messages 'help smokers quit'
• BMA calls for ban on smoking in cars
• Four years on: More smokers support than oppose Smokefree Law
• USA: National study - Teen substance use is a long term public health problem
• Minister is entitled to ban tobacco machines

• Text messages 'help smokers quit'

  Supportive text messages can double the chance of someone successfully quitting smoking, according to a new study published in The Lancet.
  
  Just over 10% of 2,900 smokers who received encouraging texts such as "you can do it" had quit after six months, but only 4.9% of a similar number who did not have the same support gave up.
  
  This study looked at 5,800 of them. Supportive texts were sent to 2,915 of the smokers for six months. The rest received only messages thanking them for taking part.
  
  They were sent five texts a day for the first five weeks and then three a week for the next 26 weeks.
  
  After six months, 10.7% of those receiving texts had quit - double the proportion among those doing it on their own.
  
  Dr Caroline Free, who led the txt2stop trial at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "Text messages are a very convenient way for smokers to receive support to quit. People described txt2stop as being like having a friend encouraging them or an angel on their shoulder."

  Source: BBC News, 29 June 2011
  Link: http://bbc.in/kYF87f

• BMA calls for ban on smoking in cars

  British Medical Association (BMA) members have called for tougher controls on cigarettes and alcohol, including a ban on smoking while driving at its conference in Cardiff.
  
  BMA members who back the plans hope the association will persuade the government to pass new tobacco and alcohol laws across the UK.
  
  Those against stricter regulations say they would intrude on people's liberty – and labelled a ban on smoking while driving as being "unenforceable".
  
  But supporters insist the measures, if implemented, would improve the nation's health and save the NHS money.
  
  Douglas Noble, a London doctor, described smoking in cars as a toxic threat to people's health and called for legislation to ban it completely.
   

  Source: The Guardian, 29 June 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/lk4URF

• Four years on: More smokers support than oppose Smokefree Law

  On the fourth anniversary of England's smokefree law, new figures show that public support for the measure remains high with 78% of the population in favour of the law. Significantly, almost half of all smokers (47%) support the law.
  
  These findings stand in stark contrast to the claims made by the 'Save Our Pubs' campaign - a tobacco industry funded font group - that the smokefree law is causing pubs to close. The real agenda behind this campaign is to amend the law to allow smoking in pubs
  
  Commenting on the findings, Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive of ASH, said:
  
  "Pubs, like all small businesses have been hard hit by the recession. But the tobacco lobby group assertion that thousands of pubs in England and Wales are under threat of closure due to the smoking ban does not stand up to scrutiny. The British public are enjoying the benefits of smokefree drinking and dining and there is little appetite for a return to the bad old days of smoky pubs."

  Source: mediLexicon, 29 June 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/ju2wTe

• USA: National study - Teen substance use is a long term public health problem

  According to a national study released by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, nine out of 10 Americans who meet the medical criteria for addiction started smoking, drinking, or using other drugs before age 18.
  
  "Teen substance use is our nation's number one public health problem. Smoking, drinking and using other drugs while the brain is still developing dramatically hikes the risk of addiction and other devastating consequences," said Jim Ramstad, Former Member of Congress (MN-3) and a CASA board member who also chaired the report's National Advisory Commission.
  
  The report finds that American culture, broadly defined, actually increases the risk that teens will use addictive substances. A wide range of social influences subtly condone or more overtly encourage use, including acceptance of substance use by parents, schools and communities; pervasive advertising of these products; and media portrayals of substance use as benign or glamorous, fun and relaxing. These cultural messages and the widespread availability of tobacco and alcohol normalize substance use, undermining the health and futures of our teens.
  
  The CASA report declares teen smoking, drinking, misusing prescription drugs and using illegal drugs to be a public health epidemic presenting clear and present dangers to millions of American teens, and severe and expensive long range consequences for our nation.
   

  Source: PR Newswire, 29 June 2011
  Link: http://prn.to/lyKsoQ

• Minister is entitled to ban tobacco machines

  The full summary of the Court of Appeal vending machine case, Regina (Sinclair Collis Ltd and Another) v Secretary of State for Health has been published in The Times.

  Click on the link to read the full judgement [subscription required].

  Source: The Times, 28 June 2011 [subscription required]
  Link: http://thetim.es/kpu14i