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ASH Daily news for 25 March 2011

HEADLINES

  • Doctors agree on smokers' responsibilities

    The British Medical Association public health conference agreed that all smokers should be asked to quit the habit before being granted elective surgery.

    They also asked the government to introduce legislation to ban smoking while driving motor vehicles carrying passengers.

    But they decided not to urge the government to extend its no-smoking zone to at least 100 metres from the entrance of any public or work building.

    Source: BMA - 24 March 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/ghLsTm

  • Budget 2011: Tobacco industry furious at tax rises

    The tobacco industry has reacted with fury at tax increases that have heralded the arrival of the £7 packet of cigarettes in the UK.

    The article includes the views of Simon Clark,  Director of Forest, Martin Southgate, managing director of JTI UK, and Christopher Ogden, chief executive of the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association, and focuses mostly on their claims that the tax rise will be a boost to criminals.

    Source: The Telegraph - 24 March 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/euVnVK

  • Scotland's smoking ban hailed as anniversary approaches

    Experts have hailed Scotland's ban on smoking in public places as a "big public health success story", as its five-year anniversary approaches.

    There has been a 15% drop in hospital admissions among asthmatic children and a 17% fall in heart attacks among bar workers since the ban on 26 March 2006.

    But nearly 25% of Scots still smoke. And the Scottish Licensed Trade Association said the law change had resulted in the closure of hundreds of pubs and the loss of thousands of jobs.

    Sally Haw, senior scientific adviser for the Scottish Collaboration for Public Health and Policy, said: "The ban really has been one of Scotland's big public health success stories."

    Sheila Duffy, the chief executive of anti-smoking group Ash Scotland, said: "Smoking rates in some of our poorer communities is as high as they were in Scotland in the 1970s.

    "So there's a real concern to change the culture in those communities."

    She dismissed the idea of introducing well-ventilated smoking rooms in pubs as "thoroughly discredited".

    Source: BBC News - 25 March 2011
    Link: http://bbc.in/hDOpq8

  • China to ban smoking at indoor public places

    China will ban smoking at all indoor public venues from May in an effort to shield the world's most populous nation, and its largest cigarette producer, from the harmful effects of the habit, the health ministry said.

    China, which has more than 300 million smokers, will require businesses to display prominent no-smoking signs, forbid vending machines from selling cigarettes and ensure that designated outdoor smoking zones do not affect pedestrian traffic, according to a ministry statement reported in Chinese media.

    The People's Daily Online reports that following China's Health Ministry announcement, prominent tobacco control expert and reputed health activist Yang Gonghuan has mapped out a detailed plan for the next five years that aims to "fully ban smoking in public locations".

    This includes no smoking in indoor public areas, no tobacco advertisements in public areas, no tobacco promotions or sales to teenagers.

    She also proposed that by 2011 more than half of the provincial cities, especially those with tobacco-control legislation, should meet the goal of a total ban on smoking in public areas. And ideally there should be a 100 percent ban in public locations in provincial A-level cities by the end of 2016.

    Source: Reuters - 24 March 2011
    Link: http://reut.rs/g5DdmP

  • Japan top tobacco producer halts shipments

    Japan faces a potential cigarette shortage after Japan Tobacco , with a two-thirds share of the market, said it will halt tobacco product shipments in Japan for 12 days from next Wednesday due to procurement and production problems after this month's devastating earthquake.

    The former state monopoly, still half-owned by the government, said on Friday that the halt was required to restock inventories after an earthquake and tsunami two weeks ago in northeastern Japan disrupted output.

    Japan Tobacco will also cut the number of brands by about three-quarters to focus its resources on its top 25 brands.

    Operations have been suspended at two of its plants in the quake-hit region that account for one-third of its domestic cigarette production.

    Source: Reuters - 25 march 2011
    Link: http://reut.rs/hm2AWG

  • Video: Second-hand smoke killing man's best friend

    There's plenty of research and data that proves second-hand smoke is bad for kids, but it is also harmful for our furry four-legged friends.

    It's not just cigarette butts and ash trays that can harm a pet; second-hand smoking can too.

    Dr. Derek Burney, a Vet at Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists, says

    “A dog is down lower than I am so if I’m smoking a lot of the ash and smoke particles will filter out and they might be so small we just don’t see them but they are going to float down and he’s going to inhale them and if they end up on the ground, they get stirred and our feet move, that stirs it up to a dog's nose level as well,”

    And inhalation can have serious side affects.

    “Dogs with long noses tend to get nasal cancer; dogs with short noses tend not to get nasal cancer but instead other types of cancer. Second-hand smoke really seems to be an irritant to a cat’s airway and we see a number of patients that have asthma and when their owners smoke, it does seem to make it worse. It’s bad for you, it’s bad for your pets, it’s bad for the people that are around you. We’d like your pets to be around a long time, so try not to smoke.” 

    Source: MyFox Houston - 22 March 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/hlN5tG