Research shows what works to cut smoking rates

According to researchers involved in a study on international tobacco control policies, graphic warning labels on cigarette packages, tobacco advertising bans, increased cigarette taxation and smoking bans are among the most effective ways to discourage smoking. 

According to researchers who have been investigating progress on controlling tobacco use under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), regulating tar and nicotine levels in cigarettes hasn't been as effective as other approaches.

Michael Cummings, chair of the department of health behaviour at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York said, "For the first time ever, we are beginning to scientifically assess which governmental tobacco control policies are working and which ones are not."

He added, "In the same way that evidence based medicine has been built from rigorous evaluation of treatment options, our goal is to contribute to the development of a sound science base for tobacco control policies."

He launched the study in four countries in 2002 and has expanded into 15 countries with the help of 60 investigators from 17 research institutes.

The International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation study compares the behaviour of tobacco use in nations that have implemented FCTC policies with countries such as the United States that have not implemented such measures. There are between 1,000 to 2,000 participants in each country included in the study.

A number of policies are effective, including graphic warning labels on cigarette packages.

"Our research on package warnings has revealed that these warnings, especially if they are large and graphic, are more effective than anyone realised, especially in poorer countries that can't afford expensive counter marketing campaigns," Cummings said.

The research was to be presented at an American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Philadelphia

Source: Healthfinder, 06 December 2007
Link: http://tinyurl.com/2nr98g

Anti-smoking drive by Local Government

Four public health organisations have joined forces to urge local government and primary care trusts to cut smoking as a way of tackling health inequalities.

They have warned that if the Government target of reducing smoking in manual worker groups by 26% is to be reached, more must be done.

The Association of Directors of Public Health, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, the Faculty of Public Health and the Trading Standards Institute are calling for new local area agreements between local authorities and PCTs to include targets to reduce smoking.

Source: Health Service Journal, 06 December 2007

Yorkshire: Public back smoke ban benefits

Six months since the introduction of the smoking ban new figures show that 99 per cent of premises inspected in the region are complying with the legislation.

Surveys also reveal that the public are backing the benefits of the ban.

Dr Paul Johnstone, director of public health, NHS Yorkshire and Humber, said: "People of all ages are reaping the benefits of healthier, less smoky work and social environments. Second-hand smoke is a killer and removing it from enclosed public and work environments marks the single biggest improvement in public health for a generation."

Research found high levels of support for smokefree areas from the public and businesses. Three-quarters of adults support the law and 79 per cent believe it will have a positive effect on public health.

Source: Telegraph and Argus, 06 December 2007  
Link: http://tinyurl.com/24fpof

Smoking costs over 6.5% of national income to nations

Smoking is having a considerable impact on developing nations with the top ten countries with the highest smoking rates amongst its population losing more than 6.5 per cent of their gross national income (GNI).

The top ten countries with the highest smoking rates which were identified by Forbes magazine include Kenya, Turkey, Namibia, Yemen, Guinea, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Mongolia, Nauru and Sao Tome and Principe.

While the smoking population is half what it was a generation ago in the US and other industrialised nations, with only one in five using tobacco, it is very different in Africa and East Asia.  

Smoking rates of 40 per cent or more of the population are common in these regions and medical services are limited.

In Turkey, for example, 44 per cent of its 71.5 million population smokes, draining USD 22.4 billion annually which accounts for 5.8 per cent of its GNI of 384.3 billion dollars.

Around 45 per cent of Yemen's population smokes which accounts for 6.2 per cent of  its GNI.

Tom Glynn, Director of International Care Control for the American Cancer Society has been quoted as saying. "In Africa, health care systems that we have in industrialised countries don't exist, at least not in the form that we are used to."

Most studies conclude a cigarette costs 10 minutes of life and a pack-a-day smoker (20 cigarettes a day) loses 13.9 per cent of a year because of smoking which has a considerable impact upon medical services which are limited.  

Source: The Economic Times, 06 December 2007
Link: http://tinyurl.com/2h7qq7

Scotland: Smoking ban signalled in Grampian

Staff and patients are set to be banned from smoking in the grounds of hospitals in North East Scotland.

NHS Grampian is investigating how to implement a full ban from next year.

Shelters outside buildings including Aberdeen Royal Infirmary would be removed and smoking would be prohibited across the health authority's estates.

Other health boards across Scotland have already introduced similar smoking restrictions.

Source: BBC News, 05 December 2007  
Link: http://tinyurl.com/29wx46