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ASH Daily news for 10 March 2011

HEADLINES

  • Tobacco displays to be banned from shops

    Tobacco displays in shops will be banned in England as part of a package of measures to discourage smoking.

    Cigarettes and other products will have to be kept under-the-counter from 2012 for large stores and 2015 for small shops, ministers have announced. A consultation will also be launched on whether manufacturers should be forced to put cigarettes into plain packets.

    Both measures have been set out in the government's tobacco control strategy, which marks the start of the publication of a series of public health plans. The strategy - unveiled on No Smoking Day - also sets out "national ambitions" to reduce smoking rates from 21.2% to 18.5% by the end of 2015, with specific targets for pregnant women and 15-year-olds.
     
    Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said he wanted to see the numbers falling faster in the next five years than they had in the past five.
    "We want to do everything we can to help people to choose to stop smoking and encourage young people not to start smoking in the first place."

    If England goes ahead with the plan to force tobacco companies to put cigarettes in plain, unbranded packets it will be the first country in Europe to take such a tough line. Australia is due to introduce the measure in 2012.

    Martin Dockrell, of the campaign group ASH, praised the government for its plans, saying there was "strong evidence" they would stop people taking up smoking.
     
    Shadow public health minister Diane Abbott said she welcomed the moves, saying that they were "building on" what Labour had done through its anti-smoking legislation.
     
    But not everyone is in favour. The National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN) described the display ban as a "betrayal of our nation of shopkeepers", while smokers lobby group Forest said it would "discriminate against law-abiding consumers".
     
    See the ASH press release:  http://bit.ly/i2wFtM
     
     
    Further coverage:
     
    The Independent: Lives are saved by stubbing out this addiction: http://ind.pn/iiNtzM
     
    The Guardian (Editorial) : Public Health: The fug of mixed messages - http://bit.ly/fDYkIS
     
    The Telegraph: Cigarettes to be sold under counter in 'puritan' move -  http://bit.ly/f8SCQk
     
    The Times: Shops banned from displaying cigarettes -  http://thetim.es/goqMQJ
     
    Daily Mirror: Tobacco shop displays to be banned - http://bit.ly/g1fm3m
     
    MediLexicon: UK: Plain cigarette packaging arrives, public agrees - http://bit.ly/dL0Ssj
     
    Daily Star: Plain Packs could be next move -   http://bit.ly/dGRLnA
     
    Daily Mail: Big tobacco counter cover up - http://bit.ly/feQkCw
     
    The Independent: Support for plain packaging blows cold - http://ind.pn/hA3aSR
     
    The Telegraph: Anti-smoking plans: Number of smokers at an all time low - http://bit.ly/gSDXus
    Source: BBC online, 09 March 2011
    Link: http://bbc.in/gFX0hK

  • Wales: Assembly stalls as Westminster acts

    The Westminster government yesterday said it would go ahead with the ban on display of tobacco products in shops in England, which would come into force in large shops in April 2012 and in small shops three years later.

    Wales also has the power to introduce a similar ban on tobacco displays and has already consulted on the regulations.  But there is, as yet, no date for a ban to be implemented in Wales.
     
    Dr Richard Lewis, Welsh secretary of the British Medical Association, said: “Considering the announcement from the Westminster Government, we are disappointed the Assembly Government has not yet set a date to introduce these regulations.“We urge the Assembly Government to make implementing the regulations a priority, to protect the health of young people in Wales.”
     
    A statement from the Assembly Government yesterday said: “The Assembly Government remains committed to introducing regulations to ban the display of tobacco products in shops in Wales and sales from tobacco vending machines. We have consulted on the draft regulations and work towards finalising the regulations is being progressed.'
    Source: Wales online, 10 March 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/gsZn9b

  • Imperial buoyed by advertising proposals

    Imperial Tobacco outperformed a falling London market after UK proposals to restrict cigarette advertising proved more benign than the market had feared.

    The government delayed the introduction of shop display bans and announced plans for a consultation on plain packaging that would weigh the health benefits against legal and commercial implications.

    Imperial Tobacco  rose 3.5 per cent to £19.78 as Merrill Lynch added the stock to its “buy” list.
     
    British American Tobacco ended lower by 2.8 per cent, though that reflected buyers no longer being eligible for an 81p dividend payment.
     
    Further coverage:
     
    The Guardian: Tobacco crackdown sees Imperial soar - http://bit.ly/exWfX7
     
    The Express: Crackdown delay lifts Imperial - http://bit.ly/ejRooB

     
    Source: Financial Times, 09 March 2011
    Link: http://on.ft.com/i2onRd

  • Government is right to take action on tobacco packaging

    Martin Dockrell, campaigns manager for Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), welcomed the government's curbs on tobacco marketing set out in the tobacco plan.

    "Today sees the publication of something we have never seen before – a tobacco plan from a Conservative led Government. The tobacco industry’s tactic of lobbying secretly behind retailer front groups has been exposed and appears to have been largely ineffective, so Labour’s legislation to ban cigarette vending machines and tobacco product displays has survived largely intact.
     
    Unlike other areas of policy, the coalition has shown remarkable continuity with the policy of the last Labour government, making tobacco policy a cross party issue.

    The coalition even appears to be adopting one of Labour’s most ambitious ideas – a law to get rid of what health secretary Andrew Lansley now calls the “glitzy packaging” of tobacco products.
     
    Australia is already set to be the first country to put tobacco in plain packaging from the middle of next year. The government there has been persuaded by academics whose research shows:
    • How the tobacco industry uses packaging to make their brands more attractive to young people;
    • How colour coding packs in red, gold and silver misleads smokers into thinking some cigarettes are less harmful or addictive than others;
    • How plain packaging makes health warnings more effective.

    New research published for the first time shows there is already widespread support for plain packaging and as the public comes to understand the evidence better, support is set to grow.
     
    Source: Left Foot Forward, 09 March 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/eEr38G

  • Tobacco industry still glamorising smoking

    Further curbs on the portrayal of smoking on television, in films and on the internet are to be considered by the government, which said the tobacco industry continued "to find ways" of promoting products despite legislation banning advertising.

    The government's tobacco control plan states that the way smoking is portrayed in films and on TV "can create the false impression that tobacco use is a normal, or even glamorous, activity, and rarely shows the real life negative consequences of tobacco use".

    The campaign group Ash said it believed the Ofcom guidance was broadly working but that classification of films for under-18s should be more explicit in relation to smoking. Ash said cinemas should make sure there were warnings on the health consequences of smoking in screen advertising and in promotions before films.
     
    A spokesman for the British Board of Film Classificationsaid a public consultation in 2009 had asked whether portrayal of smoking should be regarded as a classification issue, concluding that "the overwhelming response was, people did not believe it should be."

    The Department of Health is also concerned about the continued promotion of smoking accessories, such as cigarette papers, at music festivals and other public events.

     
    Source: The Guardian, 09 March 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/eFfI1o

  • Wales: The primary school puffers

    A health study in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, discovered that many children are still in primary school when they start their tobacco habit.  Smokers in one of Britain's most deprived towns start lighting up at the average age of just nine, it  revealed. Merthyr Tydfil has one of the lowest life expectancy rates in the UK and one of the highest levels of people claiming sickness benefits.

    The Smoking Cessation Service at the town's Prince Charles Hospital carried out the survey because of the high number of smoking-related illness in the former industrial town.

    Mrs Bowen, who works for the service, ‘We have lots of good campaigns going on in schools but it does not seem to be stopping children trying smoking or starting to smoke.’ 
     
    The shocking figures were revealed as people are being urged to quit the habit as part of National No Smoking Day.  The average age for starting smoking in Wales is 12 and in the US is 13 - although no figure is available for the whole of the UK.

    The Welsh Assembly Government plans to make it illegal for parents to light up in cars alongside their children in a bid to cut smoking levels to 16 per cent.
     
    A spokeswoman for health charity ASH said: ‘This figure of an average of nine sounds very extreme and shocking. Another shocking figure was that 15 per cent of people had started smoking by the age of 15 across Britain.  You cannot underestimate how how much damage smoking does as such an early age.’
     
    Source: Daily Mail, 09 March 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/dSrqzw

  • Australia: Tobacco tax could go up in budget

    The federal government's indigenous smoking coordinator has hinted that Labor could increase the tobacco excise in the May budget.

    Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, Tom Calma, who has the job of reducing smoking rates in Aboriginal communities, said that his understanding was that the April 2010 rise in tobacco excise was to be followed by a second increase.
     
    Labor increased the tobacco excise by 25 per cent in April 2010. That move is expected to raise $5 billion over four years.

    Mr Calma,  believes making cigarettes more expensive is effective in reducing smoking rates. "Anecdotally it's appearing that it has (helped)," he told reporters.
     
    Comment was being sought from Health Minister Nicola Roxon regarding the possibility of an increase to the tobacco excise.
     
    Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 10 March 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/f0cqdK

  • Kate Moss is the drag queen of fashion

    Kate Moss ignored the smoking ban and No Smoking Day as she lit a cigarette before parading down the catwalk for the first time in three years.

    The model, was a breath of not-so-fresh air as she hit Paris Fashion Week.

    The 37-year-old star puffed away as she closed the Louis Vuitton show, which was said to be about a woman's right to live life as she chooses.
     
    Further coverage
     
    The Mail: Sorry Kate, but smoking clearly is bad for your skin - http://bit.ly/fla2TL
     
     
    Source: The Press Association, 10 March 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/gNxvMq