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ASH Daily news for 19 October 2011

HEADLINES

  • Wales: Ban on cigarette vending machines from February 2012


    A ban on the sale of cigarettes from vending machines in Wales will come into force on 1 February next year. A similar ban was introduced in England earlier this month.

    The Welsh Government said the ban would cut off a source of tobacco teenagers.  One in 10 regular smokers aged 11 to 15 buy their cigarettes from vending machines.

    Carole Morgan-Jones, chief executive of Ash Wales, said: “These regulations will protect children from having easy and illegal access to cigarettes. It’s an integral part of a comprehensive strategy to tackle the harm that tobacco causes to Welsh communities.”
    Source: Wales online, 19 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/ofha9c

  • Plans for smoke-free play areas move closer for Wirral


    Plans to implement a voluntary smoke-free code in children's play areas across Wirral have moved a step closer this week.

    Wirral council unanimously approved a motion, tabled by Wirral Liberal Democrat councillor Pat Williams, which called for council support for the concept of the code. Consultation will need to take place before anything is implemented.
     
    Cllr Williams claims the majority of people already support the idea of smokefree children's play areas. She said: "Unfortunately, there are some people who do think it is acceptable to smoke near children.  "We think that a voluntary code is a good way to encourage those people not to."
    Source: Wirral Globe, 18 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/porwHQ

  • Teesiders quit smoking to pay for Christmas

    A Teeside stop smoking service is seeing as many people looking to kick their habit now as it traditionally does in the New Year.

    Fresh Smoke Free North East, says more and more smokers are quitting with the aim of helping to pay for Christmas.
     
    Joan Chapman, manager of Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland NHS Stop Smoking Service, said: “Traditionally we’ve been quieter at this time of year, but now we’re seeing almost as many people as we do in the New Year."
     
    Joan said: “We all feel the financial pressure at Christmas time ... so for smokers who quit now, there is the added motivation of saving the money they would have spent on cigarettes to spend at Christmas.”
     
    Research by Robert West at University College London shows that in 2010 more people in the UK stopped smoking in September than in January.
    Source: Evening Gazette, 18 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/pEUxZh

  • Ireland: Government must restart tobacco taxes

    A new report carried out for the Irish Heart Foundation (IHF) claims that hiking taxes on tobacco in the next and subsequent Budgets could help thousands of people to live longer.

     
    The report shows that a €1 tax increase on a packet of 20 cigarettes in the next Budget would bring in
     €68 million in extra receipts and a further €28 million in indirect public finance benefits. The IHF says this directly contradicts claims that further tobacco tax increases would actually reduce net tax take because of tobacco smuggling.
     
    The IHF has called on Finance Minister Michael Noonan to institute a new policy of regular tax increases above inflation starting with a €1 hike in the forthcoming Budget. These tobacco tax increases would also result in some 30,000 people quitting smoking in Ireland.
    Source: Irishhealth.com, 19 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/nKzKq1

  • Australia: Big Tobacco abusing Freedom of Information requests

    Australia's federal health department is considering taking action against Big Tobacco for lodging "vexatious" Freedom of Information (FOI) claims as part of the industry's fight against the government's push to introduce plain-packaging.

    Health department secretary Jane Halton says the department is being "swamped" with FOI requests as part of a deliberate campaign by cigarette manufacturers. The health department has received 63 FOI requests, of which 52 were from tobacco companies.
     
    "This is a very specific and deliberate attempt to divert resources," Ms Halton told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday. She said that there is a provision in the FOI legislation relating to vexatious applicants. "We are intending to take advice on that," she said.

    Greens health spokesman Richard Di Natale says Big Tobacco is using every tactic possible to derail plain packaging. "The tobacco industry should halt their campaign of mischief and let the health department do its job protecting the public's health."
    Source: TheAge.com.au, 19 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/n9lYwv

  • USA: Senators call for smokeless tobacco ban

    U.S. senators and health officials are taking on a baseball tradition older than the World Series itself: chewing tobacco.

    With the Series set to begin today with a match between the St Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers the senators, along with health officials from the teams' cities, want the players union to agree to a ban on chewing tobacco at games and on camera.

    'When players use smokeless tobacco, they endanger not only their own health, but also the health of millions of children who follow their example,' the senators wrote to union head Michael Weiner.
     
    The senators noted that millions of people will tune in to watch the World Series, including children.
    Source: Daily Mail, 18 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/pu4RFg