HEADLINES

• Thousands of cigarettes seized in Coventry
• Plymouth: Smoking purge: What you think about plans
• MP wants smoking ban lifted
• Deprivation underlies thousands of cancer cases every year
• Tobacco reform pressures rise in Indonesia

• Thousands of cigarettes seized in Coventry

  Thousands of counterfeit or smuggled cigarettes have been seized in Coventry in special raids over the last year.

  More than 115,000 were found at shops and car boot sales as part of a crackdown on illegal tobacco.

  In the last month alone, nearly 37,000 cigarettes as well as 400 packs of hand-rolling tobacco and 150 sachets of fruit tobacco - which is often smoked in shisha pipes - have been recovered.

  Officers have also discovered stashes hidden in increasingly elaborate places, such as underneath floorboards, behind mirrors and even in next-door premises where tobacco is passed through a small hole in the wall.

  With many illegal products containing dangerously high levels of poisonous ingredients - such as six times the amount of lead and three times the amount of arsenic found in ordinary cigarettes - officers have warned consumers of the risks of being ripped off or becoming seriously ill.

  Residents have been urged to look out for the tell-tale signs of counterfeit products, which include an unusual taste, a cheaper price, poor quality printing on the packet, and the absence of health warnings.

  Hamish Simmonds, the city council's trading standards manager, said despite fraudsters becoming more creative in their attempts to conceal their activities, officers were closing in on criminals.

  "Those tempted to make a quick buck are warned the penalties of supplying such items are severe and can include up to 10 years imprisonment," he added.

  Source: Coventry Observer - 14 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/a16k3T

• Plymouth: Smoking purge: What you think about plans

  Radical proposals to curb Plymouth's high smoking rates have provoked mixed reactions from city residents.

  The Herald yesterday revealed a wide range of ideas presented in the city's draft Tobacco Control Strategy — including handing out nicotine patches in schools and restricting smoking at some outdoor public events such as the fireworks championships.

  Members of the public have branded some proposals as "ridiculous", but others welcomed measures which could stop future generations taking up the habit.

  Smoker Andy Reece, 39, of Crownhill, said: "Smoking should definitely die out as a thing to do but I think we should be able to make our own decisions as long as it doesn't harm another person.

  

  "It's ridiculous to ban it in open spaces. We are not stupid, we know smoking could kill us but I think in the open air, there are a lot worse fumes, such as carcinogens from cars."

  He added that nicotine patches should not be available in schools "for the simple reason that children shouldn't be able to buy cigarettes".

  "We should be cracking down on whoever is selling the cigarettes to kids, or buying tobacco for them," he added.

  Bob Ditchett, 67, of Whitleigh, said he smoked more than 40 cigarettes a day until he needed a quadruple heart bypass five years ago, mainly due to the habit. He still believes people should be free to smoke where they please.

  He said: "I enjoy smoking but I can't. If my heart was all right, I'd be back on it now, but it's not worth the risk. I don't think it's right to stop people smoking outside. You are not on this planet very long. If you enjoy smoking, you should be allowed to do it."

  Security guard John Bending, aged 48, of Crownhill, was against nicotine therapy being available to schoolchildren but backed widespread bans.

  He said: "You see kids in Crownhill village as young as 11 or 12 smoking. The shops should be stopped from selling cigarettes to them.

  "I'm trying to give up smoking and I think they should ban smoking altogether to discourage people. People should be able to smoke in their own homes and in the street but nowhere else."

  Plymouth mother-of-two Nikki Lee, 36, said: "I agree with the smoking ban in pubs and inside but definitely not in outside spaces. If they banned smoking at the fireworks competition, I just wouldn't go."

  Mother-of-ne Natasha Harulow, 34, of Eggbuckland, said: "I don't think they will be able to stop people smoking outside. How would they control it?"

  But Mike Sanders, 66, of Crownhill, said he believed smoking should be deterred in "whatever way possible".

  "I've been smoking since I was 14 and agree with the idea of nicotine patches in schools," he added. "Teenagers should be able to make the same decisions as adults."

  Carly Doke, a youth support worker in Honicknowle, said: "I think it would be really good to get it out there and give more young people access to help. "Children need support to quit as nicotine is just as addictive, if not more, for them than adults. With nicotine patches, they would be getting the nicotine but none of the chemicals that are in cigarettes."

  Plymouth's Tobacco Control Strategy 2010 to 2020 is in its earliest stages and will be subject to city-wide consultation.

  Source: This is Plymouth - 15 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/ahNTwL

• MP wants smoking ban lifted

  The Government will be asked to reconsider the smoking ban by one of Northampton's MPs.

  The Conservative MP for Northampton South, Brian Binley, has been made vice-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group.
  
  The politician said he will use his position to lobby the Government to allow pubs to have separate rooms for smokers, rather than force them to go outside.

  He said: "I think if pubs can prove they've got proper extraction fans or a room set aside for smokers, they should be allowed to operate in that way, not shove people outside in all weathers into these shanties and so-called smoking shelters.
  
  "It's just crazy that people are being forced to stand outside and people who live near pubs are left complaining about the noise generated by them.
  
  "So I'll be calling on the Government to ensure that if pubs have proper extraction systems or special smoking rooms, smoking should be allowed in those rooms.
  
  "We need to do away with these awful lean-tos."
  
  The smoking ban came into force in July 2007.
  
  In the first few months of the ban, more than 60 pubs and clubs across Northampton were caught without no-smoking signs.
  
  Officers found 61 pubs, restaurants and workplaces not displaying the right signs, and eight people were caught smoking in pubs between July and September 2007.
  
  Fines for companies which fail to put up no-smoking signs range from £150 if paid within 15 days, to £1,000 if the case ends up in court.
  
  Mr Binley said he would also push the Government to clampdown on supermarkets selling alcohol at very low prices.
  
  He said: "When some supermarkets are selling beer at 54p a pint, you recognise just what pressure our pubs and clubs are under."
  
  His stance has been welcomed by Jonathan Mail from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), who said: "The Save the Pub Group will undoubtedly play a key role in ensuring the coalition Government bring forward a package of policies to support well-run pubs."

  Source: Northampton Chronicle - 15 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/brI9KM

• Deprivation underlies thousands of cancer cases every year

   

  There could be as many as 14,000 fewer cases of cancer each year in England if everyone was as healthy as the richest 20 per cent in the country.

  And the difference between the classes is more marked among men than women. Among men there were 21 per cent more cases of cancer in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived, whereas the gap among women was 11 per cent.

  The report from the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) published in support of the National Cancer Equalities Initiative (NCEI), which launches the new Cancer Equalities Portal, highlights a huge deprivation gap that experts believe is caused by unhealthy habits like smoking, late diagnosis of cancer, differences in treatment choices and a lower uptake of screening in more deprived areas.

  The Cancer Equalities Portal, published ahead of the annual NCIN conference this week, brings together a range of information on cancer treatment, screening, incidence and survival with the aim of tackling inequalities across England.

  Chris Carrigan, head of the NCIN, said: "People are generally more likely to smoke or be obese in the most deprived areas. In addition to the higher rates, lower awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer - leading to later diagnosis - may further increase poorer people's risk of dying from the disease.

  "These results explain why urgent action must be taken to improve the health of people living in deprived areas, and to ensure that all cancer patients have an equal chance of surviving the disease.

  "Poverty is the main reason for cancer inequalities, but this is the first time all the information we have on inequalities has been brought together in an accessible form. Deprivation is one of the biggest causes of cancer inequalities in this country."

  Between 2000 and 2004, in the most affluent areas of England, 345 in every 100,000 people were diagnosed with cancer compared with 399 in every 100,000 in the most deprived areas a difference of 16 per cent.

  Chris Carrigan, head of the NCIN, continued: "Although men are generally more likely to get cancer, much of the difference we see here is down to lung cancer - the most common cause of cancer death. It accounts for a bigger proportion of men's cancers than women's cancers."

  Lung, head and neck, oesophageal, bladder, cervical, stomach and liver cancers were more common among those living in deprived areas. In contrast malignant melanoma, breast and prostate cancers were associated with affluence.

  Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said: "It's incredibly important that we reduce inequalities in cancer care.

  "Late diagnosis, uptake of screening and variations in treatment choice are all factors we are looking at very closely.

  "But everyone can do their bit too by eating sensibly, giving up smoking and seeing a GP as soon as possible if they have concerns."

  Professor Sir Mike Richards, national cancer director, said: "Our vision is to achieve high quality, personal treatment and care for everyone affected by cancer but we know that inequalities between different groups still exist. The information brought together in the Cancer Equalities Portal highlights the scale of this challenge but will also help us to tackle the problems and allow us to measure our success."
   

  Source: Medical News Today - 14 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/bNpZUE

• Tobacco reform pressures rise in Indonesia

  When a video of a chain-smoking Indonesian toddler hit the internet in Indonesia, it drew outrage over the poor regulation of cigarettes in south-east Asia’s largest democracy. Two-year-old Ardi Rizal, who started smoking when he was just 18-months-old, has since been placed under the supervision of social workers to cut back from two packs a day.

  The case, though an extreme one, vividly highlights the growing pressure on the Indonesian government to make reforms to the tobacco sector at a time when domestic and international cigarette makers are trying to tap into the country’s enormous growth potential.

  Children make up an increasing portion of new smokers in Indonesia. About 1.8 per cent of its 60m smokers are now aged five to nine-years-old, according to a recent national survey.

  Indonesia is already the third-largest tobacco consumer in the world after China and India. More than 60 per cent of men smoke and average households spend more on tobacco than education, milk, fish, eggs or meat. And, according to the World Health Organisation, at least 400,000 Indonesians die annually from smoking-related illnesses.

  Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, Indonesia’s new health minister, says protecting the nation’s 240m inhabitants from smoking will be a big focus during her five-year term, but she admits that changing tobacco’s deep cultural, economic and political roots pose a huge challenge.

  “It is one of my highest priorities,” Mrs Endang told the Financial Times in a recent interview. “I will feel very guilty if I don’t initiate that.”

  Government guidelines being drafted to protect women and children will ban billboards, require pictorial warnings on cigarette packs and make smoking illegal in public buildings, she says.

  Weak enforcement of existing laws enables children to purchase tobacco. Lawmakers puff at their desks during televised debates and cigarettes are handed out at concerts sponsored by tobacco companies.

  Mrs Endang says she aims to adopt the United Nations convention on tobacco control, which has been signed by 168 countries but not Indonesia, by the end of 2010.

  Such measures are likely to be carefully watched by domestic and international cigarette makers operating in the country.

  Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco have both acquired controlling stakes in two local companies in recent years, as part of a wider trend by cigarette makers of moving into emerging markets to offset shrinking western markets.

  Last year BAT took an 85 per cent stake in Bentoel Internasional Investama, Indonesia’s fourth-largest cigarette maker, for $494m.

  As well as offering conventional cigarettes, foreign operators have also sought to break into the highly popular market for kretek, clove-flavoured cigarettes, which are consumed by 90 per of Indonesian smokers.

  Philip Morris, which purchased 98 per cent of Sampoerna in 2005 for $4.8bn, is the market leader with a 29 per cent share. Its kretek brands – A Mild, Dji Sam Soe and Sampoerna Kretek, as well as Marlboro, are among the country’s top 10 brands.

  Sampoerna says that after booking net profit of $555m in Indonesia in 2009, an increase of 30 per cent from 2008, it expects the tobacco industry to continue to grow, although it admits “the growth rate might slow down”.

  Sampoerna also says that is has repeatedly urged the Indonesian government “to adopt regulation to further restrict marketing and advertising and to adopt an enforceable minimum age law with regards to tobacco purchase ... We recognise that our products, like all tobacco products, cause disease and are addictive. In our view, issues surrounding tobacco are best addressed through comprehensive and effective government legislation.”

  Indonesia’s religious groups have also weighed in on the debate. Leading Islamic group Muhammadiyah recently issued an edict against smoking, prompting a counter protest by 10,000 tobacco farmers who demanded government protection.

  Analysts say, however, that efforts to stem smoking are not expected to have a serious impact on growth. Volumes rose 5 per cent in 2009 and key players predict steady sales increases for years to come.

  Indonesian cigarettes remain among the cheapest in the world, even after a 15 per cent increase in excise taxes earlier this year.

  “There is consumption growth of 1 per cent [per year],” says Setio Yohan of Mandiri Securities. “The consumption won’t be affected by the quota or a ban on cigarette ads or the anti-smoking campaign, but by the hike of cigarette excise.”

  Source: Financial Times - 14 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/c2rHx7