HEADLINES

• UK Government To Publish Tobacco Control Paper Soon
• Quitting stories in advance of No Smoking Day
• Secondhand smoke tied to higher birth defect risk
• China: Lawmaker proposes tobacco sales ban around schools
• USA: Report says teen smoking on the rise

• UK Government To Publish Tobacco Control Paper Soon

  The U.K. government has said it is to publish "shortly" a paper on health policy, which could see lawmakers impose fresh rules and legislative direction on both the retail display and packaging of tobacco products.

  The Department of Health confirmed the imminent publication of the paper after weekend reports said its Tobacco Control Plan would be published on Wednesday to coincide with a national No Smoking Day. The Department declined to comment further on the timing or content of the paper.

  At the end of November last year, the coalition government's health department, headed by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, issued a policy paper that claimed smoking causes 80,000 deaths each year in the U.K.

  That document said the government is considering options for the display of tobacco in shops in order to "reduce tobacco consumption and to reduce burdens on businesses." Separately, a ban on tobacco sales from vending machines is due to come into effect on Oct. 1.

  See also:

  - Cigarettes ‘to be sold in plain packs’ - WebMD

  - Britain may soon sell cigarettes in plain packets - Irish Sun

  Source: ADVFN - 07 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/g20NUP

• Quitting stories in advance of No Smoking Day

  Tomorrow (Wednesday) is No Smoking Day in the UK. To mark the event, various news outlets are publishing stories about people deciding to quit and their reasons for doing so.

  This Is Gloucestershire reports on Andy Wiggin, 39,  who has been writing a blog on his quit attempt.

  "By the time this is in the paper it will be five weeks without a cigarette, and I have to be honest I am really pleased with myself. I had some money left in the bank at the end of the month and I genuinely feel healthier for it."

  This Is Nottingham focuses on Christine Quinton. When she was 15 she was forced to smoke her first cigarette by bullies.

  Almost 30 years later and suffering with chest pains and shortness of breath, Miss Quinton was smoking between 15 and 20 a day. Last year the 43-year-old decided to kick the habit.

  Finally, the Express, singer Michael Ball tells how he quit smoking because it was ruining his voice and was threatening his career.

  Source: No Smoking Day - 09 March 2011
  Link: http://www.nosmokingday.org.uk

• Secondhand smoke tied to higher birth defect risk

  Women exposed to second-hand smoke while pregnant are more likely to experience a stillbirth or have babies with birth defects, according to an analysis.

  Stillbirth was 23 percent more common and birth defects were 13 percent more common among women who lived or worked with smokers, according to a report published in Pediatrics.

  Jo Leonardi-Bee, professor at the University of Nottingham in England, and her colleagues combined data from 19 studies that looked at the effects of secondhand smoke on the rates of miscarriage, newborn death and birth defects.

  The rates of miscarriage and newborn death were similar whether or not women were exposed to secondhand smoke, and when looked at individually, no single birth defect was linked to secondhand smoke. Only when the researchers pooled the data on all birth defects did they see an increased risk.

  Source: Yahoo!/Reuters - 08 March 2011
  Link: http://yhoo.it/hw40wK

• China: Lawmaker proposes tobacco sales ban around schools

  Jin Changrong, councilor for the Shanghai Municipal Government and also a judge, said the current laws banning tobacco sales to youngsters were too general and hard to enforce.

  He said there should be a national regulation on a 500-meter radius ban of tobacco from schools, although some local governments have imposed the 50 or 100-meter radius ban from elementary and middle schools.

  Further, Jin called for outlawing all forms of tobacco promotions to adolescents, including sponsorships or named donations, as well as banning schools and youth organizations from joining any activities sponsored or organized by tobacco companies.

  Source: Shenzhen Daily - 08 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/gVS4d4

• USA: Report says teen smoking on the rise

  A new report by a local health care organization shows a rise in smoking among teens in upstate New York, mirroring a nationwide trend. Meanwhile, trends that once showed a decline in adult smoking rates have begun to level off.

  Univera’s report shows that nearly 15 percent of high school students in 2009 smoked cigarettes on at least one of 30 days prior to a survey, up from nearly 14 percent two years prior. In addition, 13.3 percent smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day over the survey period, an increase from 12.4 percent in 2007.

  Smoking rates among New York state adults peak in the 18- to 24-year old demographic, at 28.7 percent.

  There is some positive news, the report says, noting that upstate New York adults are cutting back as the percentage who reported smoking every day dropped to 15 percent last year from 19.4 percent in 2000.

  Source: Niagara Gazette - 07 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/ettPh0