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ASH Daily News

9 November 2005

[View html version: http://www.globalink.org/nbuk]

HEADLINES

Pub trade vows to challenge health bill

Counterfeit cigarettes seized by EU

Smokers at twice the risk of post traumatic stress

Bhutanese youth defying smoking ban

The false security of 'safer' cigarettes

FULL TEXT

Pub trade vows to challenge health bill

The pub trade has widely declared its intention to challenge the government's Health Bill, with the much derided food-led exemptions a main target.

The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) has commenced a series of meetings with members as it decides how best to tackle the issue.

Two out of three businesses responding to a survey from Beacon, the purchasing consortium for the independent hospitality trade supported a blanket smoking ban.

Meanwhile in Scotland, London & Edinburgh Inns is planning a legal challenge to the blanket smoking ban which is set to be introduced in the country in April 2006.

The Publican carries an editorial examining the Health Bill and its impact on licencees:

'Following years of dithering over which way to jump on the smoking issue the government has managed not only to propose a solution that has united the pro and anti-smokers in their derision, but has also managed somehow to pose more questions than it has answered.

Beneath the media-friendly soundbites that were spooned out to the press last week, the fact that "food" pubs will have to ban smoking and "non-food" pubs and private members' clubs will be exempt, what do we actually know about how the ban is going to work in practice?

How, for example, are we going to define 'food'? Is a pre-packed sandwich OK, are heated bar nuts OK, can you set up a deal with the local takeaway so people can bring in their own food? What about pickled eggs or the man who comes in to a pub on Fridays to sell jellied eels and cockles?

Then dig a bit deeper and think about licensees who are planning to install covered outside smoking areas. What are the planning implications? When does an outside area become an "enclosed space"?

And what about the mooted 'smoking rooms'? When will we know more about these? Will they need to be of a certain dimension? Will they need special doors or access routes?

This uncertainty is already breeding confusion.

And until licensees know the detail, they are not able to start planning for the new legislation. The Department of Health is pushing for the laws to be introduced in 2007 - only just over a year away - so time really is running out.

Small, traditional, community pubs - those widely expected to be hit hardest by the ban - need to try and offset the effects by starting to adapt their business now. Let's hope we have some answers - and soon'.

Source: Publican, 7 November 2005
Article links: (P) http://tinyurl.com/746k4: http://tinyurl.com/7q2pd


Counterfeit cigarettes seized by EU

'Operation Fake', a 10 day European Union operation against smuggled counterfeit goods carried out in May seized almost 500 tons of contraband in shipments from China.

No estimate of the value of the seized goods was given, but it is estimated that the three large containers of counterfeit cigarettes would have represented a loss in customs duties of $4.6 million.

China is the source of 70 per cent of fakes arriving in the EU.

Source: International Herald Tribune, 9 November 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/ddve2


Smokers at twice the risk of post traumatic stress

Smokers are twice as likely to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder than non-smokers , according to a study of twin soldiers.

It is estimated that after experiencing severe trauma, about one-third of people go on to suffer PTSD, a mental illness characterised by anxiety, flashbacks and panic attacks.

Nicotine dependence has been associated with PTSD before, but the exact nature of the link has never been clear. The new study establishes smoking as a key risk factor in pre-disposing people to PTSD.

Karestan Koenen, at the Harvard School of Public Health in Cambridge, US, and colleagues, looked at the health records of 6744 pairs of male twins who had served in the US military during the Vietnam era, about half of whom were identical twins.

Shared genetic factors explained 63% of the overlap between PTSD and nicotine dependence in the twins. "Some of the same genes that influence risk for PTSD may influence risk for nicotine dependence, and vice versa," Koenen said.

But the researchers found that those with a pre-existing nicotine dependence who were then exposed to trauma had twice the risk of developing PTSD, compared to non-smokers who experienced trauma.

"Nicotine stimulates some of the same neurobiological pathways - the dopaminergic pathway associated with reward and fear - implicated in stress and addiction," Koenen told New Scientist. "Smoking may sensitise these pathways, so a subsequent severe stressor is more likely to give someone PTSD."

Koenen does not know "whether giving up smoking makes the increased risk go away". Nevertheless, she suggests the military conducts smoking cessation and anti-smoking programmes and pays special attention to caring for soldiers with a history of nicotine dependence who are deployed in combat situations.

The researchers also found that people exposed to trauma, whether or not they developed PTSD, were more likely to take up smoking.

Source: New Scientist, 9 November 2005
Article link: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8285


Bhutanese youth defying smoking ban

A year ago the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan became the first country in the world to ban smoking completely, outlawing the sale of all tobacco products on pain of a severe 11,000 rupee (£140) fine.

Although the ashtrays in Thimphu's hotels have been converted into candle-holders, the country's young people, at whom the measure was principally aimed, appear to be smoking just as much as ever.

At one of the town's many bars, youths clad in leather jackets and fake Diesel jeans from China puff away on cigarettes that are smuggled from India.

"There is little we can do to stop them smoking," says the barman. "They just ignore us. If the police raid us, the deal is that we split the fine."

"Scoring" cigarettes has taken on all the seediness of a street drug deal.

The barman names a small restaurant where "you might get lucky" but the owner, perhaps fearing a police sting operation, is unwilling to oblige us.

Further down the street, at a newspaper stall, the answer is again no but at the third attempt an Indian-looking man says he may be able to help, retreating into the shadow of an alleyway.

"I have only one," he claims, handing over a packet of 10 Wills Navy Cut cigarettes. "You very lucky man tonight."

The price is 60 rupees (80p), double the price recommended on the packet.

Source: Daily Telegraph, 9 November 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/av7k5


The false security of 'safer' cigarettes

Dr Mark Porter warns readers of the Evening Standard not to make the same mistake as he did with 'safer' cigarettes:

'The concept of 'safer' cigarettes is not new. I started smoking at 15, following the launch of a brand containing NSM - a new smoking material that was supposed to be less harmful than tobacco.

It was a stupid move on my part and led to an addiction that took many years to beat."

Source: Evening Standard, Times, 8 November 2005
Related link: (T) http://tinyurl.com/an5jg

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