HEADLINES

• Heart attack admissions fall after smoking ban
• Casualty actor's attack on girlfriend 'caused by smoke drug'
• Blaze in Chester flat where man fell asleep smoking
• Quitting smoking before pregnancy could save babies’ lives
• Tobacco seized after suspected smuggling scam

• Heart attack admissions fall after smoking ban

  There were 1,200 fewer hospital admissions for heart attacks in England in the year after July 2007 - when the smoking ban came in, a study suggests.
  
  The 2.4% drop was much more modest than that reported in some areas where similar bans have been introduced, but may still have saved the NHS over £8m.
  
  Researchers said even a small reduction had "important public health benefits".
  
  The Bath team analysed English hospital admissions between 2002 and 2009, the British Medical Journal reports.
  
  Separate research carried out on the basis of their figures suggested a saving to the NHS of £8.4m in the first year after the ban on smoking in public indoor spaces was introduced in England in July 2007.
  
  Focusing on a population of 49m, the Bath study, commissioned by the Department of Health, was the largest, most comprehensive study to date on the effects of smokefree legislation anywhere in the world.
  
  It took into account a variety of factors which can influence heart attacks - from the weather to influenza rates.
  
  The theory is that non-smokers' exposure to smoke has the same effect on the heart as if they were light smokers, and can trigger acute coronary problems - meaning that at least some of the impact of a smoking ban should become apparent relatively quickly.
  
  Studies have painted a mixed picture of the effects of such bans - with one from the US reporting a 40% drop in the number of hospital admissions for heart attacks. But others, notably those from New Zealand, and Piedmont, Italy, found no overall reduction.
  
  Research from Scotland, where a ban was introduced in March 2006, reported a 17% decrease in heart attack admissions in the year after its ban.
  
  But the team of researchers from Bath University did not uncover as large a drop.
  
  They said heart attack admissions had been falling in England in the run-up to the ban, making any subsequent decline far less dramatic.
  
  They argued that one of the reasons for this fall prior to the 2007 legislation was the fact that many establishments had become smoke-free in anticipation of the ban. But they also suggested that their study, in which as many influencing factors as possible were accounted for, was the most rigorous to date and therefore less likely to inflate the impact.
  
  The fall recorded was nonetheless an important one, and even greater benefits were likely to emerge in years to come, said Dr Anna Gilmore, director of the Tobacco Control Research Group, who led the study.
  
  "Given the large number of heart attack attacks in this country each year, even a relatively small reduction has important public health benefits," she added.
  
  But the researchers cannot say categorically that the drop was down to a reduction in exposure to secondhand smoke, or because fewer people are smoking in the first place. Data on the smoking status of the patients admitted was not available, and the Bath University team intends to look at this next.
  
  Surveys have suggested strong public support for the ban, although last year a cross-party group of MPs argued the laws needed amending to stop pubs losing valuable trade from smokers.
  Supporters of the ban welcomed the study.
  
  Professor John Britton of the Royal College of Physicians said the findings demonstrated "once again the importance of preventing passive smoking."
  
  "We urge the government to take further steps to close the remaining loopholes in the existing smoking laws, and to act to prevent the continued exposure of children to passive smoking in the home."
  
  But smokers rights campaigners said the findings should be treated with caution.
  
  "The number of emergency heart attack admissions had been falling for several years, even before the smokefree legislation, so what we are seeing is part of a trend that has nothing to do with the smoking ban," said Simon Clark, director of Forest.
  
  "This study is designed to show the benefits of prohibition. What is doesn't show is the misery that has been heaped on hundreds of thousands of people by an unnecessarily harsh and divisive piece of legislation."
  
  Further coverage:
  
  The Mirror:http://bit.ly/9jW6av
  

  Daily Mail:http://bit.ly/dDr0Wv
  
  The Independent:http://bit.ly/b6Os4K

  Reuters News:http://bit.ly/aJOnhb
  

  The Times:http://bit.ly/cT7bAZ
  

  The Telegraph:http://bit.ly/cPLFKt

  The Financial Times:http://bit.ly/9gZvOC
  

  Source: BBC News, 09 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/c8LrYX

• Casualty actor's attack on girlfriend 'caused by smoke drug'

  An actor who attacked his girlfriend and threw her naked into the street has been cleared after claiming an anti-smoking drug could have triggered his behaviour.
  
  Nicholas Williams admitted he was too drunk to remember the assault on actress Helen Millar but said it was possible that the mixture of alcohol with the Champix drug was to blame.
  
  Mr Williams, a 33-year-old bit-part actor on Casualty, was charged with assault following the incident last August as Ms Millar celebrated her 26th birthday. The couple had been drinking with friends but she felt unwell and returned to their home in Islington, north London.
  
  When Mr Williams returned later, they rowed and he threw her out of the house while she was wearing just a towel after taking a shower.
  
  After a neighbour helped Ms Millar get back in, he tried to smother her with a pillow and took her back to the bathroom where he rammed the shower head into her mouth. Eventually, Ms Millar – who won the Alan Bates acting award for most outstanding newcomer in 2006 – managed to escape and raise the alarm.
  
  Although Champix has been linked to suicides, a Harley Street specialist called by the prosecution said such a reaction with booze ‘would be the first case in the world’. However, he refused to rule out the possiblity.
  
  Judge Henry Blacksell denied prosecutors more time to find another expert witness, saying Mr Williams had waited months for his trial to start and he was formally acquitted.
  
  Shortly before the case at Blackfriars crown court was abandoned, Mr Williams was taken to hospital with a suspected stress-induced heart attack.
  
  In 2008 the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency revealed that ten people had committed suicide after taking Champix, which reduces nicotine cravings.
  
  Maker Pfizer declined to comment.

  ASH comment: There is very good evidence that alcohol abuse often results in aggressive and violent behaviour, while extensive research has failed to show any increased risk of such behaviour as a result of using Champix.  It seems far more likely that the alcohol was to blame for this incident, not Champix.  Smoking is highly addictive making it difficult to stop unaided and smokers should not be put off using Champix: it is a life saving drug which has proven effective in helping smokers quit

  Source: The Metro, 09 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/aUBeug

• Blaze in Chester flat where man fell asleep smoking

  A fire is thought to have started after a man fell asleep while smoking at his Chester home.

  A distressed neighbour alerted city firefighters to a blaze in a ground floor flat in Trafford Street, Newtown, at about 7.15pm on Saturday after he saw smoke billowing out of the property.

  A 60-year-old man was still inside the flat when firefighters arrived and had already put out the fire.

  Crew manager Dave Doneo said the fire had been caused by a lit cigarette which had fallen out of the man’s mouth when he fell asleep.

  The flat was left partially smoke-logged and a fire safety assessment was later completed.

  Mr Doneo said: “I would like to reiterate that smoking in your own premises is very dangerous. We urge people to ensure that they don’t smoke inside whilst they are tired and that people should extinguish their cigarettes in the sink by wetting them or putting them out correctly outside.

  Source: Chester First, 09 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/cxVS4G

• Quitting smoking before pregnancy could save babies’ lives

  If more women quit smoking before they became pregnant, it would save infant lives, a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concludes.

  Despite a decline over the past decade in the number of women who smoke during pregnancy, smoking is still a major cause of newborn deaths, early births and babies born with low birth weight.

  “We know about half of women quit when they find out that they are pregnant, but a lot of women are still smoking during pregnancy,” said Patricia Dietz, DrPh, lead study investigator.

  The study appears online and in the July issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
  
  Dietz and co-investigators examined data from the US Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set, which included all 3.3 million births of single babies that occurred in the United States (with the exception of California) during 2002. About 11.5 percent of babies, or 386,000, had mothers who smoked during pregnancy.

  Researchers determined that prenatal smoking caused 5 percent to 8 percent of premature births and 13 percent to 19 percent of cases of low birth weight in babies carried to full term. Of infants who died, 5 percent to 7 percent of preterm-related deaths and 23 percent to 34 percent of deaths caused by sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) might have been preventable if the mother had not smoked before pregnancy.
  
  In addition, the researchers wrote that if all women quit smoking during pregnancy, it could cut health care costs by about $232 million every year — and improve overall health for both mothers and children.
  
  “The percentage of SIDS deaths that might be avoided with smoking cessation is a significant number,” said Diane Ashton, M.D., deputy medical director of the March of Dimes. “For women who smoke and are considering pregnancy, we strongly recommend that they get preconception counseling for smoking cessation.”
  
  Given these sobering statistics, why do some women continue to smoke during pregnancy?

  “Studies have shown that these women may be dealing with a lot of stress, such as economic hardship, or they might be dealing with depression or other mental health issues,” Dietz said. “Most of them are living with other smokers that make it difficult to quit. They may be living in communities where it’s acceptable to smoke — where everyone is smoking. So it’s really complex.”

  “This is an addiction,” Ashton said. “If pregnancy could cure addiction then none of these issues would be a problem. During pregnancy, women tend to be a little more highly motivated to address their addictions, but a lot of it depends on the level of readiness of the individual.”

  Source: Newswise, 08 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/aLcDLH

• Tobacco seized after suspected smuggling scam

  Four men have been arrested after tobacco worth £250,000 in duty was seized from a warehouse.

  It was seized in Surrey on Friday June 4 as part of an ongoing investigation by HM Revenue & Customs into a suspected smuggling scam through the Port of Tilbury.

  The amount of hand rolling tobacco found was enough to make four million cigarettes.

  A quantity of cash and two lorries, one articulated, were also seized during the raids.

  Three of the four men arrested are from Surrey, the fourth is a Romanian national, all have been bailed pending further enquiries.

  John Kay, Assistant Director, Criminal Investigations, HMRC said: “This form of criminality is motivated solely by greed and personal gain, denying the UK of around £2 billion per year in duty.  The unregulated sale of illegal tobacco is not a victimless or harmless crime, it undercuts local traders who can’t compete with the low prices and encourages otherwise honest people to trade with criminals.

  Source: Thurrock Gazette, 07 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/aUireL