HEADLINES

• Study: Pre-teens surrounded by smokers get hooked on nicotine
• Dutch Health minister to stop funding anti-smoking group Stivoro
• Australia: Smoking ban in NSW prison
• New York politician wants to ban smoking in cars with children
• Spanish cigarette price war burns £100m hole in Imperial profits
• Ireland: New quit smoking campaign warning

• Study: Pre-teens surrounded by smokers get hooked on nicotine

  Exposure to secondhand smoke can create symptoms of nicotine dependence in non-smoking pre-teens, according to a new study from Concordia University and the University of Montreal. Published in the Oxford journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, the study also found that tweens who repeatedly observe a parent, sibling, friend or neighbor consuming cigarettes are more likely to light up themselves as adolescents.

  As part of the study, 327 sixth or seventh graders enrolled in French-language public schools were questioned about their smoking habits, the number of smokers in their entourage and the situations where they observed smoking. "Pre-teens who were surrounded by more smokers believed that there are greater advantages to smoking," says Racicot. "Therefore, smoking by parents, siblings, and friends increases risk factors for later smoking."

  Participants also provided a spit sample to measure cotinine, a by-product of nicotine. Salivary cotinine provides an indicator of smoking over the previous one to three days. Because all the kids recruited to this study had never consumed cigarettes, negligible amounts of cotinine were found. In the next study, the researchers will measure nicotine samples from hair, which provides an indicator of smoking patterns over the last month. 

  Source: MediLexicon - 13 June 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/jqEFLX

• Dutch Health minister to stop funding anti-smoking group Stivoro

  The government is to stop subsidising the anti-smoking lobby group Stivoro from 2013 and its subsidy will be halved next year, the organisation said in a statement on Sunday.

  This year Stivoro was given a €2.7m government grant to run its stop smoking campaigns.

  The health ministry says it will continue to fund small-scale campaigns based, for example, on schools but no more nationwide efforts.

  Source: Dutch News - 13 June 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/iCkk70

• Australia: Smoking ban in NSW prison

  In a new directive, prisoners at the Lithgow jail in central western New South Wales will be banned from smoking in their cells as part of a six-month trial to begin next year.

  According to a Corrective Services spokesman inmates will only be allowed to smoke in designated outdoor areas. This means they would not be able to smoke for the 16 hour locked up periods. Along with this heavy smokers will be offered nicotine patches to ward off cravings and withdrawal symptoms.

  Source: News Medical - 13 June 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/kKDnLe

• New York politician wants to ban smoking in cars with children

  A New York lawmaker has proposed legislation that would ban adults from smoking in cars when children under the age of 14 are present.

  Assemblyman David Weprin says he wants to reduce children's exposure to secondhand smoke. The bill would apply even when the windows are rolled down.

  Source: Silive - 13 June 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/maAw2d

• Spanish cigarette price war burns £100m hole in Imperial profits

  Imperial Tobacco is facing a £100m profits hit as a result of a cigarette price war, tax increases and a smoking ban in Spain.

  Imperial, which is the world's fourth-largest tobacco company and the market leader in Spain, warned on Monday that a slump in cigarette purchases by cash-strapped smokers had led to a fierce price war in the country.

  The average retail price of cigarettes in Spain has fallen 10% since the end of April and Imperial – which sells brands including Ducados Rubio, Fortuna Red Line and Nobel Style – last cut its prices on Friday.

  Imperial reported an 18% slump in cigarette volumes in Spain for the six months to the end of March. The group's net profits rose to £926m from £689m a year earlier, on sales up 2% to £13.7bn.

  Source: The Guardian - 13 June 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/kME55r

• Ireland: New quit smoking campaign warning

  Health chiefs have launched a new quit smoking drive with a stark warning - half of all smokers will die from their habit.

  The Health Service Executive (HSE) is hoping the shock statistic will force tobacco users into at least trying to give up.

  Dr Fenton Howell, the HSE's director of public health, said the figure was not well known.

  "Surprisingly only 7% of people know that one in every two smokers will die of a tobacco-related disease," he said.

  "Our aim is to make people realise the effect smoking has on their health, and that of their loved ones, and give them encouragement and help to quit."

  Source: Belfast Telegraph - 12 June 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/luIXio