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ASH Daily News for 13 December 2006

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ASH Daily News
 
13 December 2006
 
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HEADLINES
 
EU court upholds tobacco ad ban
 
DoH direct marketing to promote smoking ban
Research finds almost half of lung cancer patients go back to cigarettes
Study finds cutting back may lead to unexpected quitting
FULL TEXT
 
EU court upholds tobacco ad ban
The European Union's highest court upheld a law that bans most forms of tobacco advertising, rejecting arguments by Germany that the legislation is illegal.
Germany, Europe's biggest tobacco market, challenged the law in 2003, arguing that tobacco advertising in local newspapers shouldn't be subject to bloc-wide legislation because it doesn't affect trade between nations in the 25-member EU.
“The prohibitions of advertising and sponsorship meet the conditions for them to be adopted for the purpose of the establishment and functioning of the internal market,'' the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg said in a statement today.
EU countries were required to adopt the legislation by July 3, 2005, which Germany refused to do. While the rules allow billboards and cinema advertising, all other cigarette ads aimed at an international audience are banned, including sports sponsorships such as Formula One racing.
Germany and tobacco companies, including Imperial Tobacco Group Plc, successfully opposed the EU's first attempt in 1998 to outlaw tobacco advertising. The EU court in October 2000 annulled the regulation, saying that ads without a cross-border element, such as billboard ads, couldn't be banned throughout Europe.

The EU introduced a more limited version of the law in May 2003, banning some types of tobacco marketing and print ads. Four months later Germany sued again.

The case is C-380/03 Germany v. Parliament and Council.

Source: Bloomberg, 13 December 2006
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/ye34s6

DoH direct marketing to promote smoking ban
 
The Department of Health (DoH) is launching a direct marketing push, aimed at businesses and consumers, in support of the smoking ban to be introduced in England on July 1st 2007.

The DoH has appointed Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw to manage its consumer communications and Partners Andrews Aldridge is to handle the business account.

The appointment of Kitcatt Nohr follows a successful summer campaign that saw the agency develop responsive posters and press ads, showing ‘before and after’ pictures of smokers, and direct mail featuring a perfume strip smelling of cigarette ash, focusing on the idea that smoking damages sex appeal.

Following the announcement earlier this month that the smoking ban will come into effect next July, the DoH plans to spend about £10m advertising the legislation. Activity will begin in March next year with a campaign highlighting the risks of inhaling secondhand smoke.

A fully interactive campaign website, www.smokefreeengland.co.uk, has already been launched.

Source: Marketing Week, Precision Marketing, 13 December 2006
Article http://tinyurl.com/yxdqa6

Research finds almost half of lung cancer patients go back to cigarettes

New research has shown that the development of lung cancer and surgery to remove it is still not enough to put many smokers off picking up cigarettes again.

A Washington University School of Medicine study of 154 smokers who had surgery to remove early stage lung cancer
found almost half picked up a cigarette again within 12 months of their operations.

The researchers found that 43 per cent of patients smoked at some point after surgery and 37 per cent were smoking 12 months after their operation.

Furthermore, 60 per cent of those who took up smoking again did so within two months of surgery.

Highlighting the dangerous addictiveness of cigarettes, Mark Walker, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of medicine at Washington University, said: "These patients are all addicted, so you cannot assume they will easily change their behaviour simply because they have dodged this particular bullet.

"Their choices are driven by insidious cravings for nicotine."

Contrary to predictions, researchers found no link between the quantity of smoking and the ability to quit, and also discovered that higher education was associated with a greater likelihood of smoking after surgery.

"It wasn't the number of cigarettes smoked daily that determined who couldn't quit, but how long they continued to smoke before surgery," Professor Walker explained.

"About half of the patients studied smoked within two weeks of their operation. We are not certain what to make of the finding about education, because no other study about smoking cessation has reached that conclusion."
Source: Cancer Research UK, 12 December 2006
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/yeaweh
Study link: http://tinyurl.com/y638kz

Study finds cutting back may lead to unexpected quitting

In a review article in the December edition of Nicotine and Tobacco Research, researchers at the University of Vermont have found an unexpected, effective alternative to motivate smokers to quit smoking - cutting back. According to the qualitative review of 19 studies on smoking reduction in individuals who did not want to quit, this method, typically coupled with the use of nicotine replacement products, led to an increase in quitting in 16 of the studies.

"Cutting back is approved as a method of quitting in several European countries, but not in the United States," said lead author John Hughes, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. "Our review contradicts the commonly held belief that quitting requires stopping abruptly and provides evidence that smokers can quit successfully by reducing the amount of cigarettes smoked. Furthermore, our review indicates cutting back is often a great way to start changing smoking that can lead to eventual quitting."

Hughes's report is the largest review of smoking reduction studies published to date. Among the 19 studies reviewed (many of which were randomized, placebo-controlled trials), the two considered the most important involved randomized, controlled trials that assigned smokers to either reduce or not reduce. Both of these studies found that smoking reduction leads to more cessation. Also, in three studies, the effect of reduction was found to be similar to the effect of providing smoking cessation advice. Based on this finding, Hughes suggests that clinicians try recommending reduction for smokers who have not responded to repeated cessation advice.

Hughes and colleague Matthew Carpenter warn that smokers do need to understand that there is no good evidence that cutting back alone decreases smoking-related health risks and thus clinicians should promote reduction only as a step towards eventual cessation to their patients.
Source: Medical News Today, 12 December 2006
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/yybe4p

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