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ASH Daily news for 06 April 2011

HEADLINES

  • World's leading scientists join forces to tackle non-communicable diseases

    A landmark global alliance between leading scientists and four of the world's largest NGOs brings together evidence from a 5-year collaboration with almost 100 of the world's leading experts in non-communicable disease (NCD) and proposes five priority interventions to tackle this increasing global crisis.

    The top priority must be to reduce tobacco use followed by lowering salt intake, say the authors.

    The Lancet NCD Action Group and the NCD Alliance published their 'priority actions', 5 months ahead of the UN High-Level Meeting (HLM) on NCDs. The aim is to reduce NCD death rates by 2% per year which will avert an estimated 36 million deaths over 10 years.

    Key to the success of this intervention will be the accelerated implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to achieve the proposed goal, "a world essentially free from tobacco by 2040"; achieving this goal would prevent at least 5.5 million premature deaths over 10 years.
     
    Importantly, the costs of these interventions will be small, say the authors.
     
    Non-communicable diseases, mainly heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancers, and chronic respiratory disease,  are responsible for two out of every three deaths worldwide and the toll is rising.
     
    The Lancet article is available online at: http://bit.ly/gd7KN6.
    Source: Medical News Today, 05 April 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/fOFuMW

  • Man jailed over £1.9m bogus tobacco racket

    A Basildon fraudster has been jailed following an investigation into a major tobacco smuggling operation linked to Bulgaria.

    William Sartin, 40,was sentenced to 14 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to cheat the public revenue.  Sartin was among a gang of four arrested after than 16 tonnes of raw leaf tobacco, with an estimated value of £1.9million was discovered following a joint operation by customs officers and the police, in July 2008.

    John Kay, HMRC assistant director of criminal investigation, said: “This was a planned fraud on a huge scale. If it had not been stopped the UK market would have been flooded with massive quantities of illegal, counterfeit tobacco products.

    The other members of the gang were Robert Minshall from Suffolk, Nigel Barton from Nottinghamshire, and David Scott,  of Wood Thorpe, Nottingham. They were all jailed for between two years and 18 months.
     
    Source: Essex Echo, 06 April 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/e7V496

  • Stop smoking help pod opens up at hospital

    A new drop-in facility at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, gives smokers a chance to have free one-on-one consultations with advisers without the need to make an appointment.

    Elaine Watson, manager of the stop smoking service, said: "We're really excited about launching the pod. It's a fantastic way for us to talk to smokers about the free Stop Smoking service available in the county and make sure they get the help they need to quit there and then."

    The pod is open Monday to Friday, for seven hours a day.
    Source: This is Gloucestershire, 06 April 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/gkcszf

  • Canada: Study shows tobacco retail proximity to schools

    Researchers at the University at Buffalo and Roswell Park Cancer Institute have presented research that shows that tobacco outlets in Buffalo and Niagara Falls are more concentrated around elementary and secondary schools.

    The research also counters tobacco industry arguments that a significant proportion of the population would be off-limits to tobacco advertisements if an advertising ban were in place. Andrea Licht, one of the study's authors, said  "only about one-third of the population potentially lives within this 1,000-foot buffer zone, so such an advertising ban would not act like a 'de facto' ban, as industry has claimed."
     
    The study found that 17.3 percent of schools in Buffalo have a tobacco retail outlet located within 500 feet and 71.2 percent of schools have a tobacco retail outlet located within 1,500 feet.
    Source: Science Magazine, 02 April 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/etTmUP

  • USA: Researchers concern at popularity of hookah smoking

    A new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina, sheds light on the increasingly popularity of hookah smoking among young adults

    Erin L. Sutfin,  lead author on the study, said: "unfortunately, many young adults are misinformed about the safety of hookah smoking and some mistakenly believe it to be safer than cigarette smoking."
     
    The researchers sent a web-based survey to a random sample of students from eight North Carolina colleges and universities asking about smoking patterns and drug habits.
     
    They found that more than one-third of the students surveyed reported having smoked tobacco from a hookah. Nearly 25 percent of students reported being current smokers of cigarettes, and 17.4 percent said they actively use hookahs.
     
    Source: Medical News Today, 05 March 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/hfALoQ

  • Jeremy Irons criticised for smoking comments

    Veteran actor Jeremy Irons has come under fire after he compared smokers' rights to  those of "handicapped people and children".

    Irons criticised New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg after the politician banned smoking in city-owned open spaces, commenting that  smokers deserve to be protected like "handicapped people and children".
     
    The remark has upset officials at the National Organization on Disability, which helps students and adults with disabilities.
     
    A spokesperson for the group has described Irons' comment as a "very inappropriate comparison".
     
    Source: Daily Express, 05 April 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/dEtDNp

  • Cheryl Cole told to give up smoking for her X Factor USA job

    Pop star turned presenter Cheryl Cole has been told to quit the cigarettes to help her
     to land a job as a judge on the US X Factor.

    Miss Cole has reportedly been advised to kick her 20-a-day habit if she wants any chance of cracking America.
     
    She is believed to have tried to stop smoking last year but failed, admitting: "I miss smoking when I stop. It's not cool to say so, but I do."
    Source: Daily Mail, 05 April 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/hHh5fi