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ASH Daily News

14 December 2005

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

HEADLINES

Author returns to her perilous muse

Healthcare in the balance

Japanese City pedestrian smoking ban after asthmatic's plea

Spain prepares for smoking ban

FULL TEXT

Author returns to her perilous muse

It is less than two years since she was rushed to hospital on Christmas Day after suffering acute pains in her left leg. Doctors warned that they might have to amputate and told her to give up cigarettes.

But popular author Dame Beryl Bainbridge has returned to the cigarettes. She smokes three a day:

"I'm afraid I am back on the fags. I tried hypnosis and it didn't work - I just can't write without them"

Source: Daily Mail, 14 December 2005


Healthcare in the balance

In today's Society Garden various opinions are given on the proposal that 'self-inflicted' medical conditions such as obesity and smoking related illnesses could have an impact on the type of treatment given, ASH Research manager, Amanda Sandford, offers the following opinion:

'My first take is that it seems a very sensible approach to tackling what is a very difficult issue - right across the board, not just smoking.

It is right that there is some sort of guidance on this issue. There can't be a single person in this country who doesn't know that smoking has serious implications for health, and they must also know that they can do certain things to limit the chances of getting ill and to improve the chances of recovery from a serious illness. But then, the fact that so many people go back to smoking, even after a serious operation, shows the power of addiction.

In situations like this, you can't just say people should know better, but you should be able to say that a clinician should inform people of risk and that they are able to make decisions as part of their duty to the patient. People should be told if the chances of successful heart surgery, for example, are limited or if there are risks of future problems. In an ideal world you would treat people purely in terms of need, but we are living in a society where there are risks and we have to make hard choices . . . But you can't necessarily make rules in this area. It should be done on a case by case basis.

It is about the balance between rights and responsibilities. . . Human frailty is part of life. Even the most privileged in our society succumb to something. There will be occasions when judgments need to be made but I don't think it is appropriate for organisations such as ours to intervene. Clinicians make these decisions.'

Source: Guardian, 14 December 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/co99n


Japanese City pedestrian smoking ban after asthmatic's plea

Mayor Zenkichi Kojima of Shizuoka City said Tuesday the municipal government will institute a smoking ban on pedestrians after hearing a plea by a 12-year-old boy with asthma who spearheaded a petition campaign.

Yuta Oishi, a freshman at a local junior high school, called for an ordinance to impose a ban at a civic committee meeting of the city assembly on Dec 6. The plea was adopted unanimously. Oishi and others collected around 24,000 signatures in support of a ban in the city, which has a population of 700,000. The date when the ban will start has not been decided.

Source: Japan Today, 14 November 2005
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/cwg3e


Spain prepares for smoking ban

Spain launched a campaign today to make smokers aware of the need to respect no-smoking spaces, two days before parliament was expected to give final approval to a ban on smoking in the workplace.

More than 50,000 Spaniards die each year as a direct result of smoking, and 700 from passive smoking, the Health Ministry said, adding that the habit killed more people than AIDS and workplace and traffic accidents together.

More than 30% of Spaniards smoke, the ministry said.

The new anti-smoking campaign, with the slogan "Inside you know it's good for you," has a budget of more than EUR3.7m and includes an online guide to help people give up smoking.

Advertisements were being run in newspapers and on radio, television and billboards.

On Thursday politicians are expected to pass a ban on smoking in office buildings, shopping malls, cultural centres and public transport, among other public indoor spaces, as well as in areas where food is prepared and sold.

The legislation would go into effect on January 1 if passed.

All political parties in the Spanish parliament back the measure, which also forbids the sale of tobacco to people under 18 and extends a ban on cigarette advertising to include the media, billboards and product promotions.

Violators could be face fines between EUR29.70 and EUR593,700.

Under the new law, smoking would be allowed in smaller bars and restaurants, at the proprietors' discretion, but such premises would have to be clearly marked as allowing smoking.

Airports, theatres and cinemas would also have to designate and separate areas for smoking.

Source: IOL, 13 December 2005

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