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ASH Daily News for 15 December 2006

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ASH Daily News
 
15 December 2006
 
HEADLINES
 
Smoking rates by gay men well above the national average
 
Gallaher to be bought by Japan Tobacco
 
An investigation shows the high levels of tobacco smoke in Reading pubs
 
Council decides to invest in tobacco companies for their pension
 
FULL TEXT
 
Smoking rates by gay men well above the national average
 
The NHS Smoking Helpline is calling on gay and bisexual men to quit smoking after a survey revealed that they have smoking rates well above the national average.
 
A study carried out amongst gay and bisexual men for the NHS Smoking Helpline has found that 60% of 25 to 34 year olds smoke which is well in excess of the national average of 25%.
 
While health risk messages seem to be getting through loud and clear – 91% of respondents know that quitting will improve their health – nearly a third have never tried to give up, the research found.
 
It also seems that the vast majority don’t actually enjoy their habit, overwhelmingly confirming that they “dislike stale tobacco breath” (77%) and “dislike the smell of tobacco on clothes” (74%).
 
When it comes to choosing a partner, smoking also proves to be a big turn off – even for other smokers. Nearly two thirds confirm that smoking makes people look less attractive, with nearly half actually preferring not to kiss a smoker.
 
The survey also throws up the interesting figure that half of those questioned see smoking as “a prop for masculinity.”
 
NHS Smoking Helpline advisor Kirsty Reid said: “There seems to be a large overlap between the number of gay and bisexual men who smoke, and those who actually dislike it.”
 
Commenting on this findings, gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: “It is sad that half of gay men see smoking as masculine, and that the desire to be seen as macho apparently encourages some of them to take up the cigarette habit. Smoking isn't cool or masculine; it's just plain filthy.”
 
The NHS estimates that 12,000 gay men die from smoking related diseases every year, many more than die from HIV/AIDs.
 
Source: Pink News 14 December 2006
Link to article: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/view.php?id=3275
 
 
Gallaher to be bought by Japan Tobacco
 
Gallaher, the maker of Benson & Hedges cigarettes, is to be bought by Japan Tobacco Inc, for $14.7 billion in the biggest-ever foreign acquisition by a Japanese company.
 
The takeover Japan Tobacco is likely to reinforce its position as the world's third-largest tobacco firm behind Philip Morris parent group Altria Group Inc. and British American Tobacco.
 
Japan Tobacco said it agreed to pay £11.40 per share for Gallaher.  
 
Japan Tobacco, 50% of which is owned by the Japanese government, offered cash for all of Gallaher's shares. It said it would use a combination of cash reserves and loans from Merrill Lynch to fund the purchase.
 
In Japan, where Japan Tobacco has a two-thirds market share, cigarette sales fell 1.3 percent in the six months to September.
 
Japan Tobacco said it was aiming to complete the acquisition in the first half of 2007 and would make Gallaher a wholly owned subsidiary.
 
Gallaher earns 70% of its profits from the shrinking cigarette markets of Britain, Ireland, Austria and Sweden. To offset this fall it has been expanding into Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and earnings there have risen sharply.  
 
Source: Reuters 15 December 2006
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/yfppuo
 
 
An investigation shows the high levels of tobacco smoke in Reading pubs
 
The Chronicle in Reading undertook a special investigation to measure the quantity of nicotine inhaled by a non-smoker during an evening in the town's bars. Below is an extract:
 
‘The killer effects of passive smoking can increase by a stunning 50% during the Friday night out in Reading. The results showed the damage non-smoking revellers are doing to their health if they use pubs and bars on a regular basis - and explain why the public smoking ban coming into effect on July 1 makes sense.
 
Our reporter measured the amount of nicotine inhaled by a passive smoker on a Friday night bar session by taking before and after saliva samples. The samples were then tested for cotinine - the body's by-product of nicotine inhalation.
 
After six hours, our investigator's cotinine level had jumped by more than 50% from 2.2 nanograms per millilitre to 3.7.
 
Dr Colin Feyerabend, whose laboratory analysed the samples, said: “Passive smoking never gives a huge increase, but there's no such thing as a safe level.”
 
ASH Research Manager Amanda Sandford said: “The nicotine itself is not really dangerous. The harm from passive smoking is from the other constituents of the smoke, like carbon monoxide.
 
There has been a lot of research on this now, and it is accepted that breathing in tobacco smoke increases the risk of heart disease and lung cancer.”’
 
Source: IC Berkshire 14 December
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/ye28bk  
 
 
Council decides to invest in tobacco companies for their pension
 
Croydon Councillors have changed the council's policy on tobacco firm investments.
 
Conservative councillors reversed a ban on tobacco firm investments after the town hall's pension sub-committee said the decision was hindering the growth of the pension fund.
 
The move has come under criticism as it was revealed that from 2002 to 2004 more than a fifth of men in the borough died from smoking related illnesses.
 
At a meeting of the council's cabinet committee on Monday Councillor Maggie Mansell, shadow cabinet member for health and social care, said: “I find it quite unbelievable the council is shocked at the figures of smoking in Croydon and the associated health risks yet it is happy to invest in tobacco firms.”
 
However, Councillor Tim Pollard, cabinet member for finance and regeneration, defended the council's decision to reverse the previous investment policy.
 
“Given the very clear financial and legal recommendations in the report it was obvious previous policy should be reversed,” he said, “At the meeting the imminent smoking ban was also discussed and the way in which it would be enforced across Croydon.”
 
Source: This is Local London 14 December 2006
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/yb4jqr


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