ASH Daily news for 08 June 2010
HEADLINES
- Smoking ban legal case was waste of money, says judge
- Couple died in house fire after husband fell asleep while smoking
- Children effectively protected from secondhand smoke by smoke-free air laws
- Link found between passive smoking and poorer mental health
- US: Cigarette makers banned from using ‘light’ moniker
- Update on the smoking baby
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Smoking ban legal case was waste of money, says judge
A High Court judge has denounced a north Down man for “squandering” funds raised to challenge smoking legislation in a legal case.
Chris Carter (56) was convicted in 2007 of flouting Northern Ireland's smoking ban.
Yesterday he lost his legal challenge to the legislation.
But despite Mr Justice Treacy describing the bid as “utterly devoid of legal merit”, Mr Carter said he will appeal the decision.
Mr Carter claimed laws which led to him being fined for lighting up at council offices breached his human rights.
The former security consultant was also seeking to judicially review being refused permission to call the Secretary of State and Chief Medical Officer as part of his defence against prosecution.
Mr Carter, who has referred to himself as campaign manager of The Smokers Rights Appeal Fund UK Ireland, launched judicial review proceedings after a County Court Judge upheld the conviction.
But Mr Justice Treacy yesterday dismissed the case he brought himself after finding it was misconceived.
Mr Justice Treacy said: “The squandering of solicited public funds on an application so utterly devoid of legal merit is to be deprecated.”
Following the ruling Mr Carter vowed to appeal and likened the smoking ban to a fascist law in Nazi Germany.
The Bangor man was prosecuted for allegedly lighting a cigarette at North Down Borough Council headquarters in 2007.
Under the terms of the Smoking (NI) Order 2006 he was convicted and ordered to pay a fine and costs of £1,250 in total.
His case involved claims that he was denied permission to call high-profile witnesses during a challenge to the validity of the legislation.
He further claimed the 2006 Order was incompatible with rights prohibiting discrimination and torture, and protecting privacy, under European laws.
But Mr Justice Treacy held that the County Court Judge had made clear the only limited restriction on Mr Carter smoking was in designated public places,
Outside the court Mr Carter insisted his fight would go on. He confirmed plans to lodge an immediate appeal within 21 days
“I have found that the legislation we have today emulates that of legislation passed in 1938 by Hitler's Germany,” he claimed.
Source: Belfast Telegraph - 08 June 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/a7fQ46 -
Couple died in house fire after husband fell asleep while smoking
An elderly man and his wife died following a fire in their home caused when he fell asleep smoking a cigarette.
An inquest into the deaths of Margaret and Gordon Scott heard how they were pulled from their west Hull house in Arcon Drive alive but both later died in hospital.
Heavy smoker Mr Scott, 81, who had become frail and immobile, kept aerosols next to his chair in the living room, where the fire originated, according to fire investigators.
On February 3, the fire service arrived at the bungalow at about 8.30pm after Mr Scott's personal emergency alarm was activated.
The pensioners were rescued after neighbours told firefighters the couple were inside the burning building.
They were taken to Hull Royal Infirmary suffering severe burns and smoke inhalation and were later transferred to specialist burns units.
Mrs Scott, 89, who was known as Peggy, died just over a week later at Pinderfields General Hospital, Wakefield on February 12.
Mr Scott clung on to life for over a month later at a hospital in Manchester but died on March 18.
Dr Alistair McDonald said both Mr and Mrs Scott's heart disease and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease were "contributory to death".
Stephen Henry, station manager at Central Fire Station in Hull, said a nearby lamp had been ruled out as the fire source, "leaving smoking materials as the only cause".
Coroner for Hull and the East Riding, Geoffrey Saul, recorded a verdict of accidental death.
Source: This is Hull and East Riding - 08 June 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/bWxpZD -
Children effectively protected from secondhand smoke by smoke-free air laws
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that children and adolescents living in non-smoking homes in counties with laws promoting smoke-free public places have significantly lower levels of a common biomarker of secondhand smoke exposure than those living in counties with no smoke-free laws.
The children living in non-smoking homes in U.S. counties with smoke-free laws had 39% lower prevalence of cotinine in their blood, an indicator of tobacco smoke exposure, compared to those living in counties with no smoke-free laws. Children living in homes with smokers exhibited little or no benefit from the smoke-free laws.
The study appears in the June 7, 2010 advance online edition of the journal Pediatrics.
"The findings suggest that smoke-free laws are an effective strategy to protect both children and adults from exposure to secondhand smoke. In addition, interventions designed to reduce or prevent adults from smoking around children are needed," said Melanie Dove, who received her doctorate in environmental health at HSPH in 2010 and led the study.
The HSPH researchers examined data from the 1999-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a cross-sectional survey designed to monitor the health and nutritional status of the U.S. population. They analyzed the cotinine levels in 11,486 nonsmoking youngsters, aged 3-19 years, from 117 counties, both with and without exposure to secondhand smoke in the home.
In addition to a 39% lower prevalence of detectable cotinine, the researchers also found that children in non-smoking homes had 43% lower mean cotinine levels.
Over the past decade the number of state and local smoke-free laws in the nation has grown significantly. For example, the number of smoke-free laws in workplaces, restaurants and bars in the U.S. has increased from 0 in 1988 to 175 in 2006.
"These laws have been shown to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke among adults. Our results show a similar association in children and adolescents not living with a smoker in the home," said Gregory Connolly, senior author of the paper and director of the Tobacco Control Research Program at HSPH. Douglas Dockery, professor of environmental epidemiology and chair of the Department of Environmental Health, also was a study author.
According to the 2006 Surgeon General's Report, there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Children are particularly vulnerable to the toxic compounds in secondhand smoke because they have higher breathing rates and their lungs are still developing, the authors write. Exposure to secondhand smoke in children can irritate the lungs, resulting in coughing or wheezing, and can trigger an asthma attack in children with asthma. Secondhand smoke also has been associated with sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory illnesses and middle ear disease.
For children, the home is the primary source of secondhand smoke exposure and most of the smoking is done by the parents. Potential exposure sources for children outside the home include cars, private child care centers, restaurants, shopping malls and parks.
Approximately 20 percent of the youth in the HSPH study lived with a smoker in the home. These children had the highest cotinine levels and could benefit the most from an intervention to reduce exposure, regardless of smoke-free laws that might be in place, say the researchers.
"One way to reduce or prevent adults from smoking around children is for physicians to counsel parents to stop smoking," said Connolly.
This research was funded by the Flight Attendants Medical Research Institute Clinical Innovator Award. Dove's research was supported in part by a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Training Program in Environmental Epidemiology.
"Smoke-free Air Laws and Secondhand Smoke Exposure Among Nonsmoking Youth, NHANES 1999-2006," Melanie S. Dove, Douglas W. Dockery, and Gregory N. Connolly. Pediatrics, Vol. 126, No. 1, July 2010, online June 7, 2010.
Source: Medical News Today - 08 June 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/cwi3xa -
Link found between passive smoking and poorer mental health
Second hand smoke exposure is associated with psychological distress and risk of future psychiatric illness, according to new UCL research that suggests the harmful affects of passive smoking go beyond physical health.
The new research, published today in the Archives of General Psychiatry, examined the associations between mental health and second hand smoke (SHS) exposure – known as passive smoking - by measuring the circulating biochemical marker cotinine, which is found in saliva and can be used to measure levels of exposure to tobacco smoke. The study found that SHS exposure is associated with psychological distress and risk of future psychiatric illness in healthy adults.
A representative sample of 5,560 non-smoking adults and 2,689 smokers without history of mental illness were drawn from the 1998 and 2003 Scottish Health Surveys. A score greater than 3 on the 12-item General Health Questionnaire was employed as an indicator of psychological distress. Incident psychiatric hospital admissions over 6 years follow up were also recorded.
Psychological distress was apparent in 14.5% of the sample. In an analysis of the data, after adjustments for a range of potential confounding factors such as social status, high SHS exposure among non-smokers (cotinine levels between 0.70 and 15 micrograms per litre) was associated with 50% higher odds of reporting psychological distress in comparison with participants with cotinine levels below the limit of detection. Active smokers were also more likely to report psychological distress. The risk of future psychiatric illness was also related to high SHS exposure and active smoking.
Lead author Dr Mark Hamer, UCL Epidemiology & Public Health, said: "SHS exposure at home is growing in relative importance as restrictions on smoking in workplaces and public places spread. A growing body of literature has demonstrated the harmful physical effects of second hand smoke exposure, but there has been limited research about the affects on mental health.
"Animal data have suggested that tobacco may induce a negative mood, and some human studies have also identified a potential association between smoking and depression. Our data is therefore consistent with other emerging evidence to suggest a causal role of nicotine exposure in mental health. Importantly, this study advances previous research because we obtained an accurate assessment of SHS exposure using a valid biochemical indicator.
"Mental ill health accounts for almost 20% of the burden of disease in the European Region and can affect one in four people at some time in their life. Our findings emphasise the importance of reducing SHS exposure at a population level, not only for the benefit of our physical health but for our mental health as well."
Source: First Science - 07 June 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/ci2WLZ -
US: Cigarette makers banned from using ‘light’ moniker
The US Food and Drug Administration has announced a ban of the use of words such as ‘light’, ‘mild’, ‘medium’ or ‘low’ on cigarette packs, saying they are wrongly making smokers think that such cigarettes are less harmful than ‘full-flavour’ varieties. The rules will take effect by the end of June this year.
Anti-tobacco crusaders are however pointing out to a new tactic being used by manufacturers – replacing the words by different coloured packs, to differentiate between the varieties. While activists say the colours are just as bad as the words, tobacco makes insist they have a right to let smokers know the difference between the products.
One report cited said David Hammond, a health behaviour researcher at the University of Waterloo in Canada, as saying that colour shape perceptions of risks on all products, and he added that the removal of those words were "necessary but not sufficient measures" to improve public health or reduce false perceptions. Hammond suggested the FDA take the ban even further and restrict both colour and words such as "smooth" and "slim."
In response, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco shot back, “Absent this information, massive confusion in the marketplace would result”. It warned that if even colours were banned, consumers wouldn't be able to distinguish between brands, and manufacturers could be limited to one type of cigarette per brand because they'd have no other way to distinguish their products.
Source: KamCity - 07 June 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/cQ9kfI -
Update on the smoking baby
We’ve all been shocked by the photos of Ardi Rizal, the smoking 2-year-old from Indonesia.
His 30-year-old father started his son on cigarette smoking at just 18 months old because the baby had a hernia. The 2-year-old now smokes 40 cigarettes a day!
Ardi’s mother who is 26-years-old told CNN that she was smoking when she was pregnant, but after she gave birth she quit. She said her baby would just smell smoke and be happy.
According to an article by by Krisa Van Meurs, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics Stanford University School of Medicine, cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, including truly nasty things like cyanide, lead, and at least 60 cancer-causing compounds. When you smoke during pregnancy, that toxic brew gets into your bloodstream, your baby's only source of oxygen and nutrients.
Smoking during pregnancy can have lifelong effects on your baby's brain. Children of pregnant smokers are especially likely to have learning disorders behavioral problems, and relatively low IQs.
It’s a known fact that second-hand smokers are likely to become smokers. Ardi became addicted in the womb and is now a true nicotine addict.
When his parents say he throws a tantrum when refused cigarettes, that makes sense with an addition.
There is also the issue of Ardi weighing 44 pounds at the age of two.
And the Indonesian government adds to this by having weak tobacco control regulations. They receive billions of dollars in annual revenue from tobacco sales. Their ad campaigns encourage even the youngest to smoke.
According to Indonesian Child Protection Commission chairman Hadi Supeno, “There are many children under five years of age who have started smoking. A decade ago, the average age of beginner smokers was 19, but a recent study found that the average is seven.”
Data from the Central Statistics Agency showed 25 percent of Indonesian children aged 3 to 15 have tried cigarettes, with 3.2 percent of those active smokers.
The percentage of 5- to 9-year-olds lighting up increased from 0.4 percent in 2001 to 2.8 percent in 2004, the agency reported.
According to the American Lung Association web site “Secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,400 deaths from lung cancer and 22,700 to 69,600 deaths from heart disease each year.”
Seto Mulyadi, chairman of Indonesia's child protection commission, blames the increase on aggressive advertising and parents who are smokers. "A law to protect children and passive smokers should be introduced immediately in this country," he said.
A health law passed in 2009 formally recognizes that smoking is addictive, and an anti-smoking coalition is pushing for tighter restrictions on smoking in public places, advertising bans and bigger health warnings on cigarette packages.
But a bill on tobacco control has been stalled because of opposition from the tobacco industry. The bill would ban cigarette advertising and sponsorship, prohibit smoking in public, and add graphic images to packaging.
Health Minister Endang Sedyaningsih conceded turning young people off smoking will be difficult in a country where it is perceived as positive because cigarette companies sponsor everything from scholarships to sporting events.
Ardi’s mother told CNN that both she and her husband have quit smoking. She hopes Ardi will quit soon. She added that she learned that she can't use force to stop him, but she needs to be gentle and try to distract him.
Distraction does not sooth an addict. And no one has even addressed the child's obesity. This child needs medical attention.
Clearly this is a case of child neglect and abuse by Ardi’s parents, his government and the cigarette companies.Source: The Examiner - 06 June 2010
Link: http://bit.ly/aCdRPi
