HEADLINES

• Toddler gets smoke in his face as actress mum enjoys a roll-up
• Imperial Tobacco's cigarette volumes drop
• Bradford and Airedale stop smoking group celebrates success - sessions planned for Keighley
• Study: Quitting smoking may minimize harmful bacteria and replenish healthy bacteria
• Arab countries exchange 'lessons learned' from tobacco control

• Toddler gets smoke in his face as actress mum enjoys a roll-up

  With her young son only inches away, Billie Piper takes a deep drag on her roll-up and blows smoke in his face.
  
  The 27-year-old actress made great play of the fact that she gave up cigarettes while pregnant with Winston, now aged 21 months. But she appeared to be making up for lost time during a visit to a pub garden with her actor husband Laurence Fox and another couple.
  
  Initially, either Fox or his wife would take turns looking after Winston while the other moved away to puff on a roll-up.
  
  But as the afternoon progressed they became more relaxed and eventually, as the picture shows, made no effort to distance the toddler from the tobacco cloud.
  
  Earlier this year former pop singer Miss Piper, who went on to star in Doctor Who and Secret Diary Of A Call Girl, admitted that her greatest vices were 'roll-up cigarettes and red wine'.
  
  She added: 'I didn't smoke through my pregnancy, and I thought I did really well not to for nine months.
  
  When Winston was born, I decided I didn't want to smoke cigarettes any more, as they are full of chemicals, so I turned to roll-ups instead. I do love them.'
  
  The damaging effects of passive smoking are well documented.
  
  In March, a report from the Royal College of Physicians revealed that tens of thousands of children in the UK every year develop asthma, chest infections and ear problems because they are exposed to smoke from their parents' cigarettes.
  
  This led to a call for a ban on smoking in cars, and for the ban on smoking in enclosed spaces to be extended to parks, playgrounds and other areas where children congregate.
  
  Martin Dockrell, director of research for the charity Action on Smoking and Health, said: 'There are two good reasons not to smoke in front of children.
  
  'First, especially in enclosed areas second-hand smoke seriously damages a child's health and even risks causing a cot death.
  
  'The second reason is that the more a child sees adults around them smoking the more likely they are to try smoking themselves as they get older.
  
  'In fact only one in five adults smokes but children often overestimate this and the more they do, the more they are likely to smoke themselves.'
  
   

  Source: Daily Mail, 21 July 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/bcuJ7m

• Imperial Tobacco's cigarette volumes drop

  Imperial Tobacco said cigarette volumes for the nine months to June were down 4.3% as a result of market declines in Spain, USA, Russia and Ukraine being only partly offset by gains in Central Europe.
  
  Overall, the group’s financial performance for the financial year to 30 September remains in line with expectations.
   
  However, its global strategic cigarette brands continued to grow and it saw some strong performances from a number of regional and local brands.
  
  Chief executive Alison Cooper said: "Overall we are performing well in what remains a challenging operating environment, highlighting the resilience of our business and the success of our growth strategy.”
  
  “By continuing to leverage our comprehensive brand and product portfolio across our balanced international footprint we are well placed to further build sales and create sustainable value for our shareholders."

  Source: Sharecast, 22 July 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/dkukxm

• Bradford and Airedale stop smoking group celebrates success - sessions planned for Keighley

  Thousands of people in Bradford and Airedale have successfully quit their smoking habit with help from the local NHS stop smoking service.

  Over the past year (2009 to 2010) nearly 4,000 people achieved the four-week quit target after seeking help from the wide range of stop smoking support offered by the NHS across the district.

  The NHS stop smoking service, part of Bradford and Airedale Community Health Services, provides many different ways for smokers to kick their habit.

  From day time and after work drop-in sessions to GP practice-based support and stop smoking advisors at pharmacies and dental surgeries, there is plenty of local help and advice for people wanting to quit.

  Lorraine Bradbury, from the stop smoking service, said: “This has been a very successful year for us and the team has worked hard to help local smokers go smoke-free.

  "Most smokers would like to stop and getting help and support from a stop smoking advisor will more than double their chance of being successful.

  “Stopping smoking is the best thing anyone can do to improve their health – no matter how long they have smoked for – so I would urge people to take the first step to a smoke-free life by giving us a call to find out how we can help.”

  One of the most successful venues is St George’s Hall drop-in every Monday from 9am to 12.30pm. No appointment is needed as people can just call in to speak to a member of the team.

  There are also 54 GP practices, 33 pharmacies and 15 dental practices with trained stop smoking advisors. Some pharmacies also offer evening and weekend appointments. The advisors can help people choose the right kind of stop smoking medication, which in most cases is free, and help them deal with cravings.

  Source: Telegraph and Argus, 22 July 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/b8ZenC

• Study: Quitting smoking may minimize harmful bacteria and replenish healthy bacteria

  Patients with chronic gum disease who quit smoking in addition to undergoing nonsurgical therapy not only demonstrated a lower abundance of harmful oral pathogens, but also an increase in health-associated bacteria. The researchers from The Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio, and Newcastle University, United Kingdom report their findings in the July 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.
  
  It is well established that oral bacteria play an important role in the origin of chronic gum disease and that smoking tobacco contributes to a pathogen rich environment. Although prior studies indicate that quitting smoking can alter the oral microbial community, it is unknown if pathogenic colonization can actually be reversed.
  
  In order to determine the effect of quitting smoking on select oral bacteria researchers launched a long-term study, at the beginning of which, plaque samples were collected from 22 initial smokers. Twelve months following nonsurgical periodontal therapy and counseling samples were again taken from all 22 participants, however, 11 were quitters and 11 still smoked. Results showed decreased levels in various bacterial pathogens as well as an increase in health-associated species in those patients who no longer smoked.
  
  "Following nonsurgical periodontal therapy and smoking cessation, the subgingival microbiome is recolonized by a greater number of health-associated species and there are a significantly lower prevalence and abundance of putative periodontal pathogens," say the researchers. "These results indicate a critical role for smoking cessation counseling in periodontal therapy for smokers in order to effectively alter the subgingival microbiome."

  Source: Science Daily, 21 July 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/aEUZF1

• Arab countries exchange 'lessons learned' from tobacco control

  Arab countries shared the barriers and challenges they have faced while implementing new tobacco control policies during a workshop held at AUB.
  
  Entitled "Framework Convention on Tobacco Control [FCTC] policies and their implementation in Arab countries," the four-day event was held on June 28, 2010. It was co-hosted by the Tobacco Control Research Group at AUB, the Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies (SCTC), in collaboration with Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) in Eastern Mediterranean region, the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT), and Tobacco Free Kids.
  
  Assistant Professor Rima Nakkash, the coordinator of the Tobacco Control Research Group at AUB said, "It was an opportunity for us to learn how to anticipate potential challenges and find ways of overcoming them. The fact that these other Arab countries have managed to implement tobacco control policies also helps us convince our own policy-makers that such policies are beneficial and feasible."
  
  Nakkash added that the exchange helped researchers come up with more culturally-tailored policies that include programmes to help smokers give up cigarettes.
  
  Participants and trainers at the June 28 convention came from Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, USA, Bahrain, and Iraq. They represented a variety of organizations that deal with tobacco control.
  
  The workshop's main objectives were to identify the most recent evidence on interventions related to FCTC guidelines, specify main research methods needed for the monitoring and evaluation of FCTC policies, discussing application of FCTC interventions in Arab countries, sharing experiences of FCTC guideline implementation and developing a plan of action for participant countries.
  
  Workshop sessions covered topics such as implementation of tobacco control laws, use of pictorial warnings, strategies to influence policy makers, and the water pipe, using regional case studies.
  
  Participants discussed future strategies to move FCTC-related tobacco control plans forward in the region.

  Source: AUB News, 20 July 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/9bJMmN