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Saturday 13 November – Monday 15 November, 1999

ASH Daily News

Stubbing out cigarettes
F1 boss to be probed in trial
EU turns heat on cigarette makers
£300m tax bonus on cigarettes will pay off NHS debt
Cigarette city pays workers in tobacco
More coverage of Cantab’s nicotine ‘vaccine’
Free nicotine patches on the NHS in new war on smoking
Smokers signal end of cigars fad

Headlines

Full Text

Stubbing out cigarettes

There is further coverage of the Mintel report that shows fewer
teenagers are smoking than were two years ago. Most startling were the
results for 15 year old boys, where the number of smokers fell from
28% to 19%. An ASH spokesperson said in the article: “This is the
first small decline we’ve seen in the whole of last decade. It’s too
early to say whether it’s a trend”.

Source: Daily Telegraph, 13 November 1999

F1 boss to be probed in trial

The Formula One chief, Bernie Eccleston, will give evidence to the
House of Commons Health select committee.

The article reports that ‘Mr Hinchcliffe has “strong reservations”
about the exemption for F1 and also wants to know if tobacco companies
knew about the link between tobacco and lung cancer.’

The article also suggests that ‘Evidence of a cover up could trigger
US-style legal action by smokers against tobacco companies’.

Source: Sunday Express, 14 November 1999

EU turns heat on cigarette makers

Rob Griffin writes, ‘Tobacco manufacturers will come under pressure
again this week as the European Union announces stiffer regulations
for the industry. The draft directive, due out on Thursday, will call
for clearer health warnings on the front of packets which take up at
least a quarter of its surface’.

Amanda Sandford, of ASH, is quoted in the Observer, “The idea is that
you will be able to see the warnings as the packets are lined up in
the shops. At the moment all you see is the brand names on the
shelves – people don’t see the health warning when they buy them”. The
Sunday Business article also quotes Amanda on the same issue.

Source: Sunday Business, The Observer, 14 November 1999, Financial
Times, Monday 15 November 1999.

£300m tax bonus on cigarettes will pay off NHS debt

‘Any deficit in NHS finances will be cured by a £300 million cigarette
tax, Health Secretary Alan Milburn said yesterday’, reports the
Express.

However, concerns over linking tobacco tax to the overall level of NHS
expenditure are raised. Mr Dilnot of the Institute of Fiscal Studies
is sceptical that it will have any impact on health. Mr Dilnot is as
quoted as saying, “This is window dressing. It’s also unattractive,
because it gives the impression of the government making a difference
when it is not”.

Source: The Express, Financial Times 13 November 1999

Cigarette city pays workers in tobacco

Officials in north-eastern China have been told to stop promoting the
local cigarette brand after they turned a city into a tobacco
showroom, putting up banners urging citizens to light up.

Workers in Siping, a city with a population of several hundred
thousand in the province of Jilin, have complained of being made to
buy large quantities of Ji cigarettes, also known as Lucky brand,
through deductions from their salaries.

Source: Daily Telegraph, 13 November 1999

More coverage of Cantab’s nicotine ‘vaccine’

There is more coverage of Cantab’s efforts in developing a vaccine to
nicotine.

Jonathan Leake of the Sunday Times reports that, ‘Cantab’s vaccine
uses a protein stripped from the toxin produced by cholera bacteria.
The protein is known to be safe because it is the basis for the
cholera vaccine’.

Nabi, a rival American firm is also reported in the article as
conducting research into a similar product.

Source: Sunday Times, 14 November 1999, The Times, Mirror 15 November
1999.

Free nicotine patches on the NHS in new war on smoking

There is coverage of the £60 million that the NHS will be spending to
help smokers give up. ‘Poor areas in big cities will be the first to
benefit from the scheme, which will include counselling and intensive
therapy courses’, reports the Sunday Mirror.

The article continues, “It will be open to smokers whose health is
under threat and who already qualify for free prescriptions.”

Source: Sunday Mirror, 14 November 1999

Smokers signal end of cigars fad

Sunday Business reports that, ‘After three years of dramatic gains,
sales of cigars are expected to decline by 10% in the US this year,
according to the industry trade group, whose president concedes “the
craze is over”.

Source: Sunday Business, 14 November 1999

Karl Brookes
Project Manager
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