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ASH Daily News

15 November 2000

Headlines
'Women are at greater risk from smoking'
Government announces £450m for heart disease and cancer
' British gang kill tobacco man'
'U.S Judge blocks New York law on cigarette sales'
BMJ Letter: Lung cancer and passive smoking

Full Text

'Women are at greater risk from smoking'

The Daily Telegraph reports that, 'Smoking may have a worse effect on women
than on men because of their smaller lung and narrower airways. Researchers
found that one in 10 women who smoked 20 or more cigarettes a day said that
she was asthmatic, a trend not seen in male smokers. Dr Arnulf Langhammer,
of the Norwegian National Institute of Public Health, surveyed 65,000 adults
between 1995 and 1997 and asked them about their respiratory health. There
was no real difference overall between men and women in the amount of
wheeziness or breathlessness, but more women than men reported asthma. About
a third of men and women were smokers, but in the 20 to 59 age group more
women smoked than men.'
The article adds, 'Dr Langhammer says in the Journal of Epidemiology and
Community Health that when the group of heavy smokers was analysed
significantly more women than men had breathing problems. He says the higher
rates in women show that women are more susceptible than men to the effects
of smoking.'
Source: Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Express, Mirror, Daily Star, 15 November
2000

Link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=003820822152487&rtmo=we0tnssb&atmo=rrrrrrrq
&pg=/et/00/11/15/wsmok15.html (please note you may have to cut and paste
this link into your browser)
Link:
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4091161,00.html
British gang kill tobacco man

Government announces £450m for heart disease and cancer

The Daily Mail reports that, 'Health secretary Alan Milburn yesterday
unveiled a £450 million package to fight heart disease and cancer. The cash
will help to pay for new treatments to combat the diseases following
criticism that the NHS will not fund the most effective drugs because they
are too costly.Health authorities across the country will see their funding
rise by £29 million on average.'

The Mail concludes, 'Tory health spokesman, Dr Liam Fox welcomed the extra
money but said much of the package had already been announced by ministers.'

Source: Daily Mail, 15 November 2000

' British gang kill tobacco man'


A Europe-wide hunt is under way for a suspected British gang who shot a man
dead in a raid on a tobacco warehouse in Luxembourg.

A 25-year-old storeman was killed and a man aged 40 was badly injured in the
attack at Esch-sur-Alzette. Police are hunting four men thought to be
members of a cross-Channel tobacco-smuggling ring. The survivor, who was
shot several times and is critically ill, has told detectives he heard the
men speaking in English.

Luxembourg police said they were called to the warehouse in the early hours
of
yesterday. They believe the gang may have initially targeted the warehouse
to
steal cigarettes but then broke into the safe and emptied it of around
£200,000. The men escaped in a grey car with Belgian number plates. Police
said: "Cars are being stopped at the frontier but with no result so far."

Source: Daily Star, This is London 15 November 2000

'U.S Judge blocks New York law on cigarette sales'

The Wall Street Journal Europe reports that, 'A federal judge issued a
temporary restraining order to block enforcement of a New York state law
that bans the sale of cigarettes by mail order, telephone and the internet.'

Brown and Williamson Tobacco, a unit of British American Tobacco, argued
that the law, the first of its kind in the nation, is an "unconstitutional
interference with interstate commerce."

Source: Wall Street Journal Europe, 15 November 2000

BMJ Letter: Lung cancer and passive smoking

Kenneth Johnson and James Repace write a letter to the BMJ in response to
Copas and Shi's reanalysis of the epidemiological evidence on lung cancer
and smoking.
The letter argues, 'In their reanalysis of the epidemiological evidence on
lung cancer and smoking Copas and Shi assert that after allowing for
publication bias the apparent average excess risk of lung cancer from
passive smoking drop from 24% to 15%. Despite the lack of supporting data,
we are asked to believe solely on the basis of statistical inference that
such data must be hiding under a stone. They are, however, turning over the
wrong stone.'
The letter adds, 'More important than publication bias is the
underestimation of risk that occurs when these studies assess exposure
solely on the basis of whether non-smokers either lived or did not live with
a smoker, when other exposure exists. Where other exposure is common
example, in childhood, in social situations, or in the workplace risk of
lung cancer may be seriously underestimated.'
The letter concludes, 'Turning over stones may indeed alter the estimated
risk, but turning over the right stone indicates that in the original
meta-analysis, the actual passive smoking-lung cancer risk is
underestimated, not overestimated.'

Link: http://www.bum.com/chi/content/full/321/7270/1221
Source: The British Medical Journal, Vol. 321, 11 November 2000