Call to ban child-in-car smoking

Adults should be banned from smoking in cars when children are passengers, the new head of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has said. In a BBC News website Scrubbing Up column, Professor Terence Stephenson, said children deserved protection. "You can't inflict this on your colleagues any more. Why should we treat our children's health as a lower priority?" he said. A Department of Health spokesman said it would review smoking laws next year.

Professor Stephenson, who recently took over as head of the college, said children should not have to breathe in their parents' cigarette smoke. "Why on earth would you light up in your car whilst your children are sitting happily in the back? On the assumption that you wouldn't pass the packet round and invite the kids to light up, why make them breathe tobacco smoke at all?"

He said the Canadian province of New Brunswick, California, South Australia and Cyprus had already introduced such legislation successfully. And Professor Stephenson said second-hand smoke had been linked to chest infections, asthma and ear problems in children.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the anti-smoking charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), backed a complete ban on smoking in vehicles. "Cars are small tin boxes, with not much air in them. Smoking just one cigarette, even with the window open, creates a greater concentration of second-hand smoke than a whole evening's smoking in a pub or a bar. That's not just bad for children but for adults too, especially those who already have heart or lung diseases."

And a spokeswoman for the road safety charity, Brake, said smoking while driving meant people were not concentrating on the road. "All that can add up to not having proper control of your vehicle or dangerous driving." She said it might be useful to have a law banning smoking in the same way there was in force regarding using hand-held mobile phones.

But Neil Rafferty, Scottish spokesman for Forest, the pro-smokers' rights group, said: "We don't think that children should be exposed to smoke in a car but a ban would be a waste of police and court time. Would it be OK if you opened the sunroof or a window while smoking? It's an impractical suggestion. People like those at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health should be more realistic about what is possible."

A Department of Health spokesman said it would look at whether current anti-smoking laws needed to be extended. He added: "We would always strongly recommend that people do not smoke in cars, especially those used to transport children."

Source: BBC News, 17 June 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/DEuIa

Indonesia: British American Tobacco buys 85 pct stake in Bentoel

British American Tobacco Plc. has acquired an 85 percent stake in Indonesia's fourth-largest cigarette maker by volume for $494 million, according to a source close to the matter.

BAT, the world's second-largest tobacco company, would eventually launch a tender offer to purchase all of PT Bentoel Internasional Investama, the source said.

The London-based group, which makes Kent, Dunhill, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall cigarettes, said last month in its earnings statement that growth had slowed for premium brands.

The company said it feared big tobacco tax increases as governments seek income sources in the economic downturn.

Source: Reuters, 17 June 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/rQgjf

Speed dating for non-smokers

SpeedDater launches a unique event in London to coincide with the smoking ban enforced nearly 2 years ago.

The UK’s leader in singles events, SpeedDater, wants to put a smile on the faces of non-smokers in England by holding a speed dating event for singles who have never smoked or gave up smoking as a result of the ban back in 2007.

Ideally for singles between 24 and 38, the event takes place on Wednesday 1st July to mark the day bars in England became smoke free. Singles spend three minutes with each date and are given a scorecard to write whether they would be interested to see someone again. Once the event is over, singles can contact others who attended the same event, through a secure online dating system on the SpeedDater website.

All attendees will have the advantage to know they already have something in common with everyone in the room. Men and women looking for a date or a serious relationship often have shared interests and habits in their list of desired qualities in their ideal partner so this event can prove to be a promising one for singles. Not all speed dating events offer this additional benefit so non-smokers have a higher chance of meeting their perfect match on this particular night.

Danielle Waller, Events Manager at www.speeddater.co.uk, commented: “Smoking is a big turn off for many people on the dating scene. Research from singles ads in print, along with the profiles we see in our online dating site have shown us that the desire to meet a non-smoker is right up there with the more predictable traits such as good looks, honesty and a good sense of humour. Our non-smoking event allows guests to immediately be on the same level. We find niche events work particularly well in providing a common ground. The conversations have a natural talking point and guests often seem more relaxed at these events. A tailored niche event is also cost effective for singles as it automatically cuts out unsuitable candidates.”

The changes made to the smoking regulations have had an impact on the number of people now deciding to quit the habit. In a report published by The Department of Health, results show that Local NHS Stop Smoking Services have experienced an increase in demand of more than 20% since the introduction of the smoking ban in bars on 1st July 2007.

Events like the one organised by SpeedDater may continue to take place in years to come and create a trend that if present could eventually influence singles’ decision to stop smoking. For now, SpeedDater is making sure they continue to organise speed dating events with a twist.

Singles wishing to attend the non-smokers speed dating event can call 0845 838 5600 or visit www.speeddater.co.uk

Source: Response Source, 17 June 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/IjsxX

US: Social smokers: Turning the tables on big tobacco

The tobacco industry knows exactly what makes social smokers tick. Now, researchers want to use that once-secret information to help them quit. Focusing on the effects of secondhand smoke, not on personal health, might be a better tactic with social smokers, who tend to deny that they are at-risk or even smokers, but do care about others.

The landmark state litigation against the tobacco industry - known as the Master Settlement Agreement - forced tobacco companies to open confidential industry documents to the public; so far, they have released 10 million documents spanning more than 80 years. Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco mined this mother lode of information, focusing on social smokers. Their study appears in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

"Tobacco companies probably spent hundreds of millions of dollars for this research," said co-author Stanton Glantz, Ph.D., at the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research. "They indentified this group as a large, stable part of the tobacco market way before public health did."

Part of the social smoker's self-image is the belief that they are "in control." They restrict themselves, by smoking just on weekends or at parties, or maybe limiting the habit to a few cigarettes a day. They rarely smoke alone and typically do not smoke around non-smokers. Before they light up, they ask people if they "mind." Most believe they are not addicted to nicotine and that they are immune to the health risks - lung cancer, heart disease - of "real" smokers.

That is wishful thinking, according to study co-author Rebecca Schane, M.D. "It's like, 'you're not just a little bit pregnant.' Either you smoke or you don't. With any smoking, there's risk." According to the authors, social smoking rates are on the rise and this group now makes up more than a quarter of all smokers. "It's no surprise that the tobacco industry is interested in social smokers - they want everyone who has lungs to smoke," said Joseph DiFranza, M.D., a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. "They leave no stone unturned."

However, Schane points out that "Public health guidelines do not incorporate treatment for nondaily smokers beyond 'Advise them to quit.'" Current smoking cessation programs target chronic daily smokers and likely would not work for social smokers, according to the study authors. "Standard therapies may not be appropriate for these people. Social smokers may not be physically addicted," Schane said. "They can go for periods without craving smoking. Nondaily smokers, who are similar to social smokers, do better with counseling than nicotine replacement."

But, she added, the jury is still out on what treatment advice to give to clinicians working with nondaily and social smokers, as drug studies rarely include those groups. "[Social] smokers routinely have been excluded from smoking cessation interventions for decades, but there's no reason to suggest that the same interventions wouldn't work for them," DiFranza said.

Clinicians should dig deeper, Schane said, by asking patients about smoking on a daily, weekly or social basis, rather than as a yes-no question. "We need to do a better job of identifying these smokers," Glantz said. "The tobacco companies are."

Source: Medical News Today, 16 June 2009
Link:  http://tiny.cc/9Vwxs