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ASH Daily News

Wednesday 17 December 2003


HEADLINES

Revealed: Callous way the tobacco industry ensnares our youngsters
Gallaher: lit up by sales in Europe
Ireland: Legislation to police smoking law not due until April
Plea for smoking ban exemption for mental health services


FULL TEXT

Revealed: Callous way the tobacco industry ensnares our youngsters

The secret and "sleazy" world of tobacco advertising was exposed
yesterday by documents revealing the tactics used to ensnare the young
and manipulate adults.

In a unique initiative, the Cancer Research UK centre for tobacco
control at Strathclyde University, in Glasgow, has created the first
internet database of "evidence".

It reveals how the tobacco industry "cynically" promotes products that
kill 13,000 Scots each year.

The launch of tobaccopapers.com provoked a scathing attack on
advertising agencies, condemning them for "their weasel words".

Documents reveal strategies to "grab them young". . . .

David Hinchcliffe MP, the chairman of the Commons health select
committee, said: "These papers show what the industry thinks of its
customers in its own words. It's damning." . . .

The 14,000 documents - briefings, brainstorming session memos and
outlines - were written by staff promoting brands such as Benson &
Hedges, Hamlet cigars, Silk Cut, and low-tar cigarettes.

Professor Gerard Hastings, the director of the centre for tobacco
control research at Glasgow, said: "The tobacco industry maximise
commercial success at any cost.

The documents can be viewed at: http://www.tobaccopapers.com

The Scotsman, 17/12/03
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=1381642003

Also reported in FT, Morning Star, BBC Online


Sales in Europe light up Gallaher

Gallaher Group Plc, one of the three British tobacco companies facing a
price-fixing probe by the Office for Fair Trading, yesterday said
trading in 2003 was in line with expectations and its business remained
in a strong position.

The company, whose cigarette brands include Benson & Hedges, Silk Cut
and Mayfair in Britain, said it expects a long-term fall in the UK
cigarette market to slow in the second half with trading remaining
robust and its market share stable.

In continental Europe, underlying volumes grew by more than 7 per cent
in the first 10 months of 2003, in spite of duty increases in France and
Germany and fewer UK travellers going to the Continent to stock up on
cigarettes.

Financial Times, Reuters, Daily Express, 17/12/03


Ireland: Legislation to police smoking law not due until April

The legislation giving power to health and safety officers to check that
the smoking ban is being followed will not be published until next
April, reports the Irish Independent. The smoking ban is now expected
to be brought in at the end of February and legal advice is being sought
to see if its possible to give temporary powers to the health and safety
officers by invoking the Public Health Tobacco Act.

The Labour Affairs Minister Frank Fahey said the drafting of the new
legislation was at an advanced stage of development but that it was a
long and complicated process because it involved a detailed provision of
the occupational health and safety frame-work.

Irish Independent, 12/12/03



Plea for smoking ban exemption for mental health services

A letter in The Guardian from a mental health service user questions the
case for banning smoking in psychiatric hospitals. In response to the
Chair of the Health Development Agency's call for a total ban on smoking
in the NHS, the correspondent points out that most mental health
patients smoke and that "being faced with a [smoking] ban when you are
an in-patient, and therefore at your least well, is not the place to
start."

The Guardian, 17/12/03




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Amanda Sandford
Research Manager
ASH
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