ASH, 102 Clifton Street, LONDON, EC2A 4HW.
Tel 020 7739 5902 Fax 020 7613 0531

[VIEW HTML VERSION
http://www.globalink.org/nbuk]

ASH Daily News

18 October 2004

HEADLINES

Speculation over possible smoking ban in restaurants
Shock images set for cigarette packs
Be positive about quitting
Merseyside court fines litter bug
Pub guide calls for immediate smoking ban
Greene King boss courts non-smokers



FULL TEXT

Speculation over possible smoking ban in restaurants

The Observer reports that smoking in all restaurants and bars where food is served is set to be banned.

The paper claims the proposal is being considered as a softer option to a full-scale smoking ban in England and Wales, ahead of next month's white paper on health.

Health Secretary John Reid has expressed doubts about the need for an outright ban on smoking in public places. Yet there is growing evidence of the harmful effects of second-hand smoke, including premature death. It is believed that this has forced Mr Reid to take more stringent action.

Mark Hastings of the British Beer and Pubs Association, which opposes a ban, said that they had already announced that within 4 years, 80 percent of space within pubs will be non-smoking: "What is unclear is how the proposals would be managed," he said. "At lunchtime far more of a pub is changed into an eating area than it is in the evenings. How does that work if you have a ban on smoking in all areas where the food is served? Does it cover bar snacks?

Mr Reid's stance against a total nationwide smoking ban in public places is likely to see him clash with Scotland's First Minister, Jack McConnell. Mr McConnell is expected to announce proposals next month for an outright ban along the lines of those in Ireland.

Mr Reid's proposed restrictions do not go far enough for smoke-free campaigners. Deborah Arnott of ASH said: "Once you start arguing that smoking shouldn't be allowed in the workplace for health reasons, there is no logic or justification for saying it should be allowed to happen in other areas."

Source: Observer, 17 October 2004


Shock images set for cigarette packs

Disturbing images could soon adorn cigarette packets. The photographs, which include premature babies on ventilators, diseased hearts and patients dying of cancer, are to be published this week.

The European Commission is to issue 42 graphic images, three to illustrate each of the 14 health warnings which currently appear on packaging such as "smoking when pregnant harms your baby" and "smoking may reduce blood flow and cause impotence".

EU member states are not obliged to use the more disturbing images. However, Siobhan McEvoy of the Irish Department of Health said: "A picture paints a thousand words. People read the warnings, but often the message fails to hit home. People will see the lungs in the image and think, "Oh my God, that is what is happening to mine."

In 2000 Canada became the first country to display the graphic health warnings on cigarette packs. Although the tobacco industry was sceptical about the effectiveness of the images, research indicated that tobacco use in Canada fell by 3.4 percent.

Deborah Arnott of ASH said: "The evidence from Canada shows that pictorial images work well. ASH supports strong images and a range of images. We need to keep reminding people of just how dangerous smoking is."

Source: Sunday Times, October 17, 2004


Be positive about quitting

Traditional messages about changes in health behaviour are not effective, so claims The Observer. Consequently, the paper commissioned four ad agencies to devise positive campaigns and reduce smoking, obesity and binge drinking.

The brief given to ad agency CDD was to make non-smoking sexy. A new approach to health promotion was needed to smoking cessation, given that smokers still happily lit up despite warnings on the packs that state "smoke these and you will die". CDD's approach was an alternative take on making smoking appear dangerous, and to mark it out as silly. "Don't appear like a faceless government body", was their advice. "Don't scaremonger. Try to make the "no-smoking" brand a bit cooler and more interesting than the cigarette brands."

They gave further advice: "Joke around. Just because it's a serious issue doesn't mean you have to talk in a serious voice. Humour can spike the most serious of arguments. We mimicked a corny advertising style. The whole thing becomes like an in-joke that smokers are in on - not an organisation that appears to be against them."

CDD came up with a smoke-free catch-phrase "30 percent more flavour. FREE! With your next meal."

Source: Observer, October 17, 2004
Article link: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1327537,00.html


Merseyside court fines litter bug

Liverpool city council's zero tolerance against litter offenders snared one offender who dropped a match in the street.

Gary Colbert was summoned before the magistrates court and fined £135.
"It's ridiculous", he scowled. However, Mr Colbert was not alone. Charlene Taylor was fined for tossing a cigarette butt to the ground. "Being fined like this is totally pathetic. We see bins everywhere for rubbish, but there's nowhere to put your cigarette ends. Where are we supposed to put them? She asked.

Yet, the court fines received the backing of Marilyn Fielding of Liverpool city council. She said research from Encanms, the charity that runs the Keep Britain Tidy campaign indicated that cigarette litter amounts to 40 percent of street litter.

Source: The Guardian, Times, Daily Mail, Sun, Daily Star, October 16, 2004


Pub guide calls for immediate smoking ban

The newly-published Good Pub Food Guide 2005 has called for smoking to be banned in public places as soon as possible.

Editors Alisdair Aird and Fiona Stapley said the ban is "overwhelmingly in the interests of both customers and staff."

They note the fact that passive smoking kills approximately 1,000 people a year and that spending time in smoky places can increase the risk of heart disease by 50 percent.

The editors believe most pub goers would prefer a rapid switch towards an Irish style ban. "Initially there were some scare stories about a drop in pub takings. However, in just a few months Ireland's ban has proved to be working well, without the pub closures that some pessimists feared", the editors note.

Source: Morning Advertiser, October 14, 2004


Greene King boss courts non-smokers

The Managing Director of Greene King Pub Partners has offered his opinion in the great smoking debate.

Citing a recent BBC poll which indicated that two-thirds of respondents thought smoking should be banned, Mr Elliot thinks that the arguments for smoking in pubs will continue to weaken.

He welcomed the initiative by a number of other operators to convert pub floor space to 80 percent smoke-free capacity by 2009. A smoking ban is not a death knell to our industry. Nobody is talking about how to lure non-smokers ", he said.

Source: Morning Advertiser, October 14, 2004


---------------------------------
Unsubscribe:

Public subscribers: http://www.ash.org.uk/?unsubscribe
Globalink members: http://member.globalink.org
----------------------------------





Harold Wilson
ASH
102 Clifton Street
London EC2A 4HW
http://www.ash.org.uk
Tel: 020 7739 5902