HEADLINES

• Plain packs will make smoking history
• Crackdown against shisha bar danger
• Keep trying to quit says ASH
• Yorkshire councils criticised over tobacco investments
• Japan: Tobacco is still biggest killer finds study
• Simon Cowell in quit smoking bid

• Plain packs will make smoking history

  Journalist Denis Campbell talks to Simon Chapman, a professor of public health at the University of Sydney, who has been a champion of plain, generic packaging of tobacco products in Australia. In a visit to the UK, Simon Chapman explains why the UK should follow Australia in stripping cigarette packs of their colourful exteriors and forcing them to be sold in plain packaging.  

  "He's one of the great figures of tobacco control in the world," says Deborah Arnott, director of Action on Smoking and Health. "Everyone looks to Simon Chapman, not just in Australia but in the world, for leadership on campaigning."

   

  The UK campaign group will start to lobby for plain packs once the Department of Health begins its consultation on plain packaging for cigarettes, expected to be published in March. It has launched the Plain Packs Protect partnership with Smokefree South West, Cancer Research UK and other key health bodies. "Plain packs is going to be the biggest public health struggle we've seen for many years, especially as it involves taking on vested interests," says Dr Gabriel Scally of Smokefree South West, "It could turn off the tap for the recruitment of many smokers in this country."

   

  Chapman thinks that "Australia's historic plain cigarette packaging legislation is a weapons-grade public health policy that is causing apoplexy in the international [tobacco] industry". 
  Source: The Guardian, 25 January 2012
  Link: http://bit.ly/wA9wBc

• Crackdown against shisha bar danger

  A crackdown on Birmingham’s shisha bars is underway, with smokers being warned that they are inhaling the equivalent of 100 cigarettes an hour.

  An awareness drive on the harm of shisha was triggered by reports that young Asian women were smoking shisha unaware of the harm they may be doing to their unborn child. Dangerously high carbon monoxide readings, which can cause lack of oxygen to a foetus, were spotted in antenatal clinics. Now students and the Asian, Somalian and Iranian communities are being targeted in the new awareness drive.

  
  Shisha bars are covered by smoke free legislation, which bans smoking inside premises, but that has led to outside shelters at the back of pubs and cafes.

   

  Birmingham has 15 registered shisha premises – a five-fold increase since the smoking ban was introduced in 2007.
  Source: Birmingham Mail, 24 January 2012
  Link: http://bit.ly/w6Y7Jz

• Keep trying to quit says ASH

  Martin Dockrell, Director of Policy and Research at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), urged smokers to persevere with quitting attempts.

  He said: "Many smokers have at least two attempts at quitting and that is ok, because you have to keep on quitting. Don't give up on giving up." He also advised people to seek support to quit. Those who get help from their local GP or NHS Stop Smoking service are four times more likely to stop smoking than those who go it alone.

  However, Mr Dockrell warns that steps must still be taken to prevent people from smoking in the first place. Although tobacco companies are unable to advertise officially, packaging is still employing "some very powerful marketing", which needs to be stopped.
  Source: Barchester Healthcare, January 2012
  Link: http://bit.ly/x9n75j

• Yorkshire councils criticised over tobacco investments

  The West Yorkshire pension fund has been criticised, following revelations that it has £125m invested in tobacco firms – the single largest amount invested by a local authority in the country.

  A new report by FairPensions and Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) calls for a more “nuanced understanding” of fiduciary duties and for councils to review their tobacco investments.

  
  Martin Dockrell, Director of Policy and Research at ASH, said: “So far tobacco companies have pulled off the trick of boosting profits in the face of falling sales and that has kept share prices high. But it can’t go on forever, and the problem is not just falling sales. All around the world the big tobacco companies face a perfect storm of tougher regulation and higher taxes while more governments sue for billions of dollars in health care costs.”
  Source: Yorkshire Pose, 25 January 2012
  Link: http://bit.ly/AmfpxY

• Japan: Tobacco is still biggest killer finds study

  Tobacco smoking is the major risk factor for death among adults in Japan, according to a study published in this week's PLoS Medicine.

  In an analysis  by Nayu Ikeda from the University of Tokyo in Japan, the authors found that tobacco smoking accounted for 129,000 deaths, among adults aged 30 years and over, making it the single biggest killer. High blood glucose and high dietary salt intake accounted for 34,000 deaths each, and alcohol use for 31,000 deaths.

  
  The authors call for action to address smoking rates as a public health priority. They say: "A first step will be to powerfully promote effective programs for smoking cessation."
   
  Source: Science Daily, 24 January 2012
  Link: http://bit.ly/wX1YJR

• Simon Cowell in quit smoking bid

  Simon Cowell has started treatment to beat a 44-year addiction to cigarettes.  52 year old Cowell, who started smoking at the age of eight, is seeking medical help from a top clinic in London to beat his 15-plus a day habit.

  Cowell's mother Julie, pointed to a history of smoking related deaths in Cowell's family: “My father Robert was a heavy smoker like Simon and he died of lung cancer at the age of 62.”

  Source: People.co.uk, 22 January 2012
  Link: http://bit.ly/AtCpSz