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ASH Daily news for 29 June 2011

HEADLINES

  • Local support for ban on smoking in cars with children

    Visitors to the Lincolnshire Show said they would support a ban on smoking in cars carrying children as passengers.

    A ballot at Lincolnshire County Council's Smoke Free Lincs Alliance stand saw 398 out of 401 people answer no to the question; should smoking be allowed in cars that carry children?
     
    Ros Watson, Smoke Free Lincs Alliance co-ordinator, said:"We had some very interesting chats with people at the Lincolnshire Show and the results of the poll were very conclusive. 99.3 per cent of those questioned believe that smoking should not be allowed in cars that carry children."
    Source: Lincolnshire Echo, 28 June 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/m6MKfw

  • Fall in smoking linked to rise in obesity

    A fall in smoking rates among women in recent decades could have sparked a rise in obesity levels, according to a report in the British Medical Journal.

    A long-term study of 3613 Scottish women who never smoked found they were more likely to have been obese when they died compared to their smoking sisters.
     
    This was particularly true for the non-smoking women from working class backgrounds who took part in the study, which began in the early 1970s.
     
    The researchers who carried out the study,  said that the decline in smoking rates in recent decades may have contributed to the increase in levels obesity. "Although lifelong smoking is clearly responsible for much higher mortality rates, obesity, and especially severe obesity, is an important contributor to premature mortality," researchers said.

    The study found obesity was more prevalent among women who never smoked than smokers from across all socio-economic groups.
    Source: Herald Sun, 29 June 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/l82Fff

  • Town asked to outlaw cigarettes

    A town could soon become totally smokefree.

    Alderman Paul Bartlett, who sits on Stony Stratford Town Council, is calling for a street smoking ban in an effort to stop litter louts from throwing cigarette butts on to the streets of the historic town, and to ‘make the environment cleaner’.
     
    Cllr Bartlett hopes to do this with a by-law, and will be lobbying the town council to support the creation of a law at its next meeting in July.
     
    He said the ban, if enforced, could be policed by community support officers, traffic wardens and even members of the public.

     
    Source: MK News, 29 June 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/iJsgLn

  • Australia: Alcohol industry upset over tobacco industry's plain pack ads

    While Australian anti-smoking campaigns are broadcast around the world, the latest advertising efforts of the tobacco industry have angered a potential ally against government regulation: the wine industry.

    British American Tobacco has run into flak for its advertising campaign against plain packaging showing a bottle of beer with a no-brand label and, alongside, the statement that the measure could destroy ''brands worth millions if not billions''.
     
    Stephen Strachan, the chief executive of the Winemakers Federation of Australia, said his members would reject any suggestion of a link between alcohol products and tobacco that the ad implied. ''Our industry does not like any association between tobacco and alcohol,'' Mr Strachan said.

    This week, the Hong Kong owner of Philip Morris Limited announced it planned to launch legal action against the Gillard government's plans for plain packs. But a Washington lawyerBenn McGrady, said the Philip Morris claim was ''weak'' and, if characterised properly, plain packaging was a regulatory measure for the protection of public health.
    Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 29 June 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/khS214

  • New Zealand government backs Australia on plain packs

    The Government is throwing its support behind Australia in its fight against tobacco giant Philip Morris, as unbranded cigarette packets look likely to be introduced in New Zealand.

    Tobacco giant Philip Morris Asia is threatening to sue the Australian Government over its plans to severely restrict advertising on cigarette packaging, with new laws set to be introduced that  would restrict tobacco industry logos and brand imagery,

    Australia will be the first country to introduce the laws, and Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia said New Zealand was watching the situation closely to see how best to follow.
     
    "We are very supportive of Australia's initiative and it is our expectation that New Zealand will inevitably follow their lead and look to introduce the plain packaging of tobacco products," she said.
    Source: Stuff.co.nz, 29 June 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/kNcbKP

  • USA: Tobacco sales to minors at all time low

    Tobacco sales to minors fell to an all-time low in 2010 after increasing in 2009, a new report shows.

    The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found that retailers in the USA sold tobacco to minors 9.3% of the time, the lowest in the programme's 14-year history. In addition, 34 states had violation rates of less than 10% in 2010, up from 22 states in 2009.
     
    "It's really good to see the rate go down, especially after it went up last year," says Danny McGoldrick, vice president of research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
     
    Susan Marsiglia Gray, Synar coordinator for SAMHSA, attributed a return to sales decreases in 2010 in part to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, signed by President Obama in 2009. Under the act, the FDA helps states conduct compliance checks of retailers.
     
    The statistics are gathered through random, unannounced inspections of retail outlets. Under the Synar program, states must have a violation rate of 20% or less to be in compliance. The year 2010 marked the fifth year all states have been in compliance.
    Source: USA Today, 29 June 2011
    Link: http://usat.ly/iUH2Xa

  • Phillipines: Jo's lung cancer won't make president quit smoking

    President Aquino has said that he won’t quit smoking despite the lessons learned from Josephine “Jo” Martinez Ramos, second daughter of former President Fidel Ramos, who succumbed to lung cancer last Monday.

    Aquino said he is not keen on kicking the habit even after Ramos attributed his daughter’s cancer to her heavy smoking for the past 25 years.
     
    Jo was 54 when she died after battling lung cancer for about eight months.
     
    Source: Phillipine Star, 29 June 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/mJWtPk

  • Japan: Japan Tobacco stock rises as shipments recover sooner than expected post earthquake

    Japan Tobacco Inc. stock rose the most in almost two months in Tokyo trading after the company said it planned to resume shipments earlier than previously announced for all cigarette brands disrupted by the March 11 earthquake.

    The world’s third-largest publicly traded cigarette maker by volume climbed 4.5 percent to 313,000 yen at the close on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, its biggest gain since May 2.
     
    Japan Tobacco will restore deliveries of all brands by July 18 instead of early August, as it had previously planned the company said yesterday.

    The 9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami forced Japan Tobacco to suspend all domestic shipments for 12 days, with cigarette brands gradually returning to production after that.
    Source: Bloomberg, 29 June 2011
    Link: http://bloom.bg/irTAno