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ASH Daily News – Friday 18 October 2001

HEADLINES

Environmental Health officers call for ban on smoking in workplace, including pubs & restaurants
Smokers increase risk of ear infections
Smoking and vision loss


FULL TEXT

Environmental Health officers call for ban on smoking in workplace, including pubs & restaurants

Research released by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health reveals that passive smoking poses a greater risk than previously thought. A study conducted in Ireland found that non-smokers, who work in pubs and bars, actually take in the equivalent of more than half a cigarette a day and are subjected to excessive amounts of carbon monoxide.

The institute says the study proves that it is essential that smoking is completely banned in all workplaces - including pubs and restaurants.

However, failing an outright ban it is calling for businesses to ensure ventilation systems in rooms where people smoke give at least twelve fresh air changes every hour, so the risks involved with passive smoking are managed more effectively.

Graham Jukes, CIEH director of professional services, is urging the government to introduce an improved code of practice under the Health and Safety Act.
"We are dismayed that the government has bowed to pressure from the hospitality industry in watering down requirements placed on employers in pubs, clubs and restaurants. The CIEH believes that all places where people work should be free of environmental tobacco smoke and that includes bars and restaurants.”

Clive Bates, director of ASH said the case for measures to protect workers from smoke, and employers from litigation, was overwhelming, but the government had been consulting for almost three years.

He said: "It's about time ministers put the health of workers first, and stopped pandering to the narrow and ill-founded complaints of the pub and restaurant trade.

"If you look at passive smoking like any other environmental hazard, then it's up there with asbestos.
"Passive smoking kills through cancer, heart disease and stroke and is a serious hazard."

The smokers' pressure group FOREST (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco) rejected the call for a total ban.

Simon Clark, director of FOREST, said that the argument that passive smoking endangers the health of non-smokers has never been proven.

"The Health and Safety Commission has stated that there is 'no firm scientific evidence' to link passive smoking with serious ill health and even the World Health Organization was forced to admit that the results of its own seven-year study into passive smoking were not 'statistically significant'.

Mr Clark said a total ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants would be impossible to enforce.
He said: "The police have enough to do without turning smokers into criminals."

Antony Worrall Thompson, restaurateur and patron of FOREST, said: "It strikes me as barking mad that on the one hand we want to relax the licensing laws but on the other we want to tell the smoker that he or she is not allowed to relax with a cigarette to go with their drink."

BBC news online, 19/10/01
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1606000/1606557.stm




Smokers increase risk of ear infections

Smokers are three times more likely to get middle ear infections than
non smokers, a new study has shown.

Sydney based expert Dr Zoran Becvarovski, who conducted the research
at the Michigan Ear Institute, said the infections could lead to
further complications such as meningitis and facial paralysis.

He conducted the research with Dr Jack Kartush from Michigan and the
results were published in the international journal Laryngoscope.

The study also found smokers have an increased risk of needing more
complex surgery, complications after surgery such as collapsed ear
drums and long-term skin graft rejection.

CEO of Action on Smoking and Health, (Australia), Anne Jones, said the study shows
smoking has even more health risks than previously thought.

"Smoking not only increases cancer and heart disease but it increases
the risk of ear diseases and surgical complications," she said.

"The good news is, however, that it's never too late to quit smoking
and we urge smokers to seek help now." (c)AAP 2001


Source: AAP (Australian Associated Press)
Date: Wednesday, October 17, 2001
URL: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/health/story_20527.asp



Smoking and vision loss


Here's another good reason not to smoke:
Australian researchers have found that long-time smokers are
significantly more likely than non-smokers to develop a common cause
of vision impairment as they age.

Age-related macular degeneration is a progressive disease that
affects the central part of the retina, resulting in a gradual loss
of clear central vision including that needed to perform many daily
tasks such as driving. The condition is the most common cause of
vision loss among older people in most developed nations of the
world. Current treatment for the disease involves laser surgery and
is only partially successful and then only in patients with an early
stage of the disease. Researchers are therefore looking for ways to
prevent the condition from developing in the first place.

This study involved more than 4,000 people ages 40 and over.
Researchers looked at a wide range of possible risk factors,
including age, sex, rural or urban residence, educational level, iris
colour, smoking history, alcohol intake, body mass index, glaucoma,
high blood pressure, diabetes, and use of blood cholesterol-lowering
drugs. Results showed a significant link between the eye disease and
three factors: Age, smoking for longer than 40 years, and having ever
taken cholesterol-lowering medications.

Since taking blood cholesterol-lowering medication significantly
reduces a person's risk having a heart attack or stroke, the
investigators conclude that the only good way for people to reduce
their risk of developing age-related macular degeneration is to stop
smoking or never start.

Archives of Ophthalmology, 2001;119;1455-1462
Source: Ivanhoe Broadcast News
Date: Thursday, October 18, 2001
URL: http://www.ivanhoe.com/docs/newsflash/smokingandvisionloss.html





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