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ASH Daily News

19 December 2005

[View html version: http://www.globalink.org/nbuk]

HEADLINES

Claim that smoking bans would shift passive smoking risk to the home

Comment by Rt Hon Kevin Barron, MP on Government's smokefree legislation

ASH's comment on passive smoking claims

MPs are set to challenge Government for total smoking ban

Judge rules that smokers responsible for their health

Kids vote smoking as 2nd worst thing in the world

FULL TEXT


Claims that smoking bans would shift passive smoking risk to homes


Research claiming that a smoking ban in public places will cause greater
exposure to children at home to secondhand smoke was reported in the
Observer on Sunday.

"Children's health will be put at risk from passive smoking if the
government bans smoking in all restaurants and bars, according to
dramatic new research.
The study, which will provoke fresh controversy over whether a partial
ban would be the better option, concluded that parents, particularly
poorer ones, who are prevented from smoking in bars tend to smoke more
in front of their children at home. Passive smoking has been linked to
breathing difficulties and asthma among children.

The report, by economists at University College London and based on
extensive data from the US, is fiercely contested by anti-smoking
campaigners who argue that total bans do more than any other initiative
to encourage smokers to quit.

It comes as the influential Commons health select committee prepares to
launch a scathing attack on the government tomorrow for failing to
propose a total ban. The MPs will say plans for a partial ban, which
would allow smoking to continue in pubs not serving food, will worsen
health inequalities, because such pubs tend to be in poorer areas.

Writing for The Observer today, the committee chairman, Labour MP Kevin
Barron, launches a ferocious broadside against former Health Secretary
John Reid, accusing him of scuppering plans for a full ban by inserting
into the last election manifesto a clause which exempted pubs and
restaurants. 'The policy which materialised in manifesto had not gone
through the rigorous procedures brought in the eighties to ensure that
we were all in agreement,' Barron writes, claiming a cabinet minister
told him it was put in at Reid's request."

The Observer 18/12/05
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1670005,00.html



Comment by Rt Hon Kevin Barron, MP on Government's smokefree legislation


Rt Hon Kevin Barron MP, Chair of the Health Select Committee made
comment to the Observer on the proposed partial smoking ban.

"I am deeply unhappy to be told that this is a manifesto commitment that
we have to adhere to when it is clear that it appeared in the manifesto
by what can only be described as an 'old Labour' route. Patricia Hewitt
has said that there will be a review of this policy in three year's
time. Unless the Government knows something that I don't, the manifesto
will be the same in three years time as it is now. I hope that, on our
return to parliament in the New Year, common sense will prevail and
Labour members will be allowed a free vote on whether or not bar workers
in England will be given the same protection as the rest of the United
Kingdom."

The Observer 18/12/05
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1670092,00.html



ASH's comment on passive smoking claims


ASH has issued the following comments on the passive smoking research
published in the Observer on Sunday:

* This is the only research so far to find that exposure of
children to
secondhand smoke has increased when public places go smokefree;

* The effect it claims to show of increased exposure in the home
is
small and not significant;

* Objective research in the UK, published by the Royal College of
Physicians, which is more relevant, does not find such an effect [1];

* Research from other countries that have brought in smokefree
workplace legislation shows that smoking in the home reduces - this is
true for Ireland, New York, and only last week research was published
showing that it is true in New Zealand [2];

* Unlike the other published work in this area, this research has
not been peer reviewed before publication, which means it has not been
checked out by other experts in the field to show the findings are
accurate.

Notes
[1] http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/pubs/brochures/pub_print_GSF.htm Going
Smoke-free The medical case for clean air in the home, at work and in
public places

[2] http://www.beehive.govt.nz/Documents/Files/SmokeClear.pdf (see p 15
etc) Gives initial data on the impact in New Zealand of the Smoke-free
Environment Amendment Act came into effect on 10 December 2004 Waa and
Gillespie conclude that the percentage of people reporting secondhand
smoke exposure in their home has reduced since the law by over 5% (from
20% to 14.7%). Other factors may have helped this results, in particular
a media campaign called "Smoke-free Homes: Take the Smoke Outside" that
ran during 2005. In other words, publicity around smokefree legislation
in the workplace heightened awareness of damage caused by secondhand
smoke and hence reduced exposure in the home, which tobacco control
experts would generally predict.



MPs are set to challenge Government for total smoking ban


Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs are planning to combine in
a co-ordinated effort to vote down the Government's plans for a partial
ban. Conservative MPs will be able to have a free vote when the Health
Bill returns to the floor of the Commons in January or early February.

David Cameron, Conservative party leader, made it clear yesterday that
he thought the partial banning of smoking in public places was "the
worst of all worlds".

In a further blow for the Government, it is believed will come when the
Commons' Health Select Committee publishes a report that calls for a
total ban.

It is likely that the report will say that a partial ban would adversely
affect poorer areas, pointing out that in Southwark, south London,
almost half of pubs in the most deprived areas do not serve food
compared to only 18% in wealthier areas.

The Daily Telegraph 19/12/05
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml.xml

Also reported in

The Guardian 17/12/05
http://www.guardian.co.uk/smoking/Story/0,,1669527,00.html

Daily Mail 19/12/05
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_arti
cle_id72041&in_page_id70

Independent on Sunday 18/12/05
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article333857.ece



Judge rules that smokers responsible for their health


Smokers must take some responsibility for damaging their health, a judge
ruled on Friday 18 Dec. This decision is likely to have wide-reaching
ramifications on future compensation claims.

The decision was made in the case of a widow of a dockyard worker who
died of asbestosis. The judge reduced the compensation payout by 20%
because her husband had 'contributory negligence' in failing to quit
smoking. It is the first time an English court has made such a ruling.

The Ministry of Defence admitted primary liability for Mr Badger's
death, as he was exposed to asbestos when working as a boiler maker in
Gibraltar and Devonport Dockyard. However, the department argued that Mr
Badger was partial responsible for his own demise caused by his smoking.


Mr Badger who suffered other health problems due to his smoking had been
warned to give up. Mr Justice Burnton said "If he was guilty of fault,
it was in not giving up smoking. A person who continues to smoke and who
knows or ought to know that by doing so he is damaging his health, or
that he risks doing so, must accept responsibility for his actions."

Daily Express 17/12/05
Also reported in the Daily Mail 17/12/05



Kids vote smoking as 2nd worst thing in the world

Being rich and famous has been voted by children under 10 as the best
thing in the world. Drinking and smoking have been voted as the two
worst things in the world

The nation wide research was carried out by Luton First as part of
National Kids Day.

The Independent 19/12/05
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article333989.ece

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Sarah Ward
Information Manager
Action on Smoking & Health (ASH)
102 Clifton Street
London
EC2A 4HW

Tel: 020 7739 5902
Fax: 020 7613 0531
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