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ASH Daily News

Wednesday 20 October, 1999

Headlines

Smoker hangs himself
More coverage of smokers ‘exchanging milk tokens for alcohol’
Letters

Full Text

Smoker hangs himself

The story of a smoker, Den Hatchard, who committed suicide due to
severe withdrawal symptoms, after he quit smoking, is reported by the
Daily Star. His wife, Diane Hatchard, said at the inquest ‘he said he
was shocked that he’d been hiding behind cigarettes all those years’
and said that it he ‘flipped’ as a result and got very depressed when
he tried to give up.

Source: Daily Star, 20 October 1999

More coverage of smokers ‘exchanging milk tokens for alcohol’

The Guardian provides further coverage of the ‘scam’ that involves
some welfare claimants using milk tokens, intended to buy milk for
their children, to instead buy cigarettes and alcohol. A benefits
adviser said, “This scam has been going on for years…People are still
getting away with it”.

Source: The Guardian, 20 October 1999

Letters

Donald Reid of the UK public health institute writes to the Guardian
to point out that it easier and cheaper to tackle the causes of heart
disease, such as poverty and the tobacco industry.

Alexander Macara, ex-chief of the BMA, writes to the Times. Responding
to the tobacco industry’s attack on the World Health Organisation he
counters ‘There are no limits to the…energetic lobby group determined
to destroy the health of its customers’.

Source: The Guardian, The Times, 19 October 1999

Karl Brookes
Project Manager
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