HEADLINES

• No tobacco at UEFA EURO 2012
• Brighton office block blaze caused by discarded cigarette
• Study: Can school nurses help teens quit smoking?
• Ireland: 'Govt must restart tobacco tax hikes'
• India: Cancer cases rise alarmingly in northeast

• No tobacco at UEFA EURO 2012

  The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) announced that it will enforce a complete ban on the use, sale or promotion of tobacco in all stadia involved in UEFA EURO 2012. The regulation will apply without exception to all spaces within stadia perimeters, both indoors and outdoors. This tobacco-free policy was developed and will be implemented in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), World Heart Federation, European Healthy Stadia Network, local organising committees in the host countries, Poland and Ukraine, and local health advocacy groups.

  "A tobacco-free EURO 2012 is about respecting the health of our spectators and everyone else involved in the tournament," said UEFA President Michel Platini. "We uphold the highest standards of health, safety and comfort at our flagship tournament, and tobacco does not fit within them."

  Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner responsible for sport, is delighted with UEFA's decision and pointed out its potential wider impact: "EURO 2012 will be a magnet for millions of spectators and fans, so this sends a powerful message. In addition, a tobacco-free EURO 2012 sets the standard for other sporting events across the continent."

  Source: Uefa, 20 October 2011
  Link: http://uefa.to/qj4yjO

• Brighton office block blaze caused by discarded cigarette

  Warnings have been issued to smokers after a discarded cigarette sparked a fire at an office block.
  
  Fire crews were called to a building in Church Street, Brighton, after reports of smoke coming from the roof.
  
  It took firefighters 45 minutes to find the cause of the blaze - a cigarette thrown from a top floor window which had wedged in brickwork.

  Source: The Argus, 20 October 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/rggnmF

• Study: Can school nurses help teens quit smoking?

  According to a US study, counselling sessions with a school nurse may help some high school students, especially boys; quit smoking - but only for a short while.

  Researchers, who studied about 1,000 teens who said they wanted to quit smoking, wrote in the journal Paediatrics that close to 11 percent of those who got counselling for three months had quit smoking, compared to six percent of those who only received educational pamphlets.

  "A school nurse-delivered smoking-cessation intervention proved feasible and effective in improving short-term abstinence among adolescent boys and short-term reductions in smoking amount and frequency in both genders," wrote study author Lori Pbert of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

  Source: Reuters News, 19 October 2011
  Link: http://reut.rs/ovFkq4

• Ireland: 'Govt must restart tobacco tax hikes'

  A new report by the Irish Heart Foundation (IIHF) says increasing tobacco taxation in the next and subsequent Budgets could help thousands of people to live longer.

  It also claims that flawed analysis by the Government on the impact of tobacco tax on cigarette smuggling has cost the taxpayer up to €200 million over the last two years, which calls into question recent Budget decisions not to increase the price of tobacco.

  The study shows that a €1 tax increase on a packet of 20 cigarettes in the next Budget would bring in €68 million in extra receipts and a further €28 million in indirect public finance benefits.

  The IHF says this directly contradicts claims that further tobacco tax increases would actually reduce net tax take because of the tobacco smuggling issue.

  These tobacco tax increases would also result in some 30,000 people quitting smoking in Ireland, the IHF claims.

  Given that roughly one in two smokers ultimately die from smoking, this single action would help up to 15,000 people countrywide to live longer, it said.

  Source: Irish Health, 19 October 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/oMbowx

• India: Cancer cases rise alarmingly in northeast

  According to experts, the incidence of cancer has been rising alarmingly in the hilly northeastern region of India, with almost half the cases being attributed to the consumption of tobacco products.

  Mizoram tops the rate of cancer patients with an incidence of 200 in 100,000 each year.

  Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) superintendent Gautam Mazumder said, “Tobacco and dietary habits were among the main causes of cancer in the northeastern region.”

  Tribals, who constitute 27 percent of the northeast's total population of 45.5 million people (2011 census) are traditionally heavy users of different types of tobacco products.

  According to the latest report of the union health and family welfare ministry, Mizoram (67.2 percent), Nagaland (56.8 percent) and Tripura (55.9 percent) have the highest number of tobacco users in India, while the national average among the adult population is 34.6 percent.

  'Incidence of certain types of cancer like oesophagus, lung, mouth, breast and stomach was relatively higher in the northeast as compared to other parts of the country,' said Majumder, head of the RCC in Tripura.

  Source: Calcutta News, 14 October 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/nBIMP8