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ASH Daily news for 13 October 2011

HEADLINES

  • Letter: To an unknown health minister: UK tobacco firms behind cancer export drive

    Stewart Brock, public health specialist

    Last month Imperial Tobacco gave an update to the markets, congratulating itself on further progress in emerging markets. British American Tobacco (BAT) will likely do the same at its next market update. As Western markets become increasingly “dark” and smoking prevalence declines, so they target eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America, markets with huge numbers of young people and relatively limited restrictions on marketing of this deadly product.

    Imperial and BAT are two of the largest tobacco companies in the world, both FTSE 100 businesses. Yet in the recent UK government Tobacco Control Plan for England there was no mention of the UK’s key role in the worldwide tobacco business. We may be world leaders in tobacco control at home, but we are exporting tobacco related death and disease to the developing world on a large and growing scale, cheered on by many in the City.

    Is it too much to hope that the next tobacco control plan will directly address our leading role in the forthcoming lung cancer epidemic that will affect the developing world?

    Imperial is well named; developing country ministers would do well to recognise the imperial ambitions of all the transnational tobacco companies, and implement to the full the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. After all, these companies seek to profit by creating a lung cancer epidemic in your countries in the decades to come.

    Source: BMJ, 12 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/nmvv5O

  • British American Tobacco PLC Acquisition

    British American Tobacco announced it has completed its acquisition of Productora Tabacalera de Colombia, S.A.S. (Protabaco), the second largest cigarette company in Colombia, for an enterprise value of US$452 million.

    The completion follows earlier approval by Colombia's competition authority, the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce, on 2 August 2011.

    Source: Wall Street Journal, 12 October 2011
    Link: http://on.wsj.com/oc7Uh3

  • Health trust stands firm in cigarette battle

    Smoking on hospital sites was at the top of the agenda at a health workshop.

    The Greater Manchester-wide event was hosted by the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and held at Fairfield General Hospital.

    Delegates heard presentations on addressing smoking on hospital sites and smoking cessation with families, and took part in workshops which included approaching patients and visitors smoking within hospital grounds.

    Dr Sally Bradley, medical director at Pennine Acute Trust and the Trust’s health inequality network lead, said: "Around 82 per cent of the UK population support smokefree public places, so it is important we continue to enforce the no smoking policy within the hospitals and grounds of The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust."

    "Our policy is a public health message which is all about reducing the number of people smoking by encouraging and supporting them in cessation techniques."

    Dr Bradley said: "Our aim is to promote a pleasant and healthy environment for everyone in the trust across all our hospitals.

    Source: Prestwich Advertiser, 12 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/ogO5Nb

  • Research: Smoking similar to cystic fibrosis

    Smoking cigarettes is a lot like having cystic fibrosis when it comes to how it affects your lungs.

    Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening disease caused by the improper movement of salt and water in the cells lining the lungs. It causes a thick mucus to form in the lungs, where bacteria gets trapped. Those bacteria are able to thrive in the mucus, sometimes causing fatal infections.

    That's also what happens to your lungs when you smoke cigarettes, according to new research from the Cystic Fibrosis/Pulmonary Research and Treatment Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

    The researchers tested cigarette smoke on human subjects and lab-grown cells in an attempt to find out how smoke affects a protein called CFTR, which helps keep the lungs hydrated. They found lungs exposed to cigarette smoke experience a 60% decrease in the essential protein.

    Robert Tarran, researcher said, "We hope this study will highlight the importance of airway hydration in terms of lung health and that it will help provide a road map for the development of novel therapies for the treatment of smoking-related lung disease."

    Source: Toronto Sun, 12 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/rfX92j

  • After Tobacco: What would happen if Americans stopped smoking?

    To coincide with a new book recently released by Columbia University Press titled, After Tobacco: What Would Happen if Americans Stopped Smoking?, public health experts will discuss what the nation might look like if and when smoking rates plummet to historic lows. A panel of experts will consider the social and economic impact of reducing smoking rates and what it will take to reach current national public health goals.

    Over the last ten years, policymakers and public health advocates have taken great – and sometimes controversial – measures to help fight the tobacco epidemic that kills more than 400,000 people every year in the United States. Higher cigarette taxes, expanded clean air laws, smoking cessation and prevention campaigns and programs, new federal regulatory authority over tobacco as well as reduced harm products have potential consequences and benefits for all Americans. Until recently, no study has responded to these concerns by capturing the impact of tobacco control across the nation.

    The event will take place on Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 12:30 Noon to 2:00 P.M

    Legacy - 1724 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036

    The panel will be available via webcast at www.legacyforhealth.org or

    Source: PR Newswire, 12 October 2011
    Link: http://prn.to/pmixL5