HEADLINES

• Trust helps 2,000 quit smoking in Norfolk and Suffolk
• Campaign to stop illegal cigarettes being sold to Cumbrian teenagers
• Smokers of longer brands hit
• Modifiable lifestyle factors linked to adult-onset asthma
• Florida: Jurors award $5M in tobacco lawsuit
• New York: Cigarette tax increased to keep state running
• Spain: Anti-smoking legislation gets unanimous support in parliament

• Trust helps 2,000 quit smoking in Norfolk and Suffolk

  Health workers in Norfolk and Suffolk have helped more than 2,000 people quit smoking in a year.

  Between April 2009 and the end of March 2010, NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney set a target of helping 1,562 stop smoking.

  But new figures show the primary care trust helped 2,039 people quit cigarettes - 30% above its target.

  The stop smoking service provides nicotine replacement therapy and other help for smokers.

  Vicki Snelgrove, of NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney, said: "We are absolutely delighted with these figures, which show that more than 2,000 people are now enjoying a much healthier life after stubbing it out once and for all.

  "We've worked hard to make sure the service we offer is easy to access and offers lots of choice for smokers so that we can help them to find the solution which suits them."

  Source: BBC News, 22 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/dbXNf8

• Campaign to stop illegal cigarettes being sold to Cumbrian teenagers

  A new campaign has been launched to stamp out the supply of illegal tobacco to children across Cumbria.

  It calls on parents and other concerned residents to report those supplying illegal tobacco in their community.

  More than 8,000 teenagers aged 14 to 17 in the north west admitted to regularly buying fake cigarettes when surveyed by Trading Standards.

  It shows that illegal counterfeit brands are getting through to children under the legal smoking age of 18.

  Cumbrian parents have highlighted this as a major worry, prompting the launch of the new campaign.

  About three quarters of the population supports a crackdown on illegal tobacco.

  And many say they would be more likely to report someone for selling it if they thought their own children may be at risk from being targeted.

  Now Smokefree North West – in response to the concerns of local parents about its impact on their kids and the wider community – have this week launched the Get Some Answers’ campaign.

  It is supported by NHS Cumbria and is being delivered by enforcement teams from Trading Standards locally.

  The campaign will specifically target mums and other concerned residents, encouraging them to report illegal tobacco activity in their area.

  John Greenbank, from Cumbria Trading Standards, said: “We would encourage Cumbrians to stop and think about where their cheap tobacco originally comes from, even if they think they’re buying from a trusted source.”

  Source: News and Star, 22 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/96XAI8

• Smokers of longer brands hit

  A technical change to the tax on longer cigarettes means any cigarette longer than 8cm will be liable for extra duty on each additional 3cm - "or part thereof". Therefore a 12cm cigarette would be taxed as three units.
  
  The measurement excludes filters, which means that king-size cigarettes may not fall foul of the new levy, despite typically being 8.4cm long.
  
  However, some super-length brands such as Virginia Slims are likely to be caught by the policy.

  Source: The Financial Times, 23 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/cXyQFy

• Modifiable lifestyle factors linked to adult-onset asthma

  Smoking and a high body mass index (BMI) are associated with an increased risk for adult asthma, while a diet rich in fruit and fish may protect against development of the condition, Swedish study findings suggest.
  
  “The causes of the worldwide increase in asthma seen during the last decades remain largely unexplained, but lifestyle and diet are suggested to play important roles,” explain Monica Uddenfeldt (Uppsala University) and team in the journal Respiratory Medicine.
  
  To identify possible modifiable risk factors for adult-onset asthma, the researchers surveyed 12,560 randomly selected individuals from three age groups (16, 30–39, and 60–69 years) from two counties of Sweden in 1990. Of these, 8150 completed a follow-up questionnaire in 2003.
  
  The researchers found that the prevalence of asthma increased significantly over the study period in all age groups, from 11.3% in 1990 to 25.0% in 2003. In total, 791 respondents developed adult-onset asthma over the 13-year period.
  
  Analysis revealed that modifiable factors associated with an increased risk for adult-onset asthma included smoking, increased BMI, and nocturnal gastro-esophageal reflux more than once a week.
  
  There was no significant difference in the impact of risk factors between men and women.
  
  Uddenfeldt and colleagues conclude: “This study adds evidence to an independent relationship between certain lifestyle factors and the cumulative incidence of asthma in adults.”
  
  They add: “Weight loss, reduced smoking, and a diet rich in fruit and fish may be of importance to prevent the onset of adult asthma.”

  Source: MedWire News, 15 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/aHwHZQ

• Florida: Jurors award $5M in tobacco lawsuit

  Alachua County jurors handed down another multi-million dollar verdict in a tobacco lawsuit brought by relatives of longtime smokers.
  
  Jurors awarded $5 million in damages Friday to Earline Alexander of Alachua County whose husband, John Alexander, died in 1999, according to the plaintiff's attorneys. Of the amount, $2.5 million was in compensatory damages while $2.5 million was punitive.
  
  John Alexander, who was 68, had been smoking for about 60 years, the lawsuit stated. He was later diagnosed with tobacco-related chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
  
  The case, tried over a two-week period, named tobacco company R.J. Reynolds as the defendant.
  
  It's the second such case tried in the county this year by local law firm Avera & Smith. In March, another jury awarded a total of $17.5 million damages against R.J. Reynolds in the death of a man who had lung cancer. The attorneys also are seeking to overturn a law that reduces how much money the tobacco company must post while appealing a verdict.
  
  "These jury trials allow citizens to see internal tobacco documents that Americans have not seen. They don't know what tobacco has decided to do and what they decided to tell people during the last half of the 20th century," said attorney Mark Avera.
  
  The cases stem from a 2006 Florida Supreme Court ruling in a class-action suit. That case, brought by all Florida smokers against tobacco companies, found that each smoker's case against a company would have to be decided individually.
  
  R.J. Reynolds has reported in the past it will appeal these cases. Avera said last week's verdict isn't the end of the lawsuits. "We'll be trying quite a few more," he said.

  Source: The Gainesville Sun, 22 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/dqxe1S

• New York: Cigarette tax increased to keep state running

  New York smokers will have to dig a little deeper to light up next month, after the Legislature passed a bill that will give the state the highest cigarette taxes in the country.
  
  The new law, part of an emergency budget measure to keep the government running, adds another $1.60 in state taxes to every cigarette pack sold starting on July 1, pushing the average price of a pack to about $9.20.
  
  The average price in New York City, which imposes its own cigarette taxes, will be even higher, nearly $11 a pack.
  
  The tax on smokeless tobacco will more than double, to $2 an ounce from 96 cents an ounce, starting on Aug. 1. And the wholesale tax on cigars, dips and other kinds of tobacco will rise to 75 percent from 46 percent .
  
  And in what may be the legislation’s most controversial provisions, starting on Sept. 1, the state will begin collecting taxes on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations to off-reservation visitors, an issue that led to violent protests during the early 1990s.
  
  Gov. David A. Paterson had proposed a smaller increase of $1 a pack in his executive budget proposal, saying it would forestall deeper cuts to state health care spending. But with the state budget now nearly three months overdue, Mr. Paterson and leaders of the Legislature agreed to insert the revised proposal into a pair of emergency bills to finance a week’s worth of government operations, putting pressure on lawmakers to support or risk a government shutdown.
  
  Democrats said that the bill would provide needed revenue and begin closing a legal loophole that let New Yorkers buy cigarettes tax-free on reservations, undercutting other retailers.

  Source: The New York Times, 21 June 2010
  Link: http://nyti.ms/b4CN3e

• Spain: Anti-smoking legislation gets unanimous support in parliament

  The new legislation to ban smoking in all closed public spaces in Spain took its first step in parliament on Tuesday where there was unanimity in support for the proposal
  
  The Partido Popular however criticised the proposals for lacking ambition in the protection of health.
  
  The current draft of the legislation would ban smoking in bars, restaurants and leisure facilities, but would allow smoking in stadiums, bullrings and on terraces.
  
  Also excluded from the legislation are some hotel rooms, smokers clubs, prisons and psychiatric facilities.
  
  Trinidad Jiménez, Minister for Health, repeated her wish to see the legislation come into effect in January next year. She said the unanimous support showed political, parliamentary and social maturity, and the climate was very favourable to go even further and be more ambitious, in order to reach an important public health goal.

  Source: Typically Spanish, 23 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/bsS9Au