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ASH Daily News

21 November 2000

£50,000 passive smoking claim to go ahead
'Smoke alarm'
'Israel's military condemned over cigarettes handout'
Further coverage of the 'Artworks' exhibition
More coverage of 'No Butts' campaign

Headlines

Full Text

£50,000 passive smoking claim to go ahead

BBC News Online reports, 'A woman who claims her health has suffered from
passive smoking has won the right to sue her former employer, the Clydesdale
Bank. Margaret Pacetta is seeking £50,000 damages from the bank after
alleging that she was inhaling other employees' cigarette smoke even after a
smoking ban was introduced. Mrs Pacetta was medically retired from the bank
in 1996 and launched her legal action.

The report adds, 'She said she developed serious respiratory problems
because of passive smoking and uses inhalers and steroids to treat her
chronic asthma condition. In her action at the Court of Session, she said
that neither she nor her husband smoked and she cannot visit restaurants or
pubs where others are smoking.'

Source: BBC News Online, 20 November 2000
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/scotland/newsid_1032000/1032492.stm

'Smoke alarm'

A drunken Japanese passenger on a Seattle bound American Airlines jet locked
himself in the lavatory and refused to stop smoking forcing the pilot to
return to Narita airport.

Source: The Times, 21 November 2000

Israel's military condemned over cigarettes handout
The British Medical Journal reports, 'The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have
been condemned for distributing free cigarettes to soldiers assigned to
protect Jewish settlements during the current Palestinian uprising. The
distribution violates a 1983 law that bars "anyone from giving away tobacco
products without payment." Health minister Ronni Milo sent a letter to the
IDF chief of staff, General Shaul Mofaz, asking him to "reconsider the
decision" to hand out cigarettes to soldiers.'
The article adds, 'Mr Milo pointed out that 10000 Israelis died each year of
diseases directly connected to smoking and that the health authorities put
much effort into health education against smoking. "I'm afraid that the
IDF's decision is liable to seriously harm this effort," he wrote. Mr Milo
said he was aware of tension among combat soldiers, who have suffered losses
almost daily during the past seven weeks, but thought there were more
healthy ways to reduce it.'

Source: British Medical Journal, 18 November 2000
Link: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/321/7271/1242

Further coverage of the 'Artworks' exhibition

The British Medical Journal provides further coverage of the 'Artworks'
exhibition that has been commissioned by the World Health Organisation. The
display will run in the Whitechapel Gallery, London between the 22-24
November.

Further details can be seen at http://www.who.dk/Welcome.htm or:
http://www.whitechapel.org/1enter/news-WHOevent.html

Source: British Medical Journal, 18 November 2000
Link: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/321/7271/1246 (you may need to
scroll down the page with this link)

More coverage of 'No Butts' campaign

The Sunday Mirror profiles the 'No Butts' campaign that is being run by the
RCN, Nursing Times and the Department of Health. The campaigns aims to help
support nurses who wish to quit smoking. The Sunday Mirror reports that,
'Everyone agrees that smoking is bad for you - but even the health
professionals who should know better find quitting difficult. Although they
see the disastrous effects of smoking every day, one study of nurses found
that an astonishing 60 per cent of them are smokers - and a recent poll of
nurses, midwives and health visitors who smoke found that 78 per cent had
been hooked on the habit for more than 10 years.'

The Sunday Mirror provides profiles of several nurses who are trying to quit
as part of the 'No Butts' campaign and adds 'For a free copy of the How to
Stop Smoking self-help guide published by the Nursing Times, The Royal
College of Nursing and the NHS, call 01483 303017.'

Source: Sunday Mirror, 19 November 2000
Link: http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/shtml/FEATURES/P74S1.shtml