ASH, 102 Clifton Street, LONDON, EC2A 4HW.
Tel 020 7739 5902 Fax 020 7613 0531

ASH Daily News

21 November 2006

[View html version: http://www.globalink.org/nbuk]

HEADLINES

Welsh government moves to prepare licensees for smoking ban

ADHD's role in smoking

Gallaher claims RIP cigarettes would not be fire-safe

Canada: Judge rejects injunction request to temporarily suspend
anti-smoking law

Why I regret 20 years of smoking


FULL TEXT

Welsh government moves to prepare licensees for smoking ban

The Welsh government has sent out letters to licensees advising them on
the impending smoking ban.

On November 17 over 150,000 businesses and organisations in Wales were
mailed by the Welsh Assembly Government. The move aims to alert
businesses to the implications of the new legislation.

The move comes as a number of hotel owners and ministers have come out
in praise of the smoking ban, due to take effect in Wales on April 2
2007.

Chris Ainsworth, general manager, Seiont Manor Hotel in Caernarfon said:
"I am convinced that the Welsh, as a nation, will benefit. I believe
that it will be particularly welcomed by staff in the hospitality
industry, who up until now have had little choice but to put up with
working in a smoky environment."

Dr Brian Gibbons, health minister for Wales, is delighted at the growing
support for the ban.

"The business case for banning smoking is gaining ground as many
businesses in Wales are already voluntarily introducing their own
smoking bans in advance of the legislation coming into force - with
positive impacts not only on their profit margins but also the health of
their staff and customers alike."

More information on the smoking ban in Wales can be found at
http://www.smokingbanwales.co.uk.

The Publican, 20 November, 2006
http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?sectioncode=7&storycode=53483&c=1



ADHD's role in smoking

Columbia University Medical Center researchers are investigating whether
common symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD)
could be causing people to smoke. If that is the case, will treatment
for ADHD combined with the standard treatment to help people quit
smoking -- the patch with counseling -- increase the quit rates for
smokers trying to quit?

Lirio S. Covey, Ph.D., director of the Smoking Cessation Program at
Columbia University Medical Center, is trying to find out.

Covey and her colleagues are recruiting smokers who have been diagnosed
with ADHD or who may have symptoms of ADHD but have not yet been
diagnosed, to be part of a study that will help them quit smoking.
Approximately 7-8 million adults in the U.S. have ADHD. Smoking is twice
as common in this population as in the general population.

Research has shown that most smoking in the U.S. occurs among people who
have psychiatric conditions, such as alcohol or drug abuse, major
depression, anxiety and ADHD. One line of research has shown that
smokers with these conditions "self-medicate" their symptoms with
nicotine, the primary addictive substance in tobacco.

Participants in the study will receive the nicotine patch, behavioral
counseling, and a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for
the treatment of ADHD called methylphenidate (brand name CONCERT|.
Because methylphenidate and nicotine act on the brain in a similar way,
the premise is that treatment with methylphenidate when trying to quit
smoking may reduce symptoms of ADHD while also reducing tobacco
withdrawal symptoms. These benefits together may lead to increased
success in quitting.

"Nicotine seems to quell the symptoms for ADHD, but unfortunately the
other ingredients in cigarettes and the act of taking in nicotine
through the lungs makes it very bad for you," says Dr. Covey. Our hope
is that we can affect some of the same receptors and transmitters
activated by nicotine with this ADHD treatment so that smokers are
relieved from their ADHD symptoms and are less likely to light up."

Medical New Today, 20 Nov 2006
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=56822


Gallaher claims RIP cigarettes would not be fire-safe

Northern Ireland's biggest cigarette maker today poured cold water on
safety campaigners' calls for self-extinguishing cigarettes - saying
they are not completely safe and would only make smokers complacent.

The Ballymena-based Gallaher operation said the debate surrounding
reduced ignition propensity cigarettes (RIP), which campaigners are
demanding tobacco companies should be forced to make, is "far from
straightforward".

The company was responding to calls for a wider production of the safer
cigarettes in a bid to reduce the number of fatal house fires caused by
discarded tobacco. The self-extinguishing cigarettes have thin
concentric bands which restrict oxygen to the burning end, causing them
to go out if left to smoulder. They are sold in the US and Canada.

A Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service spokesman revealed today that
four people died here between April 1, 2005, and March 31 this year as a
result of the "careless use or disposal of smoking materials".

"We attended 137 property fires in that period and these incidents
resulted in four fatalities and 37 casualties," she said.

"The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue service would support
self-extinguishing cigarettes."

In a statement, Gallaher said it would support cigarette design
modifications "if they can achieve meaningful results in real-world
situations and urge regulators to consider the development of
international standards, based on sound science".

"Regardless of the science there is no such thing as a 'fire-safe'
burning cigarette. To convince smokers that there is, runs the risk of
creating a sense of complacency," it added.

Belfast Telegraph, 17 November 2006
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=714918


Judge rejects injunction request to temporarily suspend anti-smoking law

Quebec bar owners have lost their initial fight to have the province's
smoking ban suspended. A Quebec Superior Court justice rejected their
request for a temporary injunction to grant them a reprieve from the
anti-smoking law.

The bar owners have promised to continue the fight, with the next major
step likely a full constitutional challenge of the law in 2007.

But one Montreal bar owner predicts hundreds of bars will close during
the winter before the legislation is challenged. "I have said before,
that 1,000 bars are going to close this winter, within a year of the
application of the law," Peter Sergakis said outside the courtroom.

"The major impact is going to be in the winter and we haven't started
the winter yet."

The law has banned smoking in bars, restaurants and some other public
places in Quebec since May 31.

A spokeswoman for the Non-Smokers Rights' Association said Justice
Helene Le Bel's ruling is "a step in the right direction."

"The fact is public-health measures should prevail over certain
inconveniences that a few people have," Flory Doucas said.

"One can clearly see the judge has said that the bar industry in Quebec
is not in a precarious situation.

"(The judgment) was just saying that the law is working well and is
popular among Quebecers," Doucas said.

She also pointed out that nine provinces and Canadian territories have
similar legislation.

"One has to remember that people who work in bars also have lungs and
they're entitled to have the same health protection that other workers
have."

Canada.com 20 Nov 2006
http://dose.canada.com/news/story.html?id=9d2e57d0-10ce-478f-a67f-293695
8492f8



Why I regret 20 years of smoking

Gasping for breath, Tom Barnes struggles along the path with an oxygen
tank strapped to his back.

Before he contracted Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease he had never
heard of it.

COPD is a term used for lung diseases such as chronic asthma, bronchitis
or emphysema.

It leads to the airways in the lungs being damaged and becoming
narrower, restricting a person's breathing.

As time goes by the patient's breathing gets worse because they can
never recover from the damage done.

It can sometimes lead to lung cancer and for Mr Barnes (68) from
Ruskington, near Sleaford, that's exactly what has happened.

And now he has been told nothing more can be done for him. He has
finally been beaten by the illness he believes was caused by 20 years of
smoking.

"I remember when I first heard of COPD. I went to my GP nine years ago
because I was really breathless. He told me I had COPD and I had to go
and research it because I'd never heard of it," he said.

But when x-rays were run on the retired chauffeur, it was found he was
suffering from emphysema, a condition in which the airways narrow
because the cells of the lungs lose their elasticity.

"That was a difficult thing to hear. Struggling to breathe is terrible.
It restricts what you can do but I knew I'd have to live with it," he
said.

And he did, but in 2003 Mr Barnes was diagnosed with lung cancer.

"Doctors told me it was all linked with my other illnesses. It's because
I had been a smoker. I gave up years ago but I smoked for 20 or 30 years
and that has done lasting damage that can't be undone," he said.

"So I had the chemotherapy and the radiotherapy and I was clear of it.
But then this March I was told it had come back. I've had the
chemotherapy but I can't have any more radiotherapy because I've had all
I'm allowed.

"Walking is a struggle. If I go out I have to have an oxygen bottle
strapped to my back. Breathing is hard all the time. It's not very nice.

"But I'm making the most of what I've got. I still go crown green
bowling with my oxygen tank and I formed the Breathe Easy Support Group
for others with lung illnesses.

"It is important that people know about them, because without the
awareness there is no way anyway can stop it happening."

Lincolnshire Echo, 17 November 2006
http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/


----------------------------------
Unsubscribe:

Public subscribers: http://www.ash.org.uk/html/about/subscribe.php
Globalink members: http://member.globalink.org
----------------------------------



Amanda Sandford
Research Manager
ASH
102 Clifton Street
LONDON
EC2A 4HW
t 020 7739 5902
f 020 7613 0531