HEADLINES

• Anti-Doping Agency might ban nicotine
• WHO outlines steps to reduce leading causes of death
• Heavy drinking + smoking = fire risk
• Teenagers set to Kick Ash when they question Health Secretary
• USA: Record low number of New Yorkers lighting up cigarettes
• Philippines: Group claims 10 Filipinos die every hour from smoking

• Anti-Doping Agency might ban nicotine

  The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) could take the first steps toward classifying nicotine as a performance-enhancing drug, when it meets to update its list of substances prohibited in sport.

  WADA has received a report from its accredited laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland, that describes "alarming evidence" of nicotine use by athletes across 43 sports studied.

  The performance-enhancing effects of nicotine included increased "vigilance and cognitive function," and reduced stress and body weight.

  "Interestingly, nicotine also triggers a significant increase of pulse rate, blood pressure, blood sugar and epinephrine release owing to simultaneous stimulant and relaxant properties," the report said.

  "Smokeless tobacco is a very attractive drug from a doping perspective," researchers suggested, because it did not damage an athlete's breathing and respiratory system.

  Tests on 2185 urine samples in Lausanne found 15 percent of athletes actively used nicotine, compared to 25 percent of the general population.

  WADA can monitor a substance ahead of inclusion on the prohibited list if it meets two out of three criteria for inclusion —enhancing performance, damaging health and breaching the spirit of clean sport.

  The report states that nicotine meets all three.

  Source: statesman.com, 16 September 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/rfdpzS

• WHO outlines steps to reduce leading causes of death

  To decrease deaths from non-infectious diseases, countries should pass excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol, encourage smokefree public places, and increase awareness of diet and physical activity, according to a World Health Organization report.

  The report, warned that people in rich and poor countries continue getting non-infectious diseases related to lifestyle and the use of tobacco and alcohol.

  These diseases -- heart disease, cancer, lung disease and diabetes -- are not only the leading killers in the world, with 36 million deaths a year; their economic toll can be devastating.

  If these noncommunicable diseases flourish at their current rate, low- and middle-income nations could lose about $7 trillion from 2011 to 2025. These estimates are results from a World Economic Forum and Harvard School of Public Health study.

  For only the second time in its history, the United Nations General Assembly, which is meeting this week, has put a health issue on its agenda. Nations will meet on Monday and Tuesday to develop an international plan for preventing and controlling noncommunicable diseases.

  Source: CNN, 18 September 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/oP9U6P

• Heavy drinking + smoking = fire risk

  Researchers in Australia suggest that heavy drinkers may die needlessly in house fires that would otherwise have been escapable.

  Lead researcher Dorothy Bruck of Victoria University in Melbourne examined coroners' records for 95 fire victims and found that 58 percent had positive results on blood-alcohol tests -- often with very high alcohol levels.

  Bruck said, “Mixing smoking and drinking is dangerous. Those who had been drinking were about 4.5 times more likely to have died in fires that involved smoking materials, like discarded cigarettes.”

  "A key message is that smoking and drinking together constitute a high-risk activity, even in your own home," Bruck said in a statement.

  The findings are published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

  Source: UPI, 17 September 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/oGZAlg

• Teenagers set to Kick Ash when they question Health Secretary

  Health Secretary Andrew Lansley will be grilled by teenagers at a Question Time-style event.

  Mr Lansley, who is also MP for South Cambridgeshire, will be joining a panel of experts at the Kick Ash question time event at Swavesey Village College next Friday.

  Two 15-year-old Kick Ash mentors from Cambridgeshire secondary schools will join the panel members to debate important issues about tobacco control.

  The panel members will be put through their paces by an audience of 150 Kick Ash smoke free advocates, aged 15, from across Cambridgeshire.

  Like BBC Question Time, panel members will be invited to give their views on a range of issues around the promotion of tobacco products, the regulation of tobacco, second hand smoke, illicit tobacco and prevention of people taking up smoking.

  Kick Ash Cambridgeshire is a young person led smoking prevention programme which encourages young people to be proud to be smoke free.

  Source: News&Crier, 16 September 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/pw3isJ

• USA: Record low number of New Yorkers lighting up cigarettes

  The number of New Yorkers who smoke has plummeted to a record low, officials said.

  Only 14% of adult city residents smoked last year, and the steep drop appears to be due to a price increase on cigarettes and the city's aggressive anti-tobacco crusade - including ubiquitous grisly television commercials.

  Mayor Bloomberg said, "Government's most basic duty is to protect the safety and health of its citizens. Smoking is the leading cause of preventive death in New York City."

  For the decade before Bloomberg took office, the city smoking rate stayed steady at nearly 21%, health statistics show.

  The rate began to drop in 2002, just as the city implemented bans on smoking in restaurants and bars. Last year, the restriction was expanded to parks and beaches.

  But Bloomberg believes a series of state and federal tax increases may be the most important driving force behind the reduction in smoking - particularly among teens.

  "Young people may simply not be able to afford a pack of cigarettes," said Bloomberg, noting the percentage of high school students who smoke has fallen from 17.6% in 2001 to 7.2% last year.

  Source: New York Daily News, 16th September 2011
  Link: http://nydn.us/qRZPEk

• Philippines: Group claims 10 Filipinos die every hour from smoking

  An anti-tobacco group said ten Filipinos die every hour due to illnesses caused by smoking and the country loses nearly P500 billion annually due to health care costs and productivity losses.

  HealthJustice Philippines disputed the claims of tobacco companies that increasing taxes on tobacco would hurt tobacco farmers and lead to many losing their livelihood.

  “The most important issue is health. At an alarming rate, the World Health Organization estimated that tobacco consumption kills 10 Filipinos every hour, due to diseases such as cancer, stroke, lung, and heart diseases brought on by cigarette smoking,” the group said in a statement.

  HealthJustice said a 2006 study by the WHO, Department of Health, University of the Philippines-Manila and the Philippine College of Medical Researchers Foundation showed that the government’s “economic costs, including expenses for health care and costs of productivity losses,” reached P461 billion.

  The group said price increases through taxation of tobacco products will discourage people from smoking.

  “If the current administration falls short of implementing measures to reduce tobacco consumption among its citizens, the health risks and economic losses will certainly become too much to bear in the near future,” the group said.

  Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer, 17 September 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/pI6yK9