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ASH Daily news for 06 June 2011

HEADLINES

  • Rise in quit attempts faded after UK smoking ban

    Researchers report that a 2007 ban on smoking inside public places across the United Kingdom may be responsible for a spike in prescriptions for medications to help smokers quit.

    But the surge in use of smoking cessation aids occurred only in the nine months before the legislation passed, and ebbed within months of the law being implemented.

    The study which is reported in the journal Addiction,  found that in the nine months preceding the ban, prescriptions for all the medications rose by 6.4 percent. Nine months after the ban, however, prescriptions dropped by 6.4 percent.

    Dr. Lisa Szatkowski, a researcher at the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies at the University of Nottingham and lead researcher on the study said, "Other contextual factors and social norms continue to influence smoking behaviour."

    She added, "Factors such as the provision of outdoor facilities for smoking, or spending time with smoking friends, may mean smokefree legislation does not act as a continuing stimulus to quit over time.”

    "The primary aim of smokefree legislation was to reduce non-smokers' exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, and the bans in the UK have undoubtedly been successful in meeting this aim. Other research confirms this," said Szatkowski, whose work was funded by the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, the Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, and the National Institute for Health Research in the UK.

    Source: Reuters Health, 03 June 2011
    Link: http://reut.rs/jI1GIh

  • No IVF on the NHS if your husband smokes

    It's common practice for health authorities that pay the bills for NHS patients, to insist that women seeking IVF treatment are not smokers.

    There is clear evidence that smoking both reduces the chances of a successful implantation and harms the developing baby

    NHS organisations now insisting on both parents being non-smokers include the East Midlands Specialist Commissioning Group, NHS Yorkshire and Humberside, and NHS South Staffordshire, said a spokesman for Care Fertility.

    They have started making the requirement this year, said Prof Simon Fishel, managing director of Care Fertility, Britain's biggest private provider of IVF to NHS patients.

    He said: "I can understand why the NHS is bringing in this policy, but what must be hard for couples is seeing the man in the street who smokes 50 fags a day, and has six kids."

    But Prof Fishel said prising apart whether biological damage in children was due to passive smoking during childhood, or damage to sperm and egg DNA caused by parents smoking before conception, was almost impossible.

    He said the evidence was "not conclusive" that smoking's effect on DNA was powerful enough to cause serious problems in children, although it was clear that smoking did cause potentially harmful 'epigenetic' changes in sperm and eggs.

    Source: The Telegraph, 04 June 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/kuTXQw

  • Former west Cumbria smokers get free gym incentive

    West Cumbria is offering smokers who manage to quit free gym and swimming passes as a reward for their efforts.

    The scheme is being run by NHS Cumbria's Stop Smoking Service and Carlisle Leisure.

    The incentive project is a pilot which is being run until the end of the year.

    Source: BBC News, 05 June 2011
    Link: http://bbc.in/iNAXsO

  • Smokers urged to take habit outside

    A campaign has been launched by Smokefree South West to encourage people to smoke outside to protect the health of their families, especially young children.

    It focuses on the danger of smoking inside the home and the poisonous chemicals left behind that can harm the health of families.

    Director of public health for the South West Dr Gabriel Scally said: "By simply smoking right away from the house parents can really help protect their children from the immediate and lifelong harm of cigarette smoke."

    Smoking outside also reduces the risk of fires in the house. Between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011 Avon Fire and Rescue dealt with 43 incidents where smoking materials were identified as the source of the fire.

    Source: thisisBath, 02 June 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/lGdL4e

  • U.S. judge declines to shut tobacco racketeering case

    A court overseeing an extended battle between the Justice Department and an array of tobacco companies declined to shut the case because tobacco is regulated under a new law.

    Judge Gladys Kessler, who ruled in 2006 that the companies which include Philip Morris broke the law and could no longer use expressions such as "low tar" or "light" in their cigarette marketing, insisted that she retain jurisdiction over the case.

    The companies had argued that she had lost jurisdiction because of a 2009 law giving the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco. The companies also argued that being regulated by the FDA would make it less likely they would commit future racketeering offences.

    "Defendants' contention that no reasonable likelihood of future RICO violations exists due to the FDA's regulation is particularly unconvincing when defendants are simultaneously and vigorously challenging, both in a separate lawsuit and in administrative proceedings, many of the provisions of the Tobacco Control Act," Kessler wrote in the ruling.

    Source: Reuters News, 01 June 2011
    Link: http://reut.rs/j7gazT

  • New Zealand: Pleasing results for 2010 Year Ten Smoking Survey

    Hon Tariana Turia, Associate Minister of Health, has welcomed the latest Year 10 (14-15 year olds) smoking prevalence data for 2010 release by Action on Smoking and Health (NZ).

    Daily smoking by Year 10 Students is down to 5.5%

    Mrs Turia said, "While that is only a very small decline from 2009 (0.1%) I think we have to focus on the positive – that is, that it is still a decline, no matter how minimal.”

    “Regular (daily or weekly or monthly smoking) fell from 10.9% in 2009 to 10% in 2010 pointing to a decline in the number of occasional smokers.

    Source: NAnewsuk, 02 June 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/m314E8