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ASH Daily News for 25 October 2007

Pendle teenagers amongst the heaviest smokers in the North-West

The largest survey in the UK into attitudes towards smoking among teens has revealed that Pendle's young people are amongst the heaviest smokers in the North-West.

Nearly 12,000 people, mainly aged 14 to 16, from the region were questioned, with nearly 800 responses coming from Lancashire.

Participants were asked about their attitudes to smoking, how often they smoked and where they got their cigarettes.

Jean Battle, of Lancashire County Council, said: "There is no doubt that smoking is bad for health and it is shocking that so many are starting to smoke at such a young age."

"You really have to ask where young people are able to get cigarettes and why they see smoking as a good choice. Trading Standards are doing their bit to tackle the problem, but traders and the tobacco industry also need to play their part.

"The vast majority of traders in the county follow the rules very strictly and I hope the new legal age of 18 will help sales staff spot illegal purchasers.

"The main aim of the survey was to identify how and where youngsters obtain cigarettes to help plan intelligence-led operations. The findings will now go to Government chiefs to inform future tobacco enforcement strategies."

Lancashire County Council Trading Standards officer David Johnnie said: "We are concerned about the prevalence of smoking among young people and must continue the fight against underage sales, especially as the legal age has risen from 16 to 18.

"Increasingly, as shown by the survey results, young people are buying counterfeit tobacco products. We have had several seizures of counterfeit tobacco products in Lancashire and successful prosecutions against retailers who have failed our test purchasing operations.

"We will continue to pursue those retailers who are either stocking counterfeit tobacco products or selling cigarettes to the under-aged.

"The new age change from 16 to18 is a positive step towards preventing young people from starting to smoke and traders must work hard to make sure the new regulations work."

Source: Pendle Today, 24 October 2007
Link: http://tinyurl.com/2py7nf

New research shows that smoking bans help people quit

With smoking bans in workplaces, restaurants and bars becoming increasingly popular, new research shows that these bans decrease the overall number of cigarettes people smoke and in some cases, result in people quitting.

One reason bans help people quit is simple biology. Inhaling tobacco actually increases the number of receptors in the brain that crave nicotine.

Richard Hurt, an internist who head the Mayo Clinic's Nicotine Dependence Center said, "If you had a smoker compared to a non-smoker and were able to do an imaging study of the brain, the smoker would have billions more of the receptors in areas of the brain that have to do with pleasure and reward."

So, removing the triggers that turn on those receptors is a good thing.

"If you are in a place where smoking is allowed, your outside world is hooked to the receptors in your brain through your senses: your sight, smell, the smoke from someone else's tobacco smoke or cigarette. That reminds the receptors about the pleasure of smoking to that individual, and that's what produces the cravings and urges to smoke," Hurt explains.

Hurt added that bans help decrease the urge to smoke in another way: They de-normalise it. For example, where smoking is considered the norm, as it was in so many countries in Europe for so long, more people smoke. In places where smoking is no longer the norm in places such as California, for example, there are fewer smokers.

Research shows that nicotine replacement medications, like nicotine gum, patches or inhalers, double a smoker's chances of quitting. As do counselling and therapy. "Add a smoking ban, and chance of successfully quitting is even better," Hurt said. 

Source: NRP, 25 October 2007
Link: http://tinyurl.com/25s5an

European Parliament calls for EU-wide ban on smoking in the workplace

The European Parliament, in its first response to a Commission consultation document, has called for wide ranging measures to restrict smoking in public places and make it harder for underage people to buy cigarettes. The report was adopted with 561 votes in favour, 63 against and 36 abstentions.

In a report drafted by Karl-Heinz Florenz, the European Parliament points out that 650,000 people a year die from smoking, including 80,000 from passive smoking, with children and unborn babies being particularly vulnerable. While 70% of Europeans are non-smokers, 86% are in favour of a ban on smoking at work, 84% in other public places, 61% in bars and pubs and 77% in restaurants.

MEPs therefore welcome the Commission's Green Paper "Towards a Europe free from tobacco smoke: policy options at EU level" but regard it only as a starting point. They urge the Commission to designate environmental tobacco smoke a class 1 carcinogen and recommend that Member States impose smoking bans in all enclosed workplaces within two years, including catering establishments, as well as in all enclosed public buildings and transport. If these objectives are not attained, the Commission is urged to submit a proposal for rules on the protection of non-smokers in the field of employment protection by 2011. The Commission is also asked to produce a report on the cost incurred to national health systems and the EU economy as a result of smoking and tobacco smoke.

The EP believes Directive 2001/37/EC on tobacco products should be updated to toughen up the rules on tobacco additives, including those which are carcinogenic or addiction-enhancing. The report insists that the same directive include "a renewed library of larger, hard-hitting picture warnings", to be made mandatory "on all tobacco products sold in the European Union". MEPs also call on the Commission to urgently "investigate the health risks associated with consumption of snus and its impact on the consumption of cigarettes".

Finally, MEPs ask the Commission to examine measures such as introducing an EU-wide ban on the sale of tobacco products to people under 18 years of age, allowing cigarette machines to be placed only where they are inaccessible to minors, removing tobacco products from self-service displays in retail outlets and banning distance sales of tobacco products to young people (e.g. over the internet). In the same breath, the report calls on Member States to commit themselves "to reduce smoking among youth by at least 50% by 2025" and for the Commission to consider "an EU-wide high minimum level of taxation of tobacco products".

Directing their attention to their own workplace, MEPs call for the Parliament, "In the light of its duty to set an example, to adopt a smoking ban with no exemptions, in all areas of the House."

Source: European Parliament, 24 October 2007
Link: http://tinyurl.com/yq5lxk

European Union asked to study risks of tobacco product

Snus, took a step towards legalisation in the European Union on Wednesday after lawmakers requested research into its effects.

Health campaigners criticised the European Parliament vote, which called for the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, to study whether snus could help smokers give up cigarettes.

The product, was banned in the EU in 1992 after the World Health Organisation said it could cause cancer. Sweden was allowed to keep selling it when it became a member in 1995.

Swedish MEPs, backed by Liberals, on Wednesday voted through an amendment pressing the Commission “to investigate the health risks associated with consumption of snus and its impact on the consumption of cigarettes”.

Markos Kyprianou, health commissioner, dismissed the call. His spokesman said: “He considers snus to be a harmful product and there has been sufficient investigation to determine this. It is not desirable to replace one harmful product with another.” The Cypriot, a reformed smoker, vowed to continue his quest for a smokefree Europe by the time he leaves office in 2009.

Sir Alexander Macara, vice-president of the standing committee on European doctors, warned against “legalisation of a substance that has been found to cause oral, pancreatic, neck and other cancers, as well as increasing the risk of heart disease and strokes. There is a real danger that research into snus, and discussions about its possible legalisation, will serve to distract policymakers from the need to prevent, and help people overcome, their addiction to nicotine.”

The Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks, which advises the Commission, is reviewing research on the health effects of snus.

British American Tobacco, which sells snus in Sweden and Norway and has been testing in Canada, South Africa and Japan, says the product is less harmful than cigarettes. BAT and other companies see it as a chance to maintain profits as smoking becomes more restricted.

Source: The Financial Times, 25 October 2007
Link: http://tinyurl.com/2p5w9x