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ASH Daily news for 10 September 2010

HEADLINES

  • Pub landlord admits flouting smoking ban

    A pub landlord caught smoking in his premises has been given a conditional discharge by magistrates after he admitted breaching the smoking ban.

    Geoffrey Dean, 59, became the first person in the borough to be successfully prosecuted for breaching the smoke free law, which came into effect on 1 July 2007, when he pleaded guilty to an offence under the Health Act 2006 at Swindon Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (7 Sep).

    Rosie Bone, prosecuting on behalf of Swindon Borough Council, told the court that an officer from Swindon Borough Council’s Commercial Regulation team had visited The Bulldog pub on Queens Drive on 17th January this year after acting on information received and observed Dean smoking a lit cigarette on two occasions. The officer also noticed hand-rolling tobacco, cigarette papers and a lighter.

    During a subsequent interview, Mr Dean told officers he disagreed with the smoking ban and his business was going bankrupt because of it.

    Tony Nowogrowski of BLB Solicitors, defending, said Mr Dean suffered from deteriorating health and had suffered three heart attacks.

    Mr Nowogrowski added that his client had been forced out of employment due to his ill-health and was in receipt of incapacity benefit. His guilty plea was on the basis that he did not tolerate smoking in the pub and had absent-mindedly lit-up on this occasion. He also produced letters of support from former regulars of the pub.

    Mr Dean was given an 18-month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £275 prosecution costs.

    Cllr Brian Mattock, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, Community and Partnerships, said: “Our approach to enforcement has focused on encouraging compliance through proactive contact with businesses and the provision of timely advice and support.

    “Once the requirements of the legislation were widely known and understood there could be no excuse for failing to comply.

    “The council remains vigilant in monitoring compliance to the smoke free law and will not hesitate to take legal action where necessary.”

    Source: Swindon Borough Council - 09 September 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/92S2ic

  • Radio adverts to help quit

    NHS B&NES Stop Smoking Service has hit the airwaves with its new campaign to encourage smokers in Bath and North East Somerset to quit.

    The Stop Smoking Service is running a radio campaign until the end of March 2011. A series of adverts will be running on Heart FM to promote the Tuesday evening session, which takes place from 6pm till 7.30pm, and the Saturday morning drop-in, which takes place from 10am until noon, both at St Martin's Hospital, Bath.

    The adverts will feature two characters called Scott and Beth. Listeners will be able to follow both characters who have recently stopped smoking as they separately tell how they are finding life now they are smoke free. Each month there will be a different message with a seasonal flavour from Scott and Beth.

    Richard Merrett, Manager of the Stop Smoking Service, said: "Rather than just run a number of adverts to promote the group session and drop-in, we wanted to tell a story as well and although the characters are fictional the issues and pressures they face to remain smoke free are very real.

    "Any smoker that hears the adverts and wants to stop like Scott and Beth can contact the Stop Smoking Service to get free support and information on 01225 831852."

    More than 240 people die of smoking related diseases every year in Bath and North East Somerset.

    Scott's adverts will be promoting the Tuesday evening group session from 6-7.30pm and Beth's will be promoting the Saturday morning drop-in from 10am-noon.

    Source: This is Somerset - 09 September 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/d0KYdm

  • Smoking could harm sperm, study finds. Other research suggests women who smoke while pregnant impair sons' fertility.

    Two new studies provide evidence that smoking can harm sperm - both in smoking men who may become fathers, and in sons born to women who smoked during pregnancy.

    The research also suggests that both men and women who hope to conceive should kick the habit.
    "The results of the present study suggest a negative biological effect of smoking on spermatozoa DNA integrity," said the lead author of one study, Dr. Mohamed E. Hammadeh, head of the assisted reproductive laboratory in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of the Saarland in Saar, Germany.

    Research by Hammadeh and his colleagues showed that men who smoke heavily may experience fertility problems stemming from a drop in levels of a protein crucial to sperm development, as well as damage to sperm's DNA.

    Another study suggests that women who smoke early in their pregnancy may ultimately compromise their sons' reproductive health.

    Both studies are published in the Sept. 8 online issue of Human Reproduction.

    In the first study, Hammadeh's team compared sperm from 53 heavy smokers (more than 20 cigarettes a day) against that of 63 nonsmokers.

    After three to four days of sexual abstinence, a single semen sample was taken from all study participants, to measure levels of two forms of a specific type of protein found in sperm, called protamines. According to the researchers, protamines are key players in sperm development, helping to spur on the process by which chromosomes are formed and packaged during cell division.

    Hammadeh and colleagues found that in the smoking group, one form of protamine appeared at levels that were 14 percent below concentrations observed in the sperm of nonsmoking men. This was enough to constitute a form of "protamine deficiency" and, in turn, raise risks for infertility among the smokers.

    What's more, smoking-linked "oxidative stress" appeared tied to an increase in damage to sperm DNA, the team reported.

    According to Hammadeh, past attempts to clarify the relationship between cigarette smoking and male infertility have had trouble identifying a molecular mechanism underlying any such link. So he believes the new finding should help convince male smokers struggling with infertility to kick the habit.

    "Because of the fact that cigarette smoke contains mutagens and carcinogens, there have been concerns that smoking may have adverse effects on male reproduction," Hammadeh noted. The new findings help bear that out, he said.

    The second study was led by Dr. Claus Yding Andersen, a professor of human reproductive physiology at the University Hospital of Copenhagen in Denmark. It focused on the impact of maternal smoking during the first trimester of pregnancy upon the development of the male fetus.
    In this case, the authors analyzed tissue from the testes of 24 embryos that had been aborted between 37 and 68 days following conception.

    After classifying the prospective mothers according to smoking habits, the research team found that the number of so-called "germ cells" -- cells that develop into sperm in males and eggs in females -- were 55 percent lower in the testes of embryos obtained from women who smoked. This observation held regardless of the mother's alcohol and coffee consumption habits.

    As well, embryonic levels of so-called "somatic cells" (those that go on to form other types of tissue) were 37 percent lower among those women who smoked.

    In both the case of germ and somatic cells, drop-offs in levels appeared to be "dose-dependent," meaning that the more the prospective mother smoked, the lower the number of cells grown by the embryo.

    Based on these findings early in fetal growth, Anderson and his colleagues conclude that the apparent impact of smoking on cellular production might continue in male offspring carried to term. And that could mean a higher risk of impaired fertility in sons.

    According to the Danish team, their earlier research involving female embryos also revealed "germ cell" reductions of about 40 percent for embryos taken from women who smoked during pregnancy. This suggests that maternal smoking in pregnancy may harm the reproductive health of both male and female offspring.

    "Our results provide health care professionals who talk to women who are considering conceiving, or have conceived just recently, with a 'here and now' argument to convince them to stop smoking," Anderson said. "Because the negative effect of smoking appears to take place right from conception and during the early days [of gestation], when the human embryo becomes differentiated into either a girl or a boy."

    Source: Healthfinder - 09 September 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/bbMjfO

  • Video: new "tough" smoking ban in China

    Chinese authorities in Guangzhou are banning smoking in some public areas. It’s in preparation for the upcoming Asian Games in November. Doubts are already surfacing about the ban, called the “toughest” ever.

    From Wednesday, smokers are banned from lighting up in 12 public places, like elevators, conference rooms and restaurants. If they do, they risk a fine of 50 yuan, or $7 U.S. dollars. Given that Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, is one of the richest cities in China, the small fine is not likely to discourage smokers.

    Businesses failing to comply with the ban will be fined up to 30 thousand yuan.

    Under the new law, citizens can report violators by calling a hotline. But a Guangzhou Daily reporter who made such a call said after 30 minutes, no law enforcer turned up, and the smoker had left the scene.

    Less smoking could mean less money for the regime, as the tobacco industry still provides one-tenth of the Chinese regime’s tax revenues.

    China has 350 million smokers, making up one third of the world’s smoking population. 

    Source: NTD - 09 September 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/bTCDAC

  • FDA cracks down on 5 makers of e-cigarettes

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent warnings to five makers of electronic cigarettes for marketing them illegally as stop-smoking aids and said on Thursday it intends to regulate the products as drugs.

    The move is the latest attempt by the FDA to assert its jurisdiction over electronic or e-cigarettes, battery-powered devices that allow users to inhale a vaporized liquid nicotine solution instead of tobacco smoke.

    Michael Levy of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research told a news briefing the warnings were for violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, including making unsubstantiated claims and poor manufacturing practices.

    Under the act, a company cannot claim that its drug can treat a disease, such as nicotine addiction, unless the drug's safety and effectiveness have been proven.

    Yet all five companies claim that their products help users quit smoking.

    "We are interested in finding out whether e-cigarettes can be proven safe and effective. That is why we sent out the letter to the Electronic Cigarette Association," he said.

    Companies named in the letters include E-CigaretteDirect LLC; Ruyan America Inc; Gamucci America, also known as Smokey Bayou Inc; E-Cig Technology Inc and Johnson's Creek Enterprises LLC.

    The action only concerns the five companies that got warning letters, but Levy said FDA will continue to evaluate the marketers of e-cigarettes on a case-by-case basis.

    "We have not made a decision to remove all e-cigarettes from the market," Levy said.

    In addition to the stop smoking claims, some of the companies were targeted because they sell medications in liquid form to be used in cartridges that become vaporized and can be inhaled by users.

    E-Cig Technology, for example, markets the erectile dysfunction drug tadalafil, sold by Eli Lilly as Cialis, and a liquid version of the weight-loss drug rimonabant or Compal, a Sanofi-Aventis drug that never won U.S. marketing approval and was pulled from the market in Europe because of safety concerns.

    These liquid medications are designed to refill cartridges used in e-cigarettes so that the drugs can be vaporized and inhaled, the FDA said in a statement.

    The warning letters to the companies say they have 15 days to respond. The FDA will wait to act depending on what the companies say, Levy said.

    Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, applauded the U.S. push to regulate e-cigarettes.

    "To protect public health, the FDA must hold electronic cigarettes to the same safety, efficacy and manufacturing standards as other drugs, including nicotine replacement products," Myers said in a statement.

    A U.S. judge in January granted a preliminary injunction barring the Obama administration from trying to regulate electronic cigarettes and prevent them from being imported into the United States.

    Levy declined to comment on that case.

    Source: Reuters - 10 September 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/dzYm9z

  • Japanese panic buy cigarettes ahead of anti-smoking tax rise

    The record-breaking tax rise enters into force in three weeks time with prices rising by over 50 per cent.

    "Inevitably we have heard of people buying up large amounts ahead of October 1, but we had anticipated increased demand and have released the equivalent of an extra month of products over the last couple of weeks," said Hideyuki Yamamoto, a spokesman for Japan Tobacco Inc.

    The cost of a packet of Japanese cigarettes will increase from £1.50 to around £2.20, prices, which while still cheaper than many other countries, have come as a shock to Japanese smokers.
    The steep tax increase follows an election promise to crack down on smoking by last by Democratic Party last year.
    "In the past, cigarettes were considered solely a vehicle for revenue for the government," said Mr Yamamoto.

    "The new government is looking at it from a health perspective and by raising the price so steeply they hope to reduce the number of people who do smoke."

    The previous tax rise on tobacco products was in July 2006, when a mere 15 pence was added to a pack of cigarettes.

    Japan Tobacco's latest statistics indicate that 24.95 million Japanese smoke, out of a population of 128 million.

    A study by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare last November showed that the smoking rate among men has fallen to 36.8 per cent - the lowest level since such surveys were started in 1986 - while the figure for women came to 9.1 per cent, below the 10 per cent threshold for the first time since 2001.

    Overall, the smoking rate stood at 21.8 percent, down sharply from 27.7 per cent just five years ago.

    [...]

    Japan Tobacco anticipates that sales of its products will peak towards the end of the month, when many employees receive their salaries, and additional stocks are being ordered for 24-hour stores, where cigarettes can account for more than 20 per cent of total sales.
     

    Source: The Telegraph - 09 September 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/aox4do