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ASH Daily News
25 October 2002


HEADLINES

Medical associations urge global action on tobacco
Cancer research funds
Sun launches Xmas booze and fags campaign
Rugby league think!s out smoking and drinking


FULL TEXT

Medical associations urge global action on tobacco

Medical organisations around the world have urged governments to put health
before commercial trade and profit in the fight against tobacco.

They have endorsed a manifesto released this week during international
governmental negotiations in Geneva for the World Health Organization’s
framework convention on tobacco control. An estimated five million people
will die from tobacco related illnesses in the next 12 months. Tobacco
related illnesses are the single biggest cause of death in Europe, and
developing countries are already struggling to cope with the burden of
infectious disease.

The manifesto wants the WHO convention to give the highest possible priority
to health, ensuring that it takes precedence over commercial trade, rather
than the other way round.

Full text: http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/325/7370/923
Source: British Medical Journal, 26 October 2002



Cancer research funds

Mike Unger, chief executive of the Roy Castle Lung Foundation, writes to
the Times highlighting the discrepancies in the funding of different types
of cancers.

He says: “[Even] if by some miracle we eliminated cigarettes and thus
smoking, as many people would still get lung cancer as would get leukaemia.
Leukaemia gets 17 percent of Britain’s cancer research money, lung cancer
gets three percent.

Source: The Times, 25 October 2002



Sun launches Xmas campaign

Today’s The Sun newspaper launches a campaign, calling on “its army of 10
million readers” to join in the £1 armada sailing to the continent and bring
back as much booze and fags for themselves for Xmas.

The paper is offering a return trip for a pound. The article carries a photo
of a sun model sporting a T-shirt that reads: “I’m a Sun reader. I know my
rights.”

Source: The Sun, 25 October 2002


Rugby league think!s out smoking and drinking

Rugby league, once saddled with a “booze and fags” image through its
sponsors, has been chosen for the first government awareness campaign to be
conducted using the national sporting team. The Great Britain side,
sponsored by Guinness last year, will be promoting the message that drink
driving is dangerous.

Rather than the logo of a pint pot that the Britain players sported against
Australia 12 months ago, the word “Think!” will appear on their jerseys
against New Zealand – not as a warning to the oncoming Kiwis, but the
message of the Department of Transports road safety campaign which
particularly targets 18 – 35-year-olds.

Source: The Times, 25 October 2002


Naj Dehlavi
Action on Smoking and Health
102 Clifton Street
London EC2A 4HW
http://www.ash.org.uk



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