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ASH Daily News

25 October 2004

HEADLINES

Shock pictures to shake smokers
Non-smoking pub goer "smoked" a packet
Smokers banned from Business Design Centre
Abstinence makes the pockets grow deeper
US icons loose their cool in "old Europe"
Operation Bluerinse swoops on shoplifting pensioners
Letters: Puff Baddies


FULL TEXT

Shock pictures to shake smokers

Britons will be asked whether tobacco companies should be forced to display graphic images on cigarette packets to illustrate the dramatic consequences of smoking.

Images of smoke-damaged organs, clogged arteries gangrenous legs and, more amusingly a drooping cigarette to link the habit to impotence, were among 42 images published by the European Commission as it began its battle in the long campaign against smoking.

Ireland, which has already banned smoking in public places, and Belgium are planning to introduce the measures. In Britain the Department of Health said it was waiting for the commission to finally approve the list of images, before giving approval. The measure will be voluntary across the 25 member states.

Ann McNeil, a senior research fellow at University College, London, a member of the team of health experts that drew up a review of EU tobacco-control policy, said the annual cost of tobacco-related disease in the EU was a "conservative" £70bn, with 13 million suffering chronic disease.

The pictorial cigarette packs drew criticism from pro-smoking lobby group forest. Its director Simon Clark said: "These images are gratuitously offensive."

Source: Guardian, International Herald Tribune, Telegraph, Independent, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Times, FT, Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Sun, October 23, Evening Standard (22nd)

Article link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1334296,00.html


Non-smoking pub goer "smoked" a packet

A Sunday Mirror journalist discovered a few hours in a pub every day is the equivalent of smoking a pack of twenty cigarettes a week.

The horrified journalist found out that in the space of three hours he had "smoked" the equivalent of three cigarettes. "In the week that Liverpool became the first city in the UK to try and ban smoking in public places, I was testing my body's reaction to passive smoking", wrote Justin Penrose.

"I was stunned by the findings. I knew smoky pubs made my clothes and hair stink, but a week of evenings spent in various pubs left me breathless, with a sore throat and aching lungs", he said.

The journalist measured the level of carbon monoxide that had entered his bloodstream.

Ian Willmore of ASH said: "People will be shocked to find out how much smoke they passively inhale. That should be a wake-up call to the Government to stop people from smoking at workplaces, including pubs and bars".

A stiff editorial in the Sunday Mirror rounded on the smoking lobby for denying the existence of passive smoking. It cited the example of broadcaster Roy Castle, who never smoked, as a casualty of passive smoking. "At least they did not know in those days that passive smoking kills", ran the editorial. "Today we have no excuse. Liverpool is to follow the example of Ireland and New York and ban smoking in public places".

The editorial ends by stating that nobody has the right to inflict potentially lethal damage on others, and urges the rest of the country to follow Liverpool's example.

News of the World resident GP, Dr Hilary also warns about the dangers of passive smoking. "Passive cigarette smoke contains 4,000 different chemicals and poisons, including nicotine, tar, hydrogen, cyanide, ammonia and arsenic", the doctor writes.

Dr Hilary is in favour of being "aggressive about passive smoking" and supports the introduction of a public ban. He points out the fact that if you live with a smoker your risks of heart and lung cancer are raised by a quarter. If you are a bar worker your exposure is three to four times greater than that.

The GP rejects the assertion made by forest that the evidence for passive is unproven. He states that no baby, child or adult should be subjected to the risk if they don't want to be.

The Times reports that many of England's biggest cities and approximately 50 councils are lining up behind Liverpool to back a ban on smoking in public places.

Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Newcastle and 33 London boroughs are supporting smoking bans in pubs, clubs and restaurants in their efforts to pressurise Government into introducing a national ban.

The leaders of London boroughs voted last week to put forward a private Bill in Parliament to try and get a local ban implemented. The Bill is being drafted by the Association of Local Government (ALG) and must be forwarded to Parliament by the end of next month if it is going to have a chance to be included in the next legislative session.

Source: Sunday Mirror, October 24, Times, October (23) News of the World (24) 2004


Smokers banned from Business Design Centre

The Business Design Centre in north London is to introduce a total smoking ban.

Bosses at the landmark building in Islington announced that the smoke-free policy will commence on November 1st. Managing Director Dominic Jones said: "we have decided to pre-empt what is certain to become legislation in the not too distant future. But more importantly the vast majority of our visitors and tenants don't smoke and I think they, as the majority, should have the benefit of a smoke-free environment".

The announcement comes in the same week as Islington north MP Jeremy Corbyn cautioned people not to risk their health by buying cheap counterfeit cigarettes.

Mr Corbyn issued the advice after meeting customs officials, who have been helping to crack down on illegal cigarette sellers at the Nags Head area of Holloway.

"It's horrific to think that many people buy these cigarettes without knowing the dangers posed to their health from the increased tar content in them", Mr Corbyn said.

Source: Camden Chronicle, October 21 2004


Abstinence makes the pockets grow deeper

Giving up smoking and drinking could enhance your wallet by more than £5,000 a year, the Observer has calculated.

At £4.50 a pack, the cost of smoking has tripled in the past 15 years. Andrew Hall from Hampshire quit 14 weeks ago. "I promised a special friend who died of a non-smoking related cancer that I would quit, but since doing so have welcomed the financial benefits".

The financial savings from quitting are always the sole motivating factor. One woman wanted says her motivation for quitting was to use money otherwise spent on cigarettes to have a regular facial.

Source: The Observer, October 24 2004
Link: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/cash/story/0,6903,1334426,00.html


US icons loose their cool in "old Europe"

The unpopularity of US foreign policy is adversely affecting American products overseas, the Financial Times reports.

Coca-Cola and General Motors are among the casualties. Otherwise successful brands like McDonalds and Altria have witnessed unusual weakness in Europe's two largest markets: France and Germany.

"One brand suffering big falls is Marlboro. Tobacco sales by Altria, its parent company, are down 24.5 percent in France and 18.7 per cent in Germany. Much of this is explained by tax rises and health campaigns, but Marlboro was hit particularly hard", the Ft observes.

Source: Financial Times, October 25 2004
Link: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ba3ade64-2621-11d9-81d9-00000e2511c8.html

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/dc8cf98e-2621-11d9-81d9-00000e2511c8.html


Operation bluerinse swoops on shoplifting pensioners

Three grannies were arrested in a raid on a suspected shoplifting ring codenamed Operation Bluerinse in St Anne's, Lancashire.

The women, all their 80s, were held as they sat at their regular table in a Conservative club.

Undercover officer spent three weeks watching the women before the arrests on Friday.

The trio allegedly gave young shoplifters contraband cigarettes in return for stolen food. Freed at 3 am, one offender was not charged but two were cautioned and warned about their future conduct.

A spokesman for the club said all three had now been barred.

Source: Daily Mirror, Times, Daily Mail, Daily Star, October 25, 2004


Letters: Puff Baddies

Research Manager at ASH challenges the claims by sociologist Ruut Veenhoven that smokers might live as long as unhappy ex-smokers.

She notes: "Smoking is the single biggest preventable death, and smokers typically lose between five and twenty years of life. A smoker who stops at the age of 50 can expect to gain an extra six years of life compared to a continuing smoker."

In the Financial Times Michael Prideaux, the Director of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs of BAT questions the assumption that advertising can increase consumption in "mature" products like tobacco. He writes that "some of the highest levels of smoking ever seen were in the former Soviet Union, where there was no smoking."

"What advertising can do is persuade adult smokers to switch brands, or encourage brand loyalty."

Source: Observer, October 24, Financial Times October 25 2004

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Harold Wilson
ASH
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