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ASH Daily News

25 October 2006

[View html version: http://www.globalink.org/nbuk]

HEADLINES

Study shows smoking stunts boys, but doesn't help girls slim

US federal court slows 'light' cigarette case

Smoking in the European workplace, an overview

Council policy to protect workers from secondhand smoke

FULL TEXT

Study indicates smoking stunts boys, but doesn't help girls slim

A Canadian study suggests smoking and non-smoking teenage girls gain weight at exactly the same rate.

On the other hand, boys who smoke are leaner and shorter than their non-smoking peers, evidence that smoking stunts their growth.

Igor Karp, a McGill University researcher, says that's probably because girls reach puberty earlier and their growth spurt comes before they start smoking.

The study involved almost 1,300 Montreal students beginning at age 12 or 13, who were followed for five years. Seventy-three per cent of girls and 42 per cent of boys smoked.

"There is an important public health message here that we need to get to teenage girls: smoking is not going to help you lose weight," said Louise Pilote, leader of Genesis, a study group investigating sex and gender difference in cardiovascular disease.
Source: London Free Press (Canada), CTV, 25 October 2006
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/yznhcp


US federal court slows 'light' cigarette case

A federal appeals court granted a temporary stay on Tuesday while it hears arguments about whether a $200 billion tobacco trial can proceed as a class-action lawsuit.

The U.S. 2d Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary motion so that lawyers for the tobacco companies could appeal a September decision by U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein granting class-action status to a lawsuit brought against them by "light" cigarette smokers.

The smokers sued claiming the tobacco industry's marketing of light cigarettes misled them into believing that the product was healthier than regular cigarettes.

Despite finding that the marketing by Altria Group, which owns Philip Morris USA, and other tobacco companies such as Reynolds American Inc, had intended to refer to a "lighter-tasting cigarette," Weinstein allowed the lawsuit to go forward and granted it class-action status.

Lawyers for the smokers said that the tobacco industry reaped between $120 billion and $200 billion in extra sales through the "light" cigarettes deception.

Philip Morris USA appealed Weinstein's ruling and U.S. Circuit Judge Barrington D. Parker granted their motion, according to a court filing.

Source: Reuters, 25 October 2006
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/yfbyt7


Smoking in the European workplace, an overview

Many EU employers are seeking to reduce the opportunities for their employees to smoke:

"With the ban in Ireland, smokers now assume they can take four breaks a day," said Philip Tobin, head of a small e-commerce company in Dublin. "At 15 minutes a break, that's an hour a day of lost work. And it's unfair on the other employees."

Tobin created a media storm recently across Europe after placing a help-wanted ad that bluntly stated, "Smokers need not apply."

Vladimir Spidla, the commissioner for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities, said that EU antidiscrimination legislation did not cover bias against smokers.

"The break issue is becoming increasingly controversial," said Neil Rafferty, a spokesman for Freedom Organization for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco, a British lobbying group. He sees such a narrowing of options for smokers, however, as "a state sector problem."

Mario Müller, public affairs manager for EuroCommerce, a retail and trade association based in Brussels, said that where and when employees take their cigarette breaks is "a crucial issue for the retailer."

"Smoking in front of a supermarket gives a terrible image to your clients," Müller said.

In Sweden, "many shops have rules that employees have to smoke away from the shop where clients are coming in," said Johan Bark, a health and safety official for Svensk Handel, a Swedish trade federation.

Smoking in company vehicles has also been banned by Marks & Spencer and BT, but as bans expand away from the office and into the field, enforcement becomes more complicated.

"It's a bit of a grey area," said Amanda Sandford, research manager for Action on Smoking and Health, noting that it is unclear how these companies hope to keep an eye on all their workers on the road.

The World Health Organization in Geneva announced in December that it would no longer hire people who smoke or who will not pledge to stop smoking. The UN agency said that its credibility was at stake because of its prominent role opposing tobacco use.

According to Sandford, statistics show that smokers "take more time off from minor illnesses" and are "more at risk from chronic illnesses." The latter factor can add to the health insurance costs an employer faces.

However, a point-blank refusal to employ smokers "is discriminating against a person when it's the act of smoking that's the problem," Sandford said. "People change their behaviour."

Source: International Herald and Tribune, 25 October 2006
Article link: (IHT) http://tinyurl.com/yheqpd: (DM) http://tinyurl.com/truuc


Council policy to protect workers from secondhand smoke

Tenants in Sutton council housing will not be able to light up while they are being visited by health workers and members of staff such as those delivering meals on wheels.

If they insist on smoking, the staff will refuse to enter and tenants could lose access to council services.

The scheme is part of a clampdown that will also see staff banned from smoking. In the run-up to the national ban on lighting up in public places, which begins next summer, the Government has encouraged all local authorities to introduce a smoke-free environment.

Croydon council has already announced it will ban workers from taking cigarette breaks and give them nicotine patches.

Sutton's policy, which will come into effect in February, will ban smoking from anywhere in or near council buildings and council vehicles, car parks and parks. The policy also puts a stop to cigarette breaks and forbids employees smoking anywhere in public while wearing the council symbol or identity badge.

Sutton had originally included a further clause banning employees from smoking in their own cars while driving to and from work but this was amended after opposition.

The council's proposal states: "The smokefree policy aims to protect nonsmokers from second-hand smoke and is not designed to punish smokers as such. However, breaches of the policy will be subject to Sutton's disciplinary procedures."

Source: Daily Mail, 25 October 2006
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/y6ampw

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