Ireland: Customs seize 3m cigarettes

Customs officers have seized over three million cigarettes in a 40-foot container at Rosslare Europort, Co Wexford. The officers found the cigarettes, hidden in a shipment marked 'bananas' on a ferry that had arrived from France.

The cigarettes, including the brand names L&B, Regal and Superkings, would have represented a €1.2m loss to the exchequer. The lorry driver, who is from the North, was released after questioning.

Source: Independent.ie, 26 May 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/pprmna

Study: Evidence supports use of online-based programs for smoking cessation

Available evidence supports the use of online or other computer-based smoking cessation programs for helping adults quit smoking, according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies appearing in the May 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

Currently recommended smoking cessation strategies include individual or group counselling, medications and telephone quit-line counselling. 

Seung-Kwon Myung, M.D., M.S., from the National Cancer Center, Goyang, South Korea, and colleagues identified 22 randomized controlled trials of Web- and computer-based programs published between 1989 and 2008. The trials included a total of 29,549 participants, 16,050 of whom were randomly assigned to a computer-based program and 13,499 to a control group. Ten studies used supplemental interventions - such as counselling, classroom lessons, nicotine replacement gum or patches, medication or quitlines - whereas 12 studies used Web- or computer-based programs alone.

When the results of the trials were pooled and analyzed, individuals assigned to use computer- or Web-based programs were about 1.5 times more likely to quit smoking than those assigned to control groups. Abstinence rates were higher among intervention groups than control groups after six to 10 months (11.7 percent vs. 7 percent) and 12 months (9.9 percent vs. 5.7 percent) of follow-up. The effects of these programs were similar to those of counselling interventions, the authors note.

"The stand-alone interventions had a significant effect on smoking cessation as well as on those that had supplemental interventions," the authors write. "However, compared with adults, these programs did not significantly increase the abstinence rate in adolescent populations."

"Our findings imply that there is sufficient evidence to support the use of a Web- or computer-based smoking cessation program for adult smokers," the authors conclude. "As global Web users continue to increase, Web-based smoking cessation programs could become a promising new strategy that is easily accessible for smokers worldwide."

Source: news-medical.net, 25 May 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/okyxk3

Canada: Quebec mulls ban on smoking in cars with kids

Quebec is considering a law that would ban smoking in a vehicle in the presence of a minor. 

Health Minister Yves Bolduc supports a proposal put forward during a provincial Liberal council meeting in Montreal this past weekend.

He brushed off concerns that the eventual legislation could be criticized for trampling on individual rights.

He says lighting up is a choice but inhaling secondhand smoke often isn't.

In 2006, Quebec banned smoking in public places, notably bars and restaurants, and intends to review the law in 2010.

Nova Scotia was the first province to ban smoking in a vehicle with a minor present, followed by Ontario and British Columbia.

Source: CTV.ca, 25 May 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/ocudps

Scotland: Smokers offered iPods to quit habit

A health board is offering smokers iPods and helicopter tours to help them kick the habit, it has emerged.

Under the pilot scheme by NHS Fife, smokers who have given up cigarettes for three months are entered into a prize draw.

Helicopter flights and iPods are among the incentives, along with toiletries and cinema vouchers.

An NHS Fife spokesman said: "Tobacco remains the major preventable cause of ill health and premature death in Scotland. Like any pilot scheme, we will evaluate its success in detail."

Scottish Conservatives health spokeswoman Mary Scanlon questioned the scheme.

She told the Sunday Times: "I do not see how helicopter trips, hotel stays, iPods and toiletries are incentives to a healthier lifestyle."

"They send out entirely the wrong message because there's no connection with these rewards to better personal health."

"Giving people free passes to gyms is an excellent idea, but in the depths of a recession when people are losing their jobs, seeing people being given these sorts of gifts will lead to resentment."
 

Source: AOL Health, 25 May 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/p67ugg

Cigarette makers lose US appeal

A US appeals court has largely upheld a landmark ruling that cigarette makers lied about the health risks of smoking.

Washington's Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by tobacco firms against a 2006 decision that banned labels such as "low tar" and "light".

Companies including Philip Morris USA were found guilty of racketeering and fraud over the issue.

Judges upheld the previous ruling, but excluded one firm and two trade groups from their judgement.

They ruled that the trade bodies - Council for Tobacco Research-USA and Tobacco Institute - had not made or sold products, so could be excluded.

And the firm Liggett was excused because it had co-operated with the authorities and acknowledged health risks.

But the judges rejected an argument from the other tobacco firms that they had never claimed that "light" cigarettes were less harmful.

"Defendants knew of their falsity at the time and made the statements with the intent to deceive," Friday's ruling said.

The 2006 ruling said firms had set up a "gentlemen's agreement" not to compete over whose cigarettes were the least damaging to health.

Lawyers for the tobacco companies denied that they had conspired to avoid public discussion of health risks.

The original ruling also required firms to issue "corrective statements" about health effects and addiction.

Murray Garnick, lawyer for tobacco firm Altria - the parent company of Philip Morris - said the court's ruling was "not supported by the law or the evidence presented at trial".

"We believe the exceptional importance of these issues justifies further review," he said.

Other companies that were contesting the 2006 ruling included British American Tobacco, Lorillard Tobacco, RJ Reynolds Tobacco, and Brown & Williamson Tobacco.

The companies are now likely to take their appeal before the US Supreme Court, although commentators say that their chances of success are slim.

In a decision last December on an unrelated case, the Supreme Court ruled that smokers can sue tobacco firms over the misleading marketing of "light" or "low tar" cigarettes.

Source: BBC News, 22 May 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/poqxlo