HEADLINES

• ACS urges Welsh Government to review tobacco display ban
• More help to stop smoking
• Thousands of cigarettes seized at Norwich market
• Personalized smoking cessation promising
• New York: Mayor leans toward a smoking ban at parks and beaches
• South Korea: Smoking rate still way above OECD average

• ACS urges Welsh Government to review tobacco display ban

  The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has reiterated its call for the Welsh Government to review the decision to implement a tobacco display ban.

  The Welsh Assembly Government has been consulting on the draft regulations on how the ban will be implemented in Wales, with a view to introduce a ban October 2011 for large retailers and October 2013 for small retailers.

  ACS chief executive James Lowman, said: "The evidence to support a ban on tobacco display simply is not there. Indeed the latest figures from Canada, which has had the display ban in place for many years, has shown an increase in youth smoking rates. Ireland, where the ban was introduced last year, has also seen an increase in smoking rates.

  "Introducing a display ban will cost Welsh retailers a significant amount of money and the evidence shows it will not be effective. Government need to use this opportunity to rethink the ban."

  Source: Talking Retail, 07 July 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/delX1a

• More help to stop smoking

  A new website and texting service has been launched by a South Yorkshire stop smoking scheme to improve accessibility for people who want to quit.

  NHS Barnsley has launched the service to allow residents to arrange a convenient time to speak to an advisor by text, or go online to find out more about what support is available.

  The website - www.stopsmokingbarnsley.nhs.uk - includes information about the benefits of giving up, tips for quitting, and a guide explaining what to expect from the stop smoking service.

  Rachel Foster, service manager for NHS Barnsley, said: "We know many smokers in Barnsley want to quit and would benefit from accessing NHS support, which is why making the service as accessible as possible is really important."

  Source: The Star, 07 July 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/bNxkYA

• Thousands of cigarettes seized at Norwich market

  Revenue and customs officials seized thousands of illegal cigarettes from stalls on Norwich market in a series of raid last week.
  
  Officers seized 3,800 cigarettes, 86.3kgs of hand-rolling tobacco and 150 cigarillos as they searched several stalls in the operation. Illegal goods were found at four of them.
  
  They also disocvered other illegal tobacco products at a shop in Norwich. In total the tax duty evaded is estimated to be £11,800. No arrests have been made but investigations are continuing.
  
  Maddy Ratnett, from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), said: “If you think that by purchasing these goods you are getting a bargain think again. These tobacco products come from un-regulated sources and are supplied by criminals who do not care who they sell to, which include children.”
  
  One trader, who did not want to be named, said: “We know it goes on and a lot of people are sick of it. It makes business difficult for those who want to trade legimately."
  
  “I'm pleased they taken some action and hopefully they'll carry on doing this. Not enough has been done to stop it in the past and it's about time something was done.”
  
  Most people buying cheap cigarettes are unlikely to realise they are buying counterfeits or unregulated cigarettes smuggled from abroad.
  
  They present a new set of risks to smokers. Tests on previous counterfeit hauls have revealed the cigarettes contained up to 60 percent more tar, 80 percent more nicotine, and 133 percent more carbon monoxide.
   

  Source: EDP24, 07 July 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/dxGo1z

• Personalized smoking cessation promising

  U.S. researchers say genetic testing will enable matching a person addicted to smoking to a therapy more likely to work for him or her to quit smoking.

  Researchers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., say this personalized approach to addictions, in particular smoking cessation and finding the correct nicotine replacement therapy may be a reality in 3 to 5 years.

  The study, published in Molecular Medicine, combined information gathered from 520,000 individual genetic markers taken from smokers' blood samples to develop a "quit success score."

  This score and the smokers' nicotine dependence, assessed via a questionnaire, predicted an individual's likelihood of quitting, as well as whether a high-dose or low-dose nicotine patch would work best.

  "People who had both high nicotine dependence and a low or unfavorable quit success genetic score seemed to benefit markedly from the high-dose nicotine patch, while people who had less dependence on nicotine did better on the standard patch," Jed Rose, director of Duke's Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research, says in a statement

  Rose, Dr. George Uhl and colleagues categorized 479 cigarette smokers smoking at least 10 cigarettes per day but wanting to quit as either high- or low-dependence on nicotine but randomly assigned to wear either a high dose or a standard dose nicotine skin patch for 12 weeks. At the 6-month follow-up, the researchers confirmed which genotype smokers did better with which treatment.

  Source: UPI, 06 Julyl 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/cYprof

• New York: Mayor leans toward a smoking ban at parks and beaches

  After being caught off guard when the city’s health commissioner first proposed the idea, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said he was leaning toward seeking a ban on smoking at city parks and beaches.

  Mr. Bloomberg said the ban made sense because it would cut the health risks of secondhand smoke and reduce littering by smokers.

  “We’re talking about banning smoking on beaches and in parks, and it’s partially because you can breathe the air,” Mr. Bloomberg said when he was asked about a ban. “It’s in the open air, but the air wafts in your direction. But it is also because people take their cigarette butts and the packages and just throw them away.”

  He added, “When you ask people in our parks and beaches, they say they just don’t want smokers there.”

  The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, said Tuesday that smoking was the leading preventable cause of death among residents, killing 7,500 New Yorkers per year, more than AIDS, drugs, homicide and suicide combined.

  He said a smoking ban would be the equivalent of bans on loud radios and glass bottles on beaches, and could save millions of dollars in trash cleanup.

  Dr. Farley cited a health department study, published online in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research in April 2009, that found that 57 percent of nonsmoking adult New Yorkers had elevated levels of cotinine, a marker for smoking, in their blood, compared with 45 percent nationally. The researchers, who sampled New Yorkers in 2004, a year after the city’s ban on smoking in most indoor working and public spaces took effect, said the density of city living might be to blame.

  “In reviewing the literature and thinking through the arguments, there is reason to seriously consider prohibiting smoking on parks and beaches,” he said. A ban would probably have to be approved by the City Council, Dr. Farley said.

  The City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, is interested in the idea, a spokeswoman said, but “feels that fines should be modest.”

  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California recently vetoed a bill that would have prohibited smoking at beaches and parks.

  Cheryl G. Healton, chief executive of the American Legacy Foundation, a smoking prevention group, said municipalities across the country have put the ban in place.

  Source: New York Times, 07 July 2010
  Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/nyregion/07smoke.html

• South Korea: Smoking rate still way above OECD average

  The rate of male smokers here has fallen over the past six months, but still remains far above any other OECD member state, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.
  
  According to a Ministry of Health and Welfare survey of 3,000 adult males and females nationwide in June, the smoking rate for males was 42.6 percent, about a 0.5 percentage point fall from last December.
  
  The decrease is the first in two years after it peaked at 43.1 percent last December.
  
  Still, it is very high, possibly the highest, among OECD member states, the researchers said, as their average was 28.4 percent in 2007.
  
  The average smoker starts smoking at the age of 21 and becomes a regular puffer within a year. About 61.7 percent said they smoke out of habit, with stress being the second reason.
  
  About 59.4 percent of the smokers wanted to quit smoking because of health risks, for the well being of their families, and related reasons. Most expressed wanting to quit within a year.
  
  Most respondents said expanding non-smoking zones was the most effective way to induce people to quit smoking.
  
  Raising the price of cigarettes and imposing heavier punishment on smokers at smoking-free zones were other possible incentives.
  
  Those surveyed said the price of a packet of cigarettes would have to soar to an average 8,510 won for them to quit smoking.
  
  "Smoking is a disease that needs treatment. We will consider raising the cigarette tax as well as other policies to encourage a smoke-free atmosphere," a ministry official said.
  
  The health authorities initially planned to lower the smoking rate to below 30 percent by the end of the year, but researchers said it is quite unlikely since the actual number of people who smoke may be higher than surveyed ― more people might be smokers but they could have lied lied out of embarrassment, they said.

  Source: The Korea Times, 07 July 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/cA8Y0j