HEADLINES

• Warning to rogue Bradford shopkeepers after one trader caught in ‘sting’
• Study finds thirdhand smoke poses danger to unborn babies' lungs
• Study: Smokers who quit have less aggressive kidney cancer
• Gangs flooding town with illegal drink and tobacco

• Warning to rogue Bradford shopkeepers after one trader caught in ‘sting’

  A Bradford shop owner received a £200 fine following an inspection by Trading Standards officers.
  
  Graham Hebblethwaite, West Yorkshire’s chief Trading Standards officer, warned that sales of single cigarettes were a growing problem. It is generally independent retailers who offer single cigarettes either to socially-excluded people or, in the worst case scenarios, to children. It’s often in deprived areas that we find this sort of action going on because people can’t afford to buy a £6 packet of cigarettes."
  
  Greg Fell, public health consultant for NHS Bradford and Airedale, said protecting children and young adults from starting to smoke was particularly important. We see prevention, alongside stopping smoking, as a priority, so it is important for us to tell young people about the serious danger that smoking can do to them. We want to get the message out that smoking is anything but cool."
   

  Source: Telegraph and Argus, 20 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/fgsmZM

• Study finds thirdhand smoke poses danger to unborn babies' lungs

  According to a new study in the American Journal of Physiology, prenatal exposure to toxic components of tobacco smoke - known as thirdhand smoke - can have a serious or an even more negative impact on infants' lung development as postnatal or childhood exposure to smoke.

  Virender Rehan, MD, a principal investigator at LA BioMed and corresponding author of the study said, "Thirdhand smoke is a stealth toxin because it lingers on the surfaces in the homes, hotel rooms, casinos and cars used by smokers where children, the elderly and other vulnerable people may be exposed to the toxicants without realizing the dangers."

  "Pregnant women should avoid homes and other places where thirdhand smoke is likely to be found to protect their unborn children against the potential damage these toxins can cause to the developing infants' lungs."

  Source: Medical News Today, 19 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/gRRN1r

• Study: Smokers who quit have less aggressive kidney cancer

  According to a study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, kidney cancer is not only more common among heavy smokers but also appears to be more aggressive.

  Researchers say about 70 percent of people with early-stage tumors survive at least five years, whereas that number plummets to just eight percent after the cancer has begun spreading.
  
  However the study also found that former smokers who'd given up had a smaller chance of presenting with advanced cancer.

  The researchers say that means smoking might not only increase the chances that a tumour will form in the first place, but it might also fuel cancer growth, perhaps by suppressing the immune system.

  Source: Reuters News, 19 April 2011
  Link: http://reut.rs/ggyvYI

• Gangs flooding town with illegal drink and tobacco

  Thousands of illegal cigarettes and litres of alcohol worth more than £100,000 have been seized from Bolton's streets in the last seven months.

  A HMRC spokeswoman said: “Organised criminal gangs will deal in any commodity alcohol, tobacco, rebated oils, drugs, stolen goods, illegal immigrants and human trafficking —whatever makes them money and allows them to launder their criminal profits.”

  “Many people who buy a few cans of lager or dodgy cigarettes do not realise the scale of criminality behind the sellers they are dealing with.”

  Source: The Bolton News, 18 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/idApow