ASH, 102 Clifton Street, London EC2A 4HW Tel: 0207 739 5902
Fax: 0207 613 0531

ASH Daily News

28 November 2000

Headlines
'Could using a nicotine patch give you cancer?'
'Cigarette smuggling costs £4bn'

Full Text

'Could using a nicotine patch give you cancer?'

The Daily Mail reports that, 'Nicotine patches, chewing gum and sprays used
by nearly two million Britons each year have been linked to cancer.' The
research by Stephen Hecht et al. is published in the American journal,
'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences' and the Mail reports, 'is
the first to link nicotine to cancer'.

The article adds, 'Until now experts thought that nicotine simply made
people addicted, while cancer risk came from the 100 known carcinogens
released into the body by smoking a single cigarette.'

Dr Lesley Walker of The Cancer Research Campaign, said: "Nicotine patches
and gum are a very useful way of helping people to give up smoking. They
were never meant to be a long-term therapy."

Clive Bates, of ASH, is quoted in the article as saying: "The risk is that
people will change their behaviour as a result of this study and lose the
advantage they have with NRT."

The following response to the story is also offered by Simon Chapman, of the
Dept of Public Health & Community Medicine of Sydney University,

"1. 30/day smokers' blood nicotine levels are typically 40 ng/ml where as
the typical levels in NRT users are circa 8ng/ml ... i.e. five times or
500% less.
2. There is no such thing as zero risk in medicine; and no one has ever
claimed NRT is benign. It is more that whatever health risks it brings are
incomparably less than those from direct smoking
3. NRT users typically use for 12 weeks. Smokers smoke for 30-40 years.
4. We should not jettison confidence in NRT as an important aid to cessation
on the basis of one study."

Source: Daily Mail, 28 November 2000 and personal correspondence, 28
November 2000
Link to the research abstract only:
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/97/23/12493?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits
=10&RESULTFORMAT=&titleabstract=Nicotine+&searchid=QID_NOT_SET&stored_search
=&FIRSTINDEX=&fdate=10/1/2000 (please not you may have to cut and paste this
link into your web browser)

Correspondence and reprint requests to: University of Minnesota Cancer
Center, Box 806 Mayo, 420 Delaware Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455. E-mail:
hecht002@tc.umn.edu.

'Cigarette smuggling costs £4bn'

BBC News Online reports that, 'Tax collectors are losing out on £4bn a year
in cigarette levies thanks to smugglers, duty free sales and booze cruises,
the maker of John Player and Embassy cigarettes has warned.'

The report adds, "Unprecedented levels" of tobacco taxes mean UK smokers can
save up to £2 a packet by buying bootleg cigarettes, Imperial Tobacco said
on Monday as it announced pre-tax profits up 13% at £450m. And Britons
travelling to France can buy for £1.80 a packet of 20 Embassy cigarettes
costing £4.19 at home, the firm said.

The article further reports that, 'One-in-three packets smoked in the
country has been smuggled in or bought legally abroad, so avoiding UK duty,
although customs officials have succeeded in stemming the tide of internet
cigarette purchases, which had been rated a serious threat.'


Source: BBC News Online and all other newspapers, 27 & 28 November 2000

Karl Brookes
Action on Smoking and Health
102 Clifton Street
London
EC2A 4HW
Tel: +44 (0)20 7739 5902
Fax: + 44 (0)20 7613 0531
http://www.ash.org.uk