HEADLINES

• Japan ‘panics’ over lack of cigarettes
• Devon prison introduces smoking ban except in prison cells
• Secondhand smoke may affect children's mental health
• World Medical Association intensifies campaign against smoking
• Australia: Teenage smoking is on the rise
• South Africa: 125 smoking deaths a day

• Japan ‘panics’ over lack of cigarettes

  British American Tobacco and Philip Morris have taken the unusual step of air freighting cigarettes to Japan to make up for a plunge in supplies, after last month's natural disaster knocked out a third of the country's cigarette production. 

  A representative of BAT Japan said, “We have received what might be described as panicked orders from retailers after the March 11 disaster."

  A Philip Morris representative said, "Certainly demand for our products has increased, since some people who buy Japan Tobacco products are buying our products (instead)."

  Japan Tobacco, which controls 65 per cent of the market, suffered damage at two cigarette production facilities in north-eastern Japan and has stopped all cigarette shipments in the past 10 days in order to reorganise production to focus on its best-selling brands and build inventory.

  Source: Financial Times, 08 April 2011
  Link: http://on.ft.com/eF59Zp

• Devon prison introduces smoking ban except in prison cells

  Charing woods prison has become smokefree - except in prison cells.

  The category C men's prison, has implemented a smoking ban which stops staff and inmates lighting up within its grounds.

  But inmates can still light up in their cells because they are technically classed as their 'home'.

  The move was made after consultation with staff and prisoners.

  The initiative was welcomed by the prison's new governor Tony Corcoran, who has been appointed after Jeannine Hendrick was named Exeter Prison's new governor.

  He said: "The ban has gone down far better than one would expect, although I can not take credit for it because it was implemented by the previous administration."

  Source: thisisplymouth, 08 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/fFoPQu

• Secondhand smoke may affect children's mental health

  A new study suggests that secondhand smoke could increase a child's risk of mental and behavioural disorders.

  The study, led by Frank Bandiera of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, examined the link between secondhand smoke and mental health in a nationally representative sample of almost 3,000 children aged 8 to 15.

  After taking into account factors such as age and race, boys who were exposed to secondhand smoke were more likely to show symptoms of ADHD, depression, anxiety, and conduct disorder than those with no secondhand smoke exposure. Girls who were exposed to secondhand smoke had more symptoms of ADHD and anxiety only.

  Source: Reuters, 07 April 2011
  Link: http://reut.rs/f6jHFp

• World Medical Association intensifies campaign against smoking

  The World Medical Association will step up its fight against smoking with proposals to ban the production, distribution and sale of candy products that depict or resemble tobacco products.

  At their three-day Council meeting in Sydney, Australia, WMA delegates agreed to recommend to their annual Assembly in October plans to strengthen the organisation's anti tobacco policy to combat moves by the tobacco industry to make their products more appealing to young people.

  Delegates argued that the WMA should extend its policy to include restrictions on smokeless tobacco and tobacco-derived products, including prohibiting all government subsidies for tobacco-derived products.

  Source: Medical News Today, 11 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/hFnZf7

• Australia: Teenage smoking is on the rise

  A new report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has found that despite smoking rates declining over recent decades, young people were more likely to have increased the amount they smoked in the past year.

  Five per cent of children aged 12-15 smoke according to another study, the Australian Secondary Schools Alcohol and Drugs Survey.

  Cancer Council Australia president Professor Ian Olver says tobacco companies are successfully exploiting loopholes in advertising restrictions to hook new, young smokers. "Clearly, there's enough promotion still to attract young people. If you made a movie about Winston Churchill you'd expect him to have a cigar but why does Sigourney Weaver smoke in Avatar? There's still product placement in movies."

  There is also pack design intended to lure impressionable young customers. Tobacco companies and their deep pockets are fighting plans to make Australia the first country to introduce plain packaging from next year, claiming it infringes on their intellectual property.

  Source: news.com.au, 07 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/h1peF7

• South Africa: 125 smoking deaths a day

  According to the National Council Against Smoking, 125 smokers die from the habit every day, which results in 44,400 deaths each year.

  The council said, "Reducing the prevalence of smoking from 23 percent to five percent in the next three decades was possible. But it will require an intensification of the tobacco control campaign. In particular, the government will have to look at its tobacco taxation policies which are in urgent need of revision."

  Source: Times Live, 08 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/i49iTO