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ASH Daily news for 02 November 2011

HEADLINES

  • Public health funds could be raided for road repairs

    Cash-strapped councils may raid health budgets to pay for basic services such as filling potholes, MPs are warning.

    From 2013 local government is due to take charge of the public health budget, currently the responsibility of primary care trusts. Within two years more than 150 directors of public health will move into local government, taking a pot of money - widely expected to be about £4bn - with them.

    To ensure it is spent on health-related projects, the government has agreed to ring-fence the money.  However, a report by the Health Committee said there was a risk councils would play the system and use the funds for other purposes. 

    The MPs said they could redesignate services like filling in potholes and gritting the roads when it is icy as a public health measure, arguing they helped to reduce hospital admissions.  Rosie Cooper, a Labour member of the committee, added she was "horrified" by the prospect.

    The MPs said it was vital public health directors were given powerful positions in local government to stop what they said was "gaming".  They also suggested ring-fencing only be introduced for a couple of years to encourage partnership working in the long-term.
    Source: BBC online, 02 November 2011
    Link: http://bbc.in/vFvs1w

  • Australia: Plain packaging delayed by five months

    The Labor Government's legislation on plain packaging of cigarettes is set to pass parliament next week, but tobacco products won't be sold in olive-brown packages until the end of 2012; five months later than originally planned.

    The government says it will force the draft laws through the Senate next Thursday with a "limited" debate followed by a vote.
     
    Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the delay was necessary because it had taken longer than expected for the upper house to pass the legislation after it sailed through the House of Representatives in August.

    Under the revised timeline, the preliminary provisions of the plain packaging legislation will now come into effect when they receive royal assent, rather than on 1 January. Manufacturers will have to produce plain packets from 1 October next year instead of 20 May, while retailers will be banned from selling any branded stock from 1 December instead of 1 July.

     
    Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 01 November 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/tldzKB

  • E-cigarettes deliver as much nicotine as tobacco

    A study reported in the European Respiratory Journal, found that users get as much nicotine from e-cigarettes as smokers usually get from tobacco cigarettes.

    The study, by researchers from the Universities of Geneva and Auckland, reports levels of cotinine in users of electronic cigarettes. The research shows that experienced users, in real life conditions get a dose of nicotine similar to the dose that smokers usually get from tobacco cigarettes.

    This is the first time cotinine data among electronic cigarette users in real-life conditions have been published. These results are important because governments in many countries are developing regulations for electronic cigarettes. 
    Source: PR Newswire, 01 November 2011
    Link: http://prn.to/rYfvFT

  • Children's main Christmas wish is for parents to quit smoking

    The majority (54 per cent) of children with a parent who smokes say their one Christmas wish is for them to kick the habit, according to new research.

    Research firm Dubit carried out a survey of 1,000 children in England, aged eight to 13,  which found that many children are so concerned by the impact of smoking on their parents' health that they would go without Christmas presents if it would encourage them to quit.
     
    Public health minister Anne Milton said: "What's clear from the research is that children really want their parents to give up smoking".
     
    Source: Netdoctor, 01 November 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/ut1oZb

  • USA: FDA issues proposals for $600 Million Anti-Smoking Push

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued two requests for proposals (RFPs) for an integrated anti-smoking campaign that targets teens.  The combined budget is up to $600 million over the course of five years.

    The initiative is one of the first under the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products and Tobacco Control Act, which "grants the FDA the authority to regulate the manufacture, distribution and marketing of tobacco product."

    The review also comes as the major tobacco companies and marketing organizations continue to appeal against the FDA's graphic labelling initiative for 2012, which many are calling the most extreme marketing regulation in U.S. history.
     
    The first RFP is a $390 million campaign to "prevent tobacco use among teens aged 13-17." The scope includes advertising, new media, paid media, social media, earned media, partnership and community-level strategies.
     
    The second RFP, with a budget of $210 million, is to reach the  "minority youth" audience of intermittent smokers through organisations with links to targeted groups.
    Source: Advertising Age, 01 November 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/srG86x

  • Halloween campaign to highlight the horrors of smoking

    Ninewells Hospital in Dundee hosted a Halloween whodunit to highlight the horrors of smoking.

    The smoking awareness event was held at Ninewells Hospital on Monday. Staff examined the evidence of smoking-related side effects including blocked blood vessels, lung disease and heart problems. Cigarettes were revealed as the "perpetrator" and the biggest single cause of premature death in Scotland.

    Organisers NHS Tayside hope the facts will encourage people to quit.
    Source: Stv News, 31 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/uCBhHF

  • Rihanna slammed for smoking in video

    Pop superstar Rihanna is facing renewed criticism for smoking in her number one song We Found Love. The Barbados-born singer smokes openly in the video, which was filmed on locations across Northern Ireland.

    The Ulster Cancer Foundation says it is concerned that the singer's smoking habits could influence young people in Northern Ireland.  "After so much hype around the filming of the video it was very disappointing to see Rihanna so blatantly smoking throughout it," said UCF Cancer Prevention Officer, Doreen Regan.
     
    "Artists such as Rihanna are held in high esteem and regarded as role models by millions of young people. We are very concerned that young people watching the video will see smoking as glamorous and want to copy her behaviour," she added.
    Source: Utv News, 01 November 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/sjXfxU