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ASH Daily news for 25 February 2011

HEADLINES

  • Wales: Smoking outside hospital worries CHC inspectors

    The ongoing practice of allowing patients and NHS staff to smoke outside hospital entrances has been criticised by the patients’ watchdog.

    The ninth hospital patient environment survey, published by the Board of Community Health Councils (CHC) in Wales, again raises concerns about the amount of smoking-related rubbish around front entrances.

    It has called on health boards to develop effective ways of dealing with this “persistent” problem.

    The criticism comes on the same day as the Assembly Government publishes ambitious plans to reduce smoking rates in Wales. The draft tobacco control action plan includes a proposal to extend the current smoking ban to cover all hospital grounds.

    Source: Wales Online - 24 February 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/etlqR3

  • BAT profits up despite lower volumes

    British American Tobacco met analysts’ expectations with a 7.5 per cent rise in pre-tax profits for last year, but disappointed the market with the size of its share buy-back scheme.

    The maker of Pall Mall, Kent and Dunhill cigarettes increased revenues 5 per cent to £14.9bn and pre-tax profits rose to £4.39bn, helped by pricing, strong trading in commodity led economies including Canada, Australia and Brazil, and favourable exchange rates. At constant currencies, organic revenues rose 3 per cent.

    Paul Adams, BAT’s chief executive who will retire next week after nine years at the helm, said the company was “achieving or exceeding our strategic targets”. A cost-savings goal for 2012 was met last year and BAT was on track, he said, to meet its 35 per cent operating margin target in the next two years or sooner.

    Source: Financial Times - 24 February 2011
    Link: http://on.ft.com/eSfCxI

  • USA: Smoker agrees to pay $2,000 to his neighbours every time he lights a cigar at home

    A man has agreed to pay his neighbours $2,000 every time he lights a cigar inside his flat.
    Harry Lysons struck the deal with Russell and Amanda Poses, who live in the same building, to end a $2million lawsuit.

    The Poses claimed the cigar smoke was giving their children, aged three and six, ear infections and breathing problems.

    They also complained that Lysons was causing 'foul and noxious odours'.

    According to the terms drawn up in court, Lysons's flat will need to pass an odour test if the Poses think there is a whiff of smoke in their apartment.

    The settlement reads: 'Having amicably resolved this unfortunate dispute and in the spirit of being better neighbours in the future the parties have agreed to be cordial, polite and respectful to each other.'

    Source: Daily Mail - 25 February 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/fyKa7s

  • USA: Government tells tobacco tycoons: admit you lied

    A federal judge on Wednesday unsealed a government proposal that outlines what it wants tobacco companies to say in national advertising and on cigarette packages — that they lied to the American public about so-called light cigarettes and the addictiveness of nicotine.

    Judge Gladys Kessler of the United States District Court in Washington denied a request by the tobacco companies that the recommendations, by the Justice Department, be kept secret until they submitted a response.

    The so-called corrective statements were ordered as part of a civil racketeering judgment in 2006 in which Judge Kessler ruled against the tobacco companies, saying they had lied for 50 years. The statements are to appear in newspaper and magazine advertising and in attachments to cigarette packages.

    Judge Kessler is also deciding how the advertisements should be displayed at retail outlets.

    Below are some of  the proposed statements:

    “We told Congress under oath that we believed nicotine is not addictive. We told you that smoking is not an addiction and all it takes to quit is willpower."

    “We falsely marketed low tar and light cigarettes as less harmful than regular cigarettes to keep people smoking and sustain our profits. We knew that many smokers switch to low tar and light cigarettes rather than quitting because they believe low tar and lights are less harmful"

     “For decades, we denied that we controlled the level of nicotine delivered in cigarettes"

    The tobacco companies will be proposing their own versions for the judge to consider.

    Source: New York Times - 23 February 2011
    Link: http://nyti.ms/hstlMY

  • RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris hit with $3.3 million verdict

    An Alachua County jury awarded $3,375,000 against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Phillip Morris USA, Inc. for the wrongful death of John Huish, who died of lung cancer after 46 years of smoking Lucky Strike, Camel and Marlboro cigarettes. The verdict includes $3,000,000 in punitive damages.

    Source: PR News - 24 February 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/gHSIRU

  • Honduras seeks to stop smoking; even at home

    A new law that took effect on Monday banning smoking in most public and private spaces doesn't actually outlaw cigarettes inside homes, but it does have a provision allowing people to file complaints about secondhand smoke in homes.

    Violations would bring a verbal warning on the first offence. After that could come arrest and a $311 fine — the equivalent of the monthly minimum wage in this Central American country.

    Even some anti-smoking advocates suspect that part of the law may not work.

    The law bans smoking in most closed public or private spaces and orders smokers to stand at least six feet (1.8 meters) away from nonsmokers in any open space.

    The law explicitly bans smoking in schools, gas stations, nightclubs, restaurants, bars, buses, taxis, stadiums and cultural centers but it doesn't clearly ban smoking at home.

    The law also outlaws all advertising for tobacco products and requires photos of lungs affected by cancer to be placed on cigarette packs. Tobacco and cigarette companies have 60 days to comply with both requirements.

    The law says businesses, such as bars or restaurants, that allow smoking could be fined between $1,000 and $6,000 and repeat offenders could be shut down.

    Source: The Guardian - 25 February 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/fRi6Fk