HEADLINES

• Minister to use No Smoking Day to announce display ban
• A pack of you-know-what, please
• Lung cancer rates double in women over 60 since 1970s
• BBC Panorama programme - Tobacco smuggling
• Coventry launches biggest ever stop smoking campaign
• USA: Eat smoke-free in Los Angeles

• Minister to use No Smoking Day to announce display ban

  The Independent on Sunday reports that the Coalition Government will announce restrictive regulatory changes to the £13.4bn British tobacco industry on No Smoking Day on Wednesday.

  The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, has called several retail representative bodies, which are largely against the probable changes, to his office on Wednesday morning. They include the British Retail Consortium, the National Federation of Retail Newsagents and the Association of Convenience Stores, the last of which represents more than 33,500 local shops.

  Later that day, Mr Lansley is expected to confirm plans to stop businesses displaying tobacco in a move that critics believe will backfire and glamourise the industry for youngsters, as cigarettes will be seen as more illicit.

  However, it is believed that Mr Lansley will delay introducing the display ban. Originally, large shops were to implement the ban in October with smaller outlets to follow in Oct. 2013.  It is thought that Mr Lansley will give the different shop groupings an extra year to comply.

  Government officials have told retail groups that there are likely to be some compromises in the Tobacco Control Plan. When customers ask for cigarettes, retailers were originally only going to be allowed to show them 1,500 sq cm of the display, about one shelf of a small gantry.

  This has already been increased to 7,500 sq cm. It is expected that the coalition, which is thought to have discussed the measures in Cabinet last week, will double the size to 15,000 sq cm.

  The changes to displays will prove costly, estimates suggest £70m for small retailers, while shopkeepers fear that not putting cigarettes out in the open could cost them one of their major sources of revenue.

  An industry source said that the compromise would "alienate everybody in the debate", as there would be both a ban and a significant amount on display once the gantry is opened.

  The Government is also considering whether to force cigarette manufacturers to sell their wares in plain packaging. There could be a consultation on this idea rather than a formal commitment as this is fraught with legal difficulties over intellectual property.

  Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International, Philip Morris and British American Tobacco are pursuing an application for judicial review of the display ban. The EU is also considering the introduction of a directive restricting tobacco retailing.

  Source: The Independent on Sunday, 6 March 2011
  Link: http://ind.pn/ezWKY6

• A pack of you-know-what, please

  Britain is about to become the first European country to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products, reports the Sunday Times. 

  Tobacco companies are to be forced to put cigarettes in plain, unbranded packaging under new government measures to be announced this week.

  All brands of cigarettes will be stripped of logos, colour schemes and graphics, leaving the prominent health warnings as the most striking feature on the packet.

  The proposals mark the culmination of a near 50-year attack on tobacco marketing, which began in 1965 with the ban on cigarette advertising.

  Ministers, who will publish their tobacco control plan to coincide with No Smoking Day on Wednesday, believe generic packaging will help reduce the appeal of smoking to young people and help those trying to quit
   

  Also reported in:

  The Daily Mail, 7 March 2011: 

  http://bit.ly/f6EoYF

  Source: The Sunday Times, 6 March 2011 (Subscription required)
  Link: http://thetim.es/fYKnrk

• Lung cancer rates double in women over 60 since 1970s

  Rates of lung cancer for British women aged 60 and over rose from 88 per 100,000 in 1975 to 190 per 100,000 in the latest figures from 2008.

  Almost 5,700 women over 60 were diagnosed with lung cancer in 1975. This jumped to more than 15,100 in 2008.

  The rise, revealed by Cancer Research UK, can almost all be attributed to an increase in smoking among women in the latter half of the last century.

  Men on the other hand have seen a dramatic decrease in rates as millions have stopped smoking over the same period.

  Figures for men show around 23,400 over 60s were diagnosed with lung cancer in 1975, falling to around 19,400 men in 2008.

  Lung cancer is unique in that the reduction or increase in cases is directly linked to a reduction or increase in smoking which causes around 90 per cent of lung cancers.

  The difference in lung cancer trends for men and women is mirrored by the smoking patterns in previous years for each sex.

  Men had the highest smoking rates in the 1940s and 50s and falling from then. Women had rising rates in the 60s and 70s.

  Successful antismoking measures – such as the tobacco advertising ban and the legislation making public places smoke-free – have meant the number of smokers has continued to drop.
   

  
  
  

   

  Source: The Daily Telegraph, 7 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/hlCdxM

• BBC Panorama programme - Tobacco smuggling

  Tobacco smuggling is the theme of tonight's Panorama programme to be shown on BBC 1 at 8.30pm. (GMT) 

   

  Source: BBC 7 March 2010
  Link: http://bbc.in/eeImba

• Coventry launches biggest ever stop smoking campaign

  
  The Telegraph has teamed up with NHS Coventry and the city’s Smokefree Alliance to ask addicts to make a Big Pledge to quit.

  John Forde, Coventry’s acting director of public health, said: “We know giving up isn’t easy.

  “A crucial part is identifying what motivates someone to want to stop smoking. For most people that pressure point will be different – it could be for your health or your looks, for your family or your wallet.

  “We’re urging people to find what works for them and to keep it in mind by making it their pledge.”

  Smoking is expected to kill up to 450 people in Coventry this year. The Big Pledge is part of an ongoing strategy to prevent 2,775 current city residents dying prematurely. A key step is cutting the number of smokers by nearly a fifth by 2012.

  Coun Joe Clifford, chair of the Coventry Smokefree Alliance, said: “While smoking continues to claim the lives of one in six of all local residents the battle against tobacco has not yet been won.

  "Smoking has an enormous detrimental effect on people’s health and also devastates the lives of the friends and family who are ultimately left behind."

  
   

  Source: Coventry Telegraph, 4 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/fJJp5u

• USA: Eat smoke-free in Los Angeles

  Los Angeles, has introduced an ordinance  prohibiting smoking within 10 feet of outdoor dining areas, including food courts, as well as within 40 feet of food kiosks, food carts, and mobile food trucks.

  Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, MD, MPH, director and health officer of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said:

  "The vast majority of L.A. County residents are non-smokers, 85.7 percent, and data has shown that even many smokers prefer to dine in smoke-free settings. This ordinance continues Los Angeles' commitment to protecting the health of our residents and reducing the risk of heart disease, cancer, emphysema and the many other diseases associated with tobacco smoke. This is great news for the City of L.A. Nothing goes better with good food than a side of fresh air."

  Violators, patrons and business owners alike, face fines of up to $500. Bars, 18 and older nightclubs and buildings hosting private events that are completely closed to the public are exempt from this policy.

  With this policy, Los Angeles joins a number of cities in L.A. County that have already implemented smoke-free outdoor dining policies, including Beverly Hills, Calabasas, Glendale, Pasadena and Santa Monica.
   

  Source: Medical News Today, 4 March 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/i8Nexx