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ASH Daily news for 26 April 2011

HEADLINES

  • Tobacco firms used diet-aid chemicals

    British and American tobacco companies deliberately added powerful appetite-suppressing chemicals to cigarettes to attract people worried about their weight, according to internal industry documents dating from 1949 to 1999. Chemical additives are just one of several strategies successfully used by tobacco companies over the past 50 years to convince people that smoking makes you thin.

    Tobacco giants Philip Morris and British American Tobacco added appetite suppressants to cigarettes, according to the documents, released during litigation in the US. Four other major companies tested potential chemicals, including amphetamine and nitrous oxide, better known as laughing gas, but the documents, which are incomplete, do not reveal if such chemicals were ever added and sold to the public.

    The presence of appetite-suppressing chemicals could help explain why smokers who quit often gain weight, according to Swiss researchers in the European Journal of Public Health.

    Professor David Hammond, a tobacco industry expert at Waterloo University, Ontario, Canada, said: "We know the industry explored ways to exploit concerns about weight loss back in the Sixties, because they knew it was an issue that concerned women, who they wanted to recruit as smokers. We don't know if appetite-suppressing molecules are still added, because compliance with additive regulations is poor and sensitive internal documents are usually shredded."

    A Canadian study of 500 young women, published in Tobacco Control this month, found those looking at female-oriented cigarette packs branded with words such as "slim" and "vogue", were more likely to believe smoking helps people control their appetite – an important predictor of smoking among this group – compared with those viewing plain packaging. Smokers wrongly believe that certain words, such as the names of colours, and long, slim cigarettes mean the brand is less harmful, according to a study, that included 2,000 Britons, published in Addiction.

    Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is urging the Health Select Committee to force tobacco companies to disclose documents that would shed light on marketing strategies, including product packaging and design, to help MPs make an informed choice about introducing plain packaging.

    Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive of ASH, said: "Now advertising is banned, the industry uses pack design and product descriptors, such as "slims", to promote the message that smoking makes you thin. It must be required to put its products in plain, standardised packaging to prevent it using such "dog whistle" tactics to promote smoking to vulnerable young women."

    Source: The Independent - 24 April 2011
    Link: http://ind.pn/ftWSPx

  • Singer Jamie Hince needs to smoke

    Asked how Kate Moss' fiance and The Kills frontman Jamie Hince copes with the smoking ban, he said: "I tend to go to the sort of places where they let you smoke anyway, so it's not really a problem for me." 

    Both Kate and Jamie are famous for their love of smoking and it has previously been claimed that the supermodel insists on having 100 cigarettes nearby at all times.  

    Sources said: "Kate has five coffee tables spread between her living room, kitchen, office and bedroom so that's a lot of cigarettes. 

    "She also has a special tennis ball with holes for cigarettes to stick out from so visitors can relax with a smoke." 

    "It's Kate Moss - she can ask for what she likes and they'll probably bend over and give it to her. 

    "The outside area is a bit of a problem. Her people want couches, cushions, tables, heaters and candles to make it comfy for her to have a cigarette." 

    Source: Eircom - April 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/hM5HnB

  • New Zealand: Tobacco debate smoulders on

    Moves to stub out cigarette stands and tobacco ad displays may result in the industry giants shifting their message to online social networks and video games, says a Ministry of Health briefing paper.

    The report, Better Retail Controls on Tobacco, by deputy director-general Margie Apa, says the measures to cover up tobacco advertising are also likely to be met with opposition from outlets which sell the cigarettes.

    "There is also a risk that tobacco companies will divert their marketing efforts into unregulated channels, such as internet social networks and product placement in entertainment media, such as Facebook, YouTube, films and video games," the 19-page paper said.

    "Such marketing efforts would not need to be conducted within New Zealand."

    The report also estimated it would cost individual retailers from $300-$3000 to comply with the covering up of cigarettes in their outlets.

    There was "likely to be adverse reaction by convenience retailer lobby groups".

    But the report said cigarette stands stood in the way of a goal of making New Zealand smoke-free.

    The report can be viewed here on the New Zealand Ministry of Health website. 

    Source: Sunday News - 24 April 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/fu02JG

  • USA: Smoking bans spreading, but some states still love smokers

    By 2020, the CDC predicted Thursday, every state in the nation may ban indoor smoking in public places.

    Gary Nolan, director of the pro-smoking rights organization Smoker's Club, said he wouldn't be surprised if the prediction came true. Public health officials and others have been putting tremendous pressure on bars and businesses to bar smoking, he added. "It wouldn't surprise me if they prevailed," he said. 

    Dr. Tim McAfee, director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, said: "It is by no means a foregone conclusion that we'll get there by 2020," he said. But the success of the smoking ban movement has been astounding, and seems to be accelerating, he added. "I'm relatively bullish we'll at least get close to that number."

    In 2000, no states had comprehensive indoor smoking bans. In 2010, 26 states did.

    Source: CBS News - 22 April 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/g7duxR

  • Belgian barkeepers demonstrate against smoking ban

    More than 800 Belgian bar owners and their supporters demonstrated on Saturday against a decision to widen a smoking ban in public spaces to cover all cafes and the kingdom's nine casinos from July 1.

    The demonstration in Brussels was organised by the federation of cafe owners and restaurateurs, which claims that 4,000-5,000 of the country's 12,000 cafes are threatened with closure by the new legislation.

    Smoking has been banned in work places, restaurants and pubs that serve food since 2009, while temporary exemptions had been granted to casinos and cafes that only serve snacks.

    The law had called for the exemptions to end sometime between January 1, 2012 and January 1, 2014, but the Flemish Anti-Cancer League asked Belgium's constitutional court to strike them down.

    The court decided to lift the exemptions but gave establishments until June 30 to "adapt to the general smoking ban."

    Source: Google/AFP - 24 April 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/h9Y85l

  • Audio: The World at One: Plain packaging in Australia

    On 22 April, The World at One on BBC Radio 4 News broadcast a report about the plain packaging policies planned for Australia. This included an interview from Health Minister Nicola Roxon, Scott McIntyre, spokesman for BAT, part of a statement from Imperial Tobacco threatening a legal challenge, Simon Chapman, Prof at the Uni of Sydney, extracts from an anti-plain pack advert and a vox pop. 

    The report is available for listening online until Friday 29th by clicking on the link below (move forward to the 26th minute).

    Source: BBC Radio 4 - 22 April 2011
    Link: http://bbc.in/hWSy48