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ASH Daily News

28-29 December 2000

Headlines
'Ministers delay ban on smoking at work'
'Healing Scotland's deadly divide'
'Smokers deserve equal cancer treatment'
'Insurers' test could expose smokers who lie'
'Smoking can increase skin cancer risk'
'Tobacco Smuggling habit is new killer on Berlin Streets'
'Weed did it.and we're gonna do it'
'Why 2001 is the year that you MUST stop smoking'
'Cough Up for Tobacco!'

Full Text

'Ministers delay ban on smoking at work'

The Independent reports, 'Downing Street and senior ministers have
intervened to hold up a ban on smoking at work over fears that it will
create red tape and cost businesses millions of pounds. The Government will
face accusations from MPs of deliberately delaying implementation of the ban
to protect the interests of pubs, clubs and the hospitality industry.
Ministers and officials are understood to have acted behind the scenes to
prevent the enforcement of a code, published in September by the
Government's health and safety watchdog, which would prevent workers smoking
at their desks. The Government has taken the unusual step of delaying the
ban, despite protests from the Department of Health, which wants to protect
workers from passive smoking.'

The article adds, 'MPs hope to publish a parliamentary motion when the
Commons returns in the new year calling on the Government to implement the
ban. Kevin Barron, Labour MP for Rother Valley, plans to table the motion.
"We can't understand why the Government has not implemented this," he said.
David Hinchliffe, chairman of the Commons Health Select Committee, was also
concerned at the delay and said his committee may look into it.
Representatives of the hospitality industry have protested to the Government
about the proposed ban.'

Source: Independent, 29 December 2000
Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/UK/Health/2000-12/smoke291200.shtml

'Healing Scotland's deadly divide'

The Guardian reports, 'The pavements of Glasgow speak volumes in the
morning. Concrete slabs strewn with chip wrappers, beer cans and cigarette
butts - symbols of a city with a sickness at its heart. Less than 50 miles
separate Glasgow and Edinburgh, but the gulf in terms of health could not be
wider. Stay in Edinburgh and you live longer. Stay in Glasgow and you die
younger. "It is really as stark as that," said Graham Watt, a professor in
Glasgow University's department of general practice, who has found that on
average men in Glasgow live five years less than their counterparts in
Edinburgh. For women, the life expectancy gap was 2 years. There are several
factors - smoking, a fatty diet, and alcohol - but the biggest is social
deprivation. Two-thirds of Glasgow's postcodes are in areas of severe
deprivation, compared with 7% in Edinburgh. And a third of Edinburgh's
neighbourhoods are considered affluent, compared to 5% in Glasgow. "The
health gap is not difficult to explain," said Professor Watt. "The
predominant circumstance of Glasgow is quite severe deprivation, in
Edinburgh it is one of middle class affluence."'

Source: The Guardian, 29 December 2000
Link:
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4110540,00.html

'Smokers deserve equal cancer treatment'

BBC News Online and other Lung cancer patients are suffering because the
disease has such a poor public profile, say cancer charities. Seven out of
10 UK people surveyed by Mori for the Cancer Research Campaign (CRC) said
that lung cancer patients who smoked had brought the disease on themselves.
The CRC's director general Professor Gordon McVie said: "If you think it's
your own fault that you've got lung cancer, you're more likely to 'put up
and shut up', and that's exactly the attitude we need to change. "We want
people to start demanding better treatment and better resources for the
disease - particularly as the overwhelming majority of people do not want
lung cancer patients to be discriminated against."

But three-quarters of those surveyed said that patients with lung cancer had
as much right to a hospital bed as those who develop other forms of cancer.
Lung cancer continues to have a very poor survival rate compared to some
other cancers, and there has been little improvement over recent years,
despite some potential advances in chemotherapy and radiotherapy coming to
light.

It is the most common cancer in the UK - nine out of ten are reckoned to be
caused by smoking. 33,400 died from the disease last year, compared to
breast cancer which killed 12,680. The CRC has designated January as Lung
Cancer Awareness Month to try to raise the public profile of the disease.

Source: BBC News Online, Daily Telegraph, The Times,28 December 2000
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1089000/1089668.stm

'Insurers' test could expose smokers who lie'

The Financial Times reports, 'Smokers who lie to insurers about their habit
could soon be rumbled thanks to a urine test developed by a former academic
part-funded by the Department of Health. The news gives smokers just one
more reason to carry out New Year resolutions to abandon a practice
increasingly unpopular with abstainers. Dr Graham Cope, who left Birmingham
University to run his own business in September, has invented what he claims
is the first quick, convenient method of spotting secret nicotine
addicts.Urine subjected to the test remains clear if the subject is a
non-smoker. But it turns pink for light smokers and red for serious
addicts.'

Dealing with smokers has become a significant problem for insurance
companies, according to the Association of British Insurers. Premiums for
smokers on some products, such as life insurance, can be twice as high as
those for non-smokers, so smokers have an incentive to lie. There is already
a test, which measures the concentration of cotinine, a by-product of
nicotine in urine. but it is relatively expensive and results can take
several weeks to come through.'

The kit developed by Mermaid Diagnostics would sell for less than £5 and
could be used by the paramedics increasingly employed by insurance
companies to visit the homes of applicants.

John Gibb, chief underwriter at Standard Life, the life assurer, welcomed
the low cost of the new test. But he said smoking tests were likely to given
only when a medical examination was already demanded. "I would not
anticipate that everyone who comes along saying they are a non-smoker would
be tested," he said.

Source: Financial Times, 28 December, Daily Mail 29 December 2000

Source: BBC News Online, 28 December 2000
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1090000/1090790.stm

'Smoking can increase skin cancer risk'

BBC News Online reports, 'Smoking greatly increases the risk of developing a
particular type of skin cancer, researchers have found. Squamous Cell
Carcinoma is already one of the more common skin cancers, normally
developing later in life. Although more aggressive than some other skin
cancers, it is very treatable, often by surgery, with 95% of cases not
recurring if removed promptly. The main cause of squamous cell carcinoma is
thought to be prolonged exposure to strong sunlight. Previous studies had
suggested a link to smoking, but this research suggests a far bigger
association than thought. Dr Jan Bavinck, from the Leiden University Medical
Center in the Netherlands, looked at the number of smokers among a sample of
580 people diagnosed with various different types of skin cancer.'

Source: Daily Telegraph, BBC News Online, 29 December 2000
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1090000/1090790.stm

'Tobacco Smuggling habit is new killer on Berlin Streets'

The Times reports, 'NGUYEN K. gave up cigarettes last week. This was not an
early new year resolution. He was found dead near the Polish-German border,
the latest casualty in a war for control of Europe's billion-pound
tobacco-smuggling business. Vietnamese gangs are the chief distributors of
cigarettes in Germany and dominate Berlin, the most lucrative outlet for
tax-free tobacco. They are part of the post-communist hangover: the children
of guest workers who came to East Germany to pay off Vietnam's debts to the
Soviet bloc.

The article adds, 'The work was hard and dirty, on building sites and
constructing the gas pipeline from Siberia. Some now run restaurants; others
are drawn into the gangs that carve up the German capital. More than 80
Vietnamese have been killed in Germany, victims of feuding between the
gangs. The European Commission is taking two leading US tobacco companies,
Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds, to a New York civil court alleging that
manufacturers know about and tolerate the smuggling networks, not only the
likes of Nguyen but also the elaborate channels that enable a cigarette
shipment to dock in Antwerp and move in high-speed boats to the European
Union.'

Source: The Times, 29 December 2000-12-28
Link: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,20-59452,00.html

'Weed did it.and we're gonna do it'

The Mirror provides an extensive piece on how to quit and provides details
of the smoking cessation aid, Pro Change - the new aid that is being rolled
out by Boots Chemists. It also mentions Quitline - run by the national
charity QUIT (0800 00 22 00).

Source: The Mirror, 28 December 2000

'Why 2001 is the year that you MUST stop smoking'
The Sun provides further coverage of the research by The Cancer Research
Campaign that showed 84 percent of people surveyed felt that Lung cancer
patients should be treated equally regardless of the smoking. It also
reports that Lung cancer has overtaken breast cancer as the number one
killer of women. It also provides details of several products designed to
help people quit successfully. The article also mentions how the Government
is supporting smokers who want to give up smoking, the website
http://www.quitsmokinguk.com and Quitline (0800 00 22 00).

Source: The Sun, 28 December 2000

'Cough Up for Tobacco!'

The Motley Fool market offers the following comment on the tobacco sector,
'It's about this time of year that thoughts turn to New Year resolutions,
with one of the most frequent promises made being to quit smoking Apart from
the obvious medical aspects, there's also the Foolish benefit of saving
money. And if you're looking for a good home for those saved cigarette
pennies, the shares of the cigarette manufacturers themselves could very
well be an option. Those having the foresight to switch from buying
cigarettes to instead investing in the tobacco sector at the start of 2000
would currently have a very healthy portfolio. And if you can cast aside the
ethical issues, those considering a similar switch for 2001 could see a
worthwhile return too.'

The comment piece adds, 'The cheapest of the three is British American
Tobacco, although the relatively low rating for BAT is with good reason. Of
the three UK sector players, BAT is by far the most entangled in the legal
red tape. However, BAT does have the greater prospects for earnings growth.
Analysts expect 44% earnings growth this year and 10% next year at BAT, all
fuelled by the company's merger with Rothmans. But of course, the tobacco
sector isn't one normally associated with rapid increases in turnover and
profit growth..And with those high yields, should the tobacco companies
continue to drag out the litigation proceedings and keep their existing
weaker-willed customers puffing, all three look a safe bet for those turning
from tobacco customer to tobacco shareholder for 2001.'
Source: Motley Fool UK - 27 December, 2000

Link: http://www.fool.co.uk/news/comment/2000/c001227b.htm

Karl Brookes
Action on Smoking and Health
102 Clifton Street
London
EC2A 4HW
Tel: +44 (0)20 7739 5902
Fax: + 44 (0)20 7613 0531
http://www.ash.org.uk