HEADLINES

• Less than one-quarter of Scots population smokes
• Test purchase failure in Durham
• USA: 'Media detective' tool empowers children to skirt alcohol and tobacco marketing messages
• India: Tobacco firms stub out ad woes: Survey
• Zimbabwe tobacco crop is increasing again after land seizures

• Less than one-quarter of Scots population smokes

  More than 200,000 Scots have quit smoking in the past 10 years as the total proportion of the population to regularly light up dropped to below one-quarter for the first time.

  
  It puts Scotland, which banned smoking in public places in March 2006, on a par with countries such as Albania and Paraguay and means that it has a smaller proportion of smokers than Greece, China, France, Spain and Finland.

  However, statisticians warned that at current rates, the Government’s target of reducing the percentage of smokers to 22% by the end of this year will still be missed.

  The Scottish Household Survey has revealed that 24.3% of adults said they smoked in 2009, compared with 30.7% in 1999. This meant a drop of 227,107 people over the decade, using population figures from the General Register Office for Scotland.

  The survey said: “If this average reduction continued, the 2010 figure is likely to be around 23.5%, above the 22% target.”

  Health campaigners and anti-smoking lobbyists welcomed the reduction, and the fact that there were about 30,000 fewer smokers in 2009 than in 2008.

  Sheila Duffy, chief executive of ASH Scotland, said: “The year-on-year decline in smoking rates suggests that more people are succeeding in quitting and that the public health messages about the harm caused by tobacco are getting through.”

  The figures suggested a link between deprivation, unemployment and smoking levels. Four in ten adults living in the most deprived areas of Scotland currently smoke and those most likely to regularly light up are adults who are unable to work because of short-term ill health, people who are unemployed and people who are disabled.

  Men are more likely than women to smoke in every age group apart from those 60 to 74 and they smoke three cigarettes more a day than women. The average smoker lights up between 10 and 20 times a day.

  Scotland’s smoking ban followed similar legislation in Ireland and smoking has since been banned in public places in England, Wales, Iceland and several other European countries.

  The household survey said that while the legislation may have encouraged some people to give up smoking, there was no change in the overall trend since the introduction of the ban.

  However, the findings did point to the health impact of smoking as smokers are less likely to describe their health as good or very good and 11% say their health is bad or very bad, according to the research.

  A British Medical Association spokesman said: “The Scottish Parliament has a proud record on dealing with the dangers of tobacco, but, one in two regular long-term smokers still dies early from a disease related to smoking and so it is essential that this robust approach to tobacco control continues.”

  Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health, said: “It’s good news that the number of smokers continues to fall, however it is notoriously difficult to quit and we should not underestimate the challenge presented.

  “Evidence suggests smokers have a far better chance of giving up if they use dedicated stop smoking services and the Scottish Government is investing in those services to enable NHS Boards to provide appropriate, accessible services to help people who want to stop.

  “We are committed to doing all we can to stop children and young people starting to smoke in the first place, including measures contained in the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act.

  “I am confident that taken together these actions will lead to further reductions in the number of Scots who smoke.”
   

  Source: The Herald, 24 Aug 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/aPpjyP

• Test purchase failure in Durham

  Trading Standards officers in County Durham have seen a marked increase in failed test purchases.

  Officers carried out 38 alcohol and 30 tobacco test purchases to target “likely problem premises" in Crook, Stanley, Barnard Castle, Ferryhill and Consett.

  Six alcohol and five cigarette sales were made to under-age volunteers resulting in fixed penalty notices, written warnings and potential prosecutions.

  Durham County Council said the intelligence-led operation was designed to raise awareness and provide advice for businesses as well as identify those breaking the law.

  Those who’ve failed test purchases have been encouraged to adopt a Challenge 25 scheme

  Joanne Waller, head of environment, health and consumer protection, said: “It’s clear that staff still do not appreciate how difficult it is to judge the age of teenagers and so should be rigorous in their application of the Challenge 25 rule and always ask for ID.

  “Follow-up visits will be made to all those who made illegal sales and, if there are more, prosecution or an application to review a licence will be the likely outcome.”
   

  Source: Off Licence News, 23 Aug 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/cAxjwS

• USA: 'Media detective' tool empowers children to skirt alcohol and tobacco marketing messages

  A study published in the current journal Pediatrics shows that teaching children as early as third grade to be more skeptical of media messages can help prevent substance use. The study, based on the research of Erica Weintraub Austin, director of the Murrow Center for Media and Health Promotion at Washington State University, reveals that a brief, two-week course boosted the critical thinking skills of third through fifth graders and reduced their intentions to use alcohol and tobacco while increasing their belief that they will be able to resist them.

  "We underestimate the extent to which young children internalize advertising messages," Austin said. "This can affect their consumer decisions later on. For example, children who associate tobacco use with popularity and independence may want to use tobacco when the opportunity arises.

  "Message designers put a lot of proprietary research into making their messages appealing to young people, and children need to understand early on that messages are not always developed with their best interests in mind. This means children must and can learn to discount appeals to their emotions."

  According to the research of Austin and colleagues, people internalize or reject media messages through a process that is partly logical and partly emotional. Teaching children to recognize that message makers want them to react with their emotions can help them react more logically instead.

  The study was conducted by Innovation Research Training, Inc, based in North Carolina. Elementary schools were randomly assigned to receive the "Media Detective" program or to serve in a control group. The 344 children who had the Media Detective lessons showed less interest in alcohol-branded merchandise than the 335 in the control group. Also, students in the Media Detective group who had used alcohol or tobacco in the past reported significantly less intention to use and a greater ability to refuse substances than similar students who were in the control group. The lessons especially helped boys.

  Previous research by Austin and the team of researchers in The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication's Center for Media & Health Promotion have shown that media literacy can serve as a valuable tool for preventing substance use, for teaching sex education, and for getting young people interested in public affairs and voting. Most previous work has been done with adolescents, however, and the study in "Pediatrics" is among the first to verify that teaching younger children can be useful as well.

  Austin says, "Media literacy has the potential to help reduce health disparities in the future, because individuals who need it the most seem to benefit the most. We think that is quite exciting."

  More information: The study, "Media Literacy Education for Elementary School Substance Use Prevention: Study of Media Detective," by Janis Beth Kupersmidt, Tracy Marie Scull and Erica Weintraub Austin, appears in the issue of Pediatrics published on Aug. 23.

  Source: Physorg.com, 23 Aug 2010
  Link: http://www.physorg.com/news201793006.html

• India: Tobacco firms stub out ad woes: Survey

  
  Even as the Smoke-Free Mumbai Campaign shifts gear by targeting taxis and BEST buses, a survey has found that tobacco companies have found a glitzy way of advertising their wares.

  Display boards-commissioned and maintained by tobacco companies-have multiplied across the city. Worse, they either blatantly or subtly violate the stringent regulations laid down in the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition) Act of 2003, reveals a survey by the Cancer Patient Aid Association (CPAA) conducted between May and July.

  There are 125 displays in five South Mumbai wards. "About 65% of these boards were bigger than the size set by the law," said Dr Shital Raval of CPAA. The Act says these boards can only be put up outside outlets selling cigarettes and that they should not be more than 60 cmX45 cm.

  "But we found non-tobacco selling shops such as restaurants, juice centres and, shockingly, even toy stores, putting up tobacco display boards. Moreover, in 64% of the boards, the background colours of the ads match with that of the tobacco brands," said Raval.

  The CPAA, an voluntary organisation that helps cancer patients, has found that ever since the tobacco law came into effect in 2005, there has been a dramatic increase in the display boards at points of sale. "Most of these boards follow the same colour code as the cigarette pack, suggesting surrogate advertising," she added.

  Incidentally, the survey found that a fourth of the boards was backlit which is not permissible under the law.
  "The Act permits advertisements of cigarettes only at outlets that sell the product. Once the outlet is closed for the day, the advertisement should not be visible. But we find that the ads on backlit boards are visible at all times of the day and night," said Dr Surendra Shastri, who heads the cancer prevention department of Tata Memorial Hospital and is a part of the Smoke-Free Mumbai Campaign.

  The CPAA survey showed that the companies were targeted shops along main roads or near teaching institutes. "In one instance, we found a toy shop with a display board of a tobacco company, the reason being its proximity to a college," said a CPAA official.

  Vendors whose shops sported the display boards said they were paid by the companies to put up the boards. "Even the electricity bills are paid by the company," said an official.

  The anti-tobacco Act was introduced after intense campaign and the growing realisation that tobacco causes 56.4% of cancers in men and 44.9% of cancers in women in India.

  
   

  Source: The Times of India, 24 Aug 2101
  Link: http://bit.ly/drLH97

• Zimbabwe tobacco crop is increasing again after land seizures

  
  DOUGLAS Mhembere had only a plastic bag in hand when he took over a farm eight years ago under Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s land reforms.

  “I arrived here with nothing, just buns and a drink in a plastic bag, and I sat down on that log over there to have my food,” Mr Mhembere says, pointing to a felled eucalyptus bough at his farm, 70km west of Harare. “There was nothing here. Nothing.” To get him started, a neighbouring white farmer lent him a tractor to prepare land to grow maize and tomatoes.

  With time, he tried commercial tobacco farming.
  The white farmer declined to be interviewed, but Mr Mhembere says the gesture put him on a path to success, placing him among a new generation of farmers who have increased Zimbabwe’s tobacco output for the first time in eight years.

  “I have so far managed to buy two new tractors and some irrigation equipment,” says Mr Mhembere, who once ran a grocery kiosk but now has a 300ha holding and 40 workers.

  This year Zimbabwe expects to reap 114-million kilograms of tobacco, worth more than 320m, nearly double last year’s harvest. That is far below the 236-million kilograms recorded in 2000 when Mr Mugabe launched land reforms to resettle blacks on farms owned by whites.

  Mr Mugabe said the scheme was needed to correct the legacy of colonialism, but the reforms were marred by deadly political attacks against farmers, who saw their land turned into militia bases for ruling party attacks on the opposition.

  Hundreds of thousands of black farm workers were forcibly evicted, while Mr Mugabe’s top aides seized prize land. Small farmers like Mr Mhembere were often left with little support to finance their operations. Production of food and cash crops plunged, leaving Zimbabwe dependent on food aid. But this year, officials say harvests increased — because of good weather and donor support for food production.

  Private merchants also stepped in to boost tobacco, the top foreign currency earner a decade ago, offering incentives that nearly doubled the number of growers to 51000 this year.

  Only about 130 white tobacco farmers are left, according to the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association.

  For nearly a decade, the government failed to help the resettled farmers , with a select few benefiting from handouts from the central bank, while their meagre incomes were ravaged by hyperinflation.

  Now that the local currency has been abandoned in favour of US dollars, prices have stabilised and farmers can budget.

  Most farmers like Mr Mhembere are contracted to grow crops under a scheme whereby merchants buy fertiliser and seed . Farmers sell their harvest to the merchants to pay off the debt. While others have had to fight off land claims , Mr Mhembere’s property has not been a source of friction.

   

  Source: Business Day Zimbabwe , 23 Aug 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/9gokUB