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ASH Daily News for 30 November 2007

New studies find smoking cessation rates double with counselling and free nicotine replacement therapy

According to two new studies in the December issue of Tobacco Control, a peer-reviewed publication of the British Medical Journal, increasing the level of smoking cessation helplines and offering free nicotine patches are a successful and cost-effective way to reduce smoking rates. Both studies were conducted by researchers at Kaiser Permanente's Centref or Health Research in Portland and by the Oregon Health Department and Free & Clear in Seattle, a phone-based tobacco treatment programme.

One study found that the number of callers to the Oregon Tobacco Quitline increased from 6,426 to 13,646 annually, and their quit rates nearly doubled when Oregon became the first state in the country to promote Quitline services by combining one 30 minute telephone counselling session with a free two week supply of Nicotine Replacement Therapy using earned or unpaid media to increase calls from smokers.

"Smoking is the single most preventable cause of premature death and disease in the United States, with more than 430,000 Americans dying from smoking each year. The study shows that offering free nicotine replacement therapy as part of Quitline counselling can dramatically increase the number of smokers who quit and reduce the average cost per quit, " said Jeffrey Fellows, PhD, lead author and an investigator at Kaiser Permanente's CHR.

The second study looked at 4,600 smokers and is the largest randomised trial ever conducted on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of alternative Quitline services and polices. Smokers in the study were randomly assigned to one of six levels of services when they called the Oregon Tobacco Quitline: brief counselling (one 15-minute call), moderate counselling (one 30-minute call and one follow-up call), or intensive counselling (one 30-minute call and four follow-up calls), all with or without NRT.

More than 21 percent of the smokers quit after receiving intensive counselling plus NRT, compared to 11.7 percent of the smokers who quit after brief counselling with no NRT. The study also found that satisfaction with Quitline services also increased with the more intense levels of service, rising to 92.5 percent satisfaction from 53.9 percent from those who just received brief counselling.

Source: PR Newswire, 29 November 2007
Link: http://tinyurl.com/2clol5

EU to insist on fire-safer cigarettes

EU member states have endorsed plans to allow only fire-safer cigarettes to be sold in Europe, a move which could take two or three years to come into force.

To reduce the number of fatal fires caused by cigarettes each year the 27 EU nations approved a European Commission proposal which will require the tobacco industry to use fire-retardant paper in all cigarettes.

EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner Kuneva said, "clearly it is better not to smoke at all". But as people choose to smoke, requiring tobacco companies to make this small technical change is another step in the right direction towards reducing the terrible damage that can be caused, both to the environment, and for some of the most vulnerable consumers in their own homes."

The decision by the EU nations starts the process of bringing the European Union in line with other leading industrial economies which are taking similar action.

Since New York introduced the fire-safer cigarette requirement in 2004, most other US states have moved, or are moving, in the same direction.

In Canada, legislation setting out safety requirements for cigarettes has been in force since October 2005, and Australia is preparing to introduce very similar laws

The European Commission said that US research shows that cigarettes are the leading cause of home fire fatalities every year. Dropped cigarettes are also a major cause of forest fires.

The EU's executive arm said that the most common "fire-safer" technology involves wrapping cigarettes with two or three layers of special thickened paper which slows down a burning cigarette.

The EU Commission added, "If a cigarette is left unattended, the burning tobacco will soon hit one of these bands of paper and self-extinguish."

Data from 14 EU member states and Norway shows that cigarette related fires causes some 11,000 fires every year, with 520 deaths and 1,600 injuries, with the elderly most affected.

Following the decision by the member states, the Commission will bring forward a proposal to prepare an EU-wide standard early next year and estimates that the whole process of legislation will take two to three years.

Source: EU Business, 29 November 2007  
Link: http://tinyurl.com/2xqjy5

South Africa: Cigarette end 'started Cape fire' which killed British tourist

A fire in South Africa that killed a British tourist was caused by another Briton flicking a burning cigarette on to dry grass, a court has heard.

Anthony Cooper, 37, from Brighton, East Sussex, has denied starting the fire in which Janet Chesworth, 65, of Sedgley, West Midlands, died in January 2006.

Taxi driver Craig Ward told Cape Town Regional Court he was parked at the foot of Table Mountain at the time. He said, "a flame began within seconds of the cigarette being discarded. He threw his leftover cigarette on to the dry grass and within seconds a flame started due to the condition of the grass and strong winds."

Mrs Chesworth had been hiking with her daughter at the time of the fire, and died of smoke inhalation.

More than 150 firefighters together with water-carrying helicopters struggled to bring the blaze under control.

Mr Cooper is accused of arson and culpable homicide.

The trial continues.

Source: BBC News, 27 November 2007
Link: http://tinyurl.com/22m43k

India: Pictorial warnings on cigarette packs

The central government is set to enforce pictorial warnings of oral cancer on all packets of cigarettes manufactured in the country by early 2008.

India, a signatory to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, had issued an order earlier this year stating that all cigarette packets will have warning labels like "Tobacco Kills" in both English and regional languages, and specifying: "Your smoking kills babies, Tobacco causes slow, painful death, or tobacco kills 2,500 Indians every day."

Manufacturers found flouting the rules would face up to two years in prison and a fine.

India has a poor record of implementing government leglistion on tobacco control. Smokers ignored an order, issued three years ago, against smoking in public places like playgrounds, clubs, restaurants and railway stations. 

250 million people in India use tobacco, resulting in the death of over 900,000 people every year and it is estimated that ten million children below the age of 15 either smoke or consume tobacco.

Meanwhile, the tobacco industry argues that India does have strong tobacco control policies, namely, a ban on advertisements in public places and in media (TV, print and radio).

They say the best form of discouraging people from smoking or chewing tobacco would be to educate them. They fear "pictorial warnings" would leave a bad taste in the mouth of the consumer.

But Gupta thinks otherwise. He said there are many countries like Thailand, Singapore and Brazil that have adopted strong tobacco control policies for many years, yet no reports have come forth showing a drop in tobacco generated revenues in these countries.

Gupta said, "These products are taxed at an extremely low level. Only by adopting comprehensive tobacco control strategies can the central and state government improve public health."

Source: Xpress News, 29 November 2007 
Link: http://tinyurl.com/289mdv

Sheffield: City's shock smoking toll

If just 28 deaths from smoking related illness were prevented each year health services in Sheffield would be £1.6 million better off.

The figure has been calculated by health chiefs to show the huge financial benefits to the NHS of saving relatively few lives by persuading people to give up smoking.

In Sheffield, 1,200 people die prematurely each year from diseases caused by smoking, such as heart attacks, strokes and lung diseases including cancer.

John Soady, public health spokesman for Sheffield Primary Care Trust, which runs Sheffield Stop Smoking Service, said: "If 28 smoking related deaths are avoided each year there are savings of £1.6 million to Sheffield NHS."

But tackling smoking is a huge challenge, with as many as one in five of Sheffield's population currently believed to be addicted, the equivalent of around 110,000 people.

Getting the health message out about the dangers of smoking has had varying levels of success.

Rates of cigarette use vary across the city from just 13 per cent of the population in affluent Ecclesall, to as high as 40 per cent of residents in the deprived area of Woodside, Burngreave.

Additional free quit smoking programmes are taking place in areas where levels of cigarette use are higher and in convenient locations such as GP surgeries, pharmacies and leisure centres. .

Smokers who give up save the NHS as much as £800 per year in medical treatment.

Source: The Star, 29 November 2007
Link: http://tinyurl.com/2zq5ke