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** 3 February 2020
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** UK
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** Fifteen people a day die from effects of smoking in the North East (#1)
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** Devon Hospital to allow vaping on grounds (#2)
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** International
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** Study: Discarded cigarettes may still emit nicotine for up to a week (#3)
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** UK
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Fifteen people die each week in the North East from the effects of smoking, according to a new report. The statement from Fresh as part of the campaign for a Smokefree 2030 also states that there are 5,300 deaths a year in the North East from smoking and about 280 children in England start smoking every day.
Campaigners are calling for tobacco companies to be made to pay for measures to help people quit. Ex-smoker and cancer survivor Sue Mountain, from South Tyneside, has helped to launch the campaign, which sets out plans to stop smoking by 2030. The campaign shows that 73% of people in the North East strongly support tobacco manufacturers being required to pay a levy or license fee to Government for measures to help smokers quit and prevent young people from taking up smoking.
Ailsa Rutter, Director of Fresh, said "In the North East we have suffered the most with heavier smoking rates and an appalling rate of smoking related diseases. I lost my own Dad prematurely to smoking related COPD and every day I think about all we have lost out on as a family. There is a point when we have to say enough is enough. Like leopards, tobacco companies don't change their spots. Tobacco companies make huge profits from an addiction which not only robs smokers of many years of life but also costs communities, families, every GP surgery, every local authority, every hospital and is a major driver of poverty. They should be made to pay for prevention."
Ex-smoker Sue underwent laser treatment in 2012 after a biopsy revealed she had laryngeal cancer. The cancer returned in 2017 which required radiotherapy every day for four weeks. She said: "It is really important to me that we now work hard as a country to stop future generations ending up in my situation, having to undergo radiotherapy or chemotherapy, losing the career you love and having years of worry about whether cancer will return. And I am one of the lucky ones [...] We need to do everything we can to help smokers to stop and to prevent children taking it up in the first place. The government has set an ambition for a smokefree generation by 2030 - they need to make this happen. It is a scandal that the tobacco companies are the ones making huge profits and at the same time are trying to get young people around the world hooked. They have been sued for the harm they cause in the United States. It is time that here in the UK they should be made to pay a fee towards prevention like
the polluter they are. I started smoking when I was eleven to fit in - as a kid you don't realise how addictive it is. I was addicted. I needed that nicotine craving. When I look back at what I have spent on cigarettes, it must have been £50,000 at least. It could have bought me half a house, instead of cancer."
Source: ITV, 3 February 2020
See also:
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** Smokefree 2030 campaign page ([link removed])
ASH - Press release: Every day in England 280 children start smoking while Government action on its Smokefree 2030 pledge is awaited ([link removed])
Local Government Association - LGA responds to ASH report on number of children who start smoking every day ([link removed])
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Read Article ([link removed])
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** Health managers have decided to allow vaping in the grounds of Devon's largest hospital. Derriford Hospital banned smoking and e-cigarettes from its grounds in 2016, but the board of the NHS University Hospitals Plymouth has now rethought the move and will allow vaping.
The plans would see the external area at the hospital becoming "vape-friendly" but signage will request people to avoid entrances and bus stops. Public Health England (PHE) has said "when supported by a smoking cessation service, [vaping] helped smokers to quit tobacco altogether".
Professor John Newton, director of health improvement at PHE, said: "There is no situation where it would be better for your health to continue smoking rather than switching completely to vaping. The sooner you stop smoking completely the better. We are alert to the risks and the UK has taken a careful approach to maximise the opportunities that e-cigarettes present to help more smokers quit."
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Source: BBC, 31 January 2020
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** International
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** Whilst most of the chemicals from an extinguished cigarette stop being emitted in the first 24 hours, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US found nicotine could be emitted up to a week after the cigarette was put out.
The study tracked nine chemicals emitted from 2,100 cigarettes that were artificially smoked, extinguished and analysed in different environments based on temperature, humidity, wind speeds and dampness of the butts.
Concentrations of nicotine and triacetin were around half of levels present during combustion five days after being extinguished. The researchers also found these emission effects were more pronounced in warmer weather.
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"This means if you don't empty an ashtray in your home for a week, the amount of nicotine exposure to non smokers could be double current estimates," researcher Dustin Poppendieck said.
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** Source: Daily Mail, 2 February 2020
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** Indoor Air: Measurement of chemical emission rates from cigarette butts into air ([link removed])
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