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** 24 April 2023
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** UK
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** Tobacco firm's report to trading standards officers sparks 'vape war' (#1)
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** What does the new underage vaping clampdown need to do to work? (#2)
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** NHS lung cancer trucks boost early diagnoses in deprived areas of England (#3)
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** Ban all gambling adverts, say more than half of Britons (#4)
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** Britain has an obesity crisis. We won’t solve it until we start listening to ‘nanny’ (#5)
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** Richard Madeley Interview: This much I know (#6)
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** UK
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**

One of the world’s biggest tobacco firms has been accused of starting a vape war by reporting a smaller rival to Trading Standards officers. British American Tobacco acted after China’s Elfbar sold vapes with more nicotine liquid than permitted.

Elfbar removed the products from shelves in February after allegations in a Daily Mail story.
The firm met the regulator and said it would be working with Trading Standards to ensure the withdrawal was carried out effectively.

Weeks later, BAT claimed its own tests on Elfbar 600 and Lost Mary vapes found 71 batches that broke rules. BAT chief Sam Millicheap wrote to Trading Standards: “I hope you find this information useful for any enforcement action.” But a Trading Standards officer told [The Mirror] they took no action, adding: “The real problems are illegal products.”

Elfbar claims BAT’s complaint came after it snubbed a takeover bid.

Source: The Mirror, 22 April 2023

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The government’s new mission is to “stop kids getting hooked on vaping”, health minister Neil O’Brien announced this month. The clampdown is two-pronged. First, £3m for a Trading Standards-led ‘enforcement squad’ to stop vapes being sold to youngsters. Second, an industry call for evidence to help find ways to reduce vaping’s appeal to young people. But will the moves have an impact on underage use?

Enforcement: £3m will be put towards tackling underage sales and fund testing products for non-compliance – costing around £200 per device with additional costs for safe disposal, regulatory guidance packs and more.

Flavours: The government has asked industry for views and data on the appeal of certain flavours to children, with some evidence already to hand. A 2021 PHE-funded analysis found fruit and sweet flavour categories were particularly popular among young people, as were “flavours with names mimicking alcoholic drinks”.

Packaging: A March study by King’s College London suggested plain packaging could be effective. Researchers showed three types of packaging to teenagers and adults: plain white boxes, plain green boxes and branded packs. Vape displays in stores could also be restricted.

Price: “Children who vape mainly use cheap disposables, which can be bought for under a fiver. They could easily be made less affordable” to youngsters, says Deborah Arnott, CEO of health charity ASH. ASH has called for an excise tax of £4 per disposable, to reduce underage vaping “in one simple step”.

Source: The Grocer, 22 April 2023
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Growing numbers of poorer people are being diagnosed early with lung cancer after the NHS began on-the-spot chest screening in the back of trucks at supermarkets and health centres. Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK and also the country’s biggest cancer killer, claiming 34,800 lives a year or 95 a day.

It is a stark illustration of health inequalities. People in deprived communities have historically been less likely to be diagnosed at an early stage, and so more likely to die sooner, than those in richer areas.

But NHS England’s decision in 2018 to take lung cancer screening directly into poorer neighbourhoods appears to be paying dividends. The proportion of people in the most deprived 20% of England’s population who are diagnosed with the disease at stage one or two, when it is much more treatable, has risen from 30% and then to 34.5% last year, figures show.

Lung trucks operate at 43 sites in England. The UK national screening committee last year recommended that lung cancer screening be rolled out everywhere.

Prompted by the positive results seen so far, NHS England and the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation are launching a campaign using social media and posters in areas where trucks are operating to encourage those invited for a checkup to attend their appointment.

Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2023

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More than half the public would like to see a ban on gambling advertising, according to a new poll taken as ministers prepare to unveil an overhaul of the industry. In the survey, carried out for the charity Gambling with Lives, 52% of respondents said they supported a ban on all gambling advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and nearly two-thirds wanted new limits on online stakes.

Ministers are expected to reject a blanket ban on gambling advertising in a white paper that could be published this week. The Premier League recently announced that its clubs would end shirt sponsorship by gambling firms by the end of the 2025/26 season.

Will Prochaska of Gambling with Lives, which supports families bereaved by gambling-related suicide, said: “This poll displays the strength of public sentiment on gambling advertising. The Premier League’s decision to remove ads from shirts but leave them all over stadiums and across broadcasts, is a cynical attempt to avoid regulation. This data shows the public won’t be tricked into thinking it’s enough. If gambling reforms fail to significantly restrict gambling advertising, they’ll be woefully out of step with a public that expects action.”

A spokesperson for the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) said: “The BGC’s largest members have pledged an additional £110m of funding over four years for research, education and treatment services to tackle gambling harm. The BGC has endorsed making contributions mandatory and would support a new scheme as long as funds are distributed effectively and independently.

Source: The Observer, 23 April 2023

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Opinion by Will Hutton

“Last week, the Institute for Government set out the roots of Britain’s obesity crisis – and the failures of our leaders since 1992 to come up with a sustained, effective response [...] Despite the evidence from the success of banning smoking in public places, governments have been terrified of “nannying” accusations. Thus the retreat to ask for only voluntary action by industry, with consumers left to take responsibility guided by food labelling or educational campaigns. Theresa May’s successful sugary drinks tax is almost the only example of effective state action.

"Urging individual responsibility in an environment that supplies ever more of what makes us ill is bound to be a failure. Instead, the report proposes a long-term obesity strategy, with a new food and health policy unit strengthening the Food Standards Agency and local government’s powers – and to stress the urgency to the public.

"All good recommendations, but hard to make work in a Westminster in which turf wars and ever changing policies are hardwired. In any case, the proposals are predicated on ministers having a Damascene conversion to effective collective action. For example, there is zero comprehension of the role of well-designed autonomous public institutions in delivering economic and social outcomes: they are quangos and busybodies to be avoided and, if possible, abolished – even if, like Public Health England, it’s your own government’s initiative."

Source: The Observer, 23 April 2023
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**

The TV presenter, 66, talks about teenage car crashes, packing in smoking, how he became a journalist and why taking yourself seriously is daft.

“I smoked 60 cigarettes a day through my 20s. For decades I failed to quit. That changed when Judy [Finnigan] and I interviewed Nigella Lawson’s late husband John Diamond, who was charting his slow death from smoking-induced throat and oral cancer. Afterwards, I flushed my B&Hs down the toilet and haven’t touched one since."

Source: The Observer, 23 April 2023

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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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