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** 7 June 2023
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** UK
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** Ministers launch £40m pilot scheme to trial wider access to slimming jab (#1)
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** Toy-shaped vape is among hundreds seized in County Durham (#2)
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** Timetable set for consultation into financial risk checks (#3)
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** UK
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** Ministers launch £40m pilot scheme to trial wider access to slimming jab

Ministers are launching a £40m pilot scheme to trial wider access to the controversial slimming jab Wegovy, to examine how people could receive the drug outside hospitals.

Under current advice from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence drugs regulator, Wegovy is only given via specialist weight management services, usually based in hospitals.

A lack of capacity in these would limit the drug to about 35,000 people at a time in England, with the government keen for a potentially broader rollout of the drug, weekly injections of which are said to help patients lose up to 15% of their body weight.

A less-closely regulated use of Wegovy, the UK brand name for the appetite suppressant Semaglutide that is manufactured by Danish company Novo Nordisk, could be contentious given recent concerns about the lasting effectiveness of the treatment.

The pilot will explore ideas such as GPs prescribing the drug or similar treatments, and how wider support could be given in the community or digitally to lessen pressure on hospitals.

While obesity and its associated health effects are a significant strain on the NHS, costing it £6.5bn a year, it remains to be seen whether drug-based treatments can make a notable difference when years of effort involving diet- and lifestyle-based interventions have not.

The government has been accused of being timid over more traditional means to combat obesity.

While there have been some measures, such as calorie labelling on some menus and limitations on the location of unhealthy foods in shops, there has been a delay to other measures, such as restrictions on multi-buy deals for unhealthy products and on the advertising of junk food.

Source: The Guardian, 6 June 2023
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** Toy-shaped vape is among hundreds seized in County Durham

Hundreds of illegal oversized vapes – including a brightly coloured product shaped like a children’s toy – have been seized in a huge County Durham crackdown.

Officers from the trading standards department at Durham County Council visited three shops in the county after receiving intelligence from the public.

326 illegal vapes were seized for having tanks with a capacity exceeding the 2ml legal limit.

Among them was a bright pink vape manufactured to look like a children’s milkshake – despite containing highly addictive nicotine, and its tank being ten times the legal size.

Cllr John Shuttleworth, the Cabinet member for highways, rural communities and community safety, said: “Retailers must make sure the products they sell comply with UK regulations.

“All of the vapes seized in this operation had oversized tanks and none of them had been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

“We encourage all retailers to ensure they only source such products from a reputable supplier.

UK law bans the sale of nicotine products to those under 18, and limits how much nicotine and e-liquid can be contained in disposable vapes.

Since March last year, Durham County Council’s trading standards officers have seized almost 5,500 illegal vapes worth an estimated £66,000.

Source: The Northern Echo, 6 June 2023

See also: ASH – Response to government vaping consultation ([link removed]) | ASH - 2023 youth vaping survey ([link removed])
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** Timetable set for consultation into financial risk checks

Culture secretary Lucy Frazer told MPs on Tuesday she would be holding her department's "feet to the fire" as she outlined the areas contained within the gambling white paper which will go to consultation this summer – including the issue of financial risk checks for punters.

The government's long-delayed proposals for gambling reform were finally published in April with a number due to go to further consultations carried out by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Gambling Commission.

Ministers have said they expect the resulting main measures to be in place by the summer of 2024, and it is expected that financial risk checks will be among them.

Frazer said the DCMS would launch consultations on online slot stake limits, land-based measures and the statutory levy on operators to pay for the treatment of problem gambling. The Gambling Commission's consultations would include financial risk checks.

Ministers have said financial risk checks should be "frictionless" and conducted through credit reference agencies (CRAs) or open banking, with requests for documents used only as a last resort.

Source: The Racing Post, 6 June 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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