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‘I don’t want people to live with regret’ South Shields cancer survivor urges smokers in the region to quit
A cancer survivor from South Shields is now urging 314,000 smokers in the region to quit, as part of a campaign by Fresh.
Sue Mountain, aged 57 started smoking at the age of 11. “I did it to fit in, it was the in thing”, she explained.
In 2012, at the age of 48 Sue was diagnosed with cancer of the voice box. She received laser treatment. “I continued to smoke despite this, because of the addiction”, Sue explained.
Sadly, Sue was diagnosed once again with cancer in 2017, which had returned in a much more aggressive form, meaning Sue had to undergo radiotherapy to treat it.
Sue decided to quit for good after she was diagnosed for the second time. She had support from a friend who said to her: “You dare start smoking again!” and Sue recounted that her friend’s firm words stuck with her.
Sue said that she was forced to quit due to the radiotherapy, but she is urging others to quit before it gets to that point. “I don’t want people to be forced to quit when it is too late, I don’t want them to live with regret,” she said.
She continued: “People always think it won’t happen to them, I was one of the many people that thought that, but it does happen”
Sue is still regularly checked for cancer every three months. “Although I’m clear, it is still a worry every day.”
Fresh launched the Smoking Survivors campaign on Monday, June 19. Sue is one of two women diagnosed in their 40s, alongside 57-year-old Cathy Hunt from Durham, who are behind the campaign, telling their stories in order to help others to understand the devastating impact smoking can have.
Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “Cathy and Sue are incredibly brave and inspiring people. Their only hope is to prevent more families in our region from going through the worry and the pain from smoking that they went through. This campaign gives them and others like them a voice to share their lived experience.”
Source: The Shields Gazette, 27 June 2023
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Call to raise 'life-saving' minimum alcohol price in Scotland
Scotland should increase its minimum unit price for alcohol from 50p to 65p, campaigners have said.
It came as a final evaluation of the policy found that it reduced alcohol-related deaths and hospital admissions, and lowered alcohol consumption.
In May 2018, Scotland became the first country in the world to set a minimum price of alcohol, with an initial price of 50p a unit.
Since then academics have been evaluating the impact minimum unit pricing (MUP) has had on Scotland. A new Public Health Scotland report collates 40 studies to examine the policy's effect on health, business and public attitudes.
Overall, the report claims MUP "had a positive impact on health outcomes, including addressing alcohol-related health inequalities".
It said it reduced deaths directly caused by alcohol consumption by 13.4% and hospital admissions by 4.1%.
Elena Whitham MSP, minister for drug and alcohol policy, hailed the policy as having a "positive impact in cutting alcohol consumption" and that the Scottish government would now conduct its own review of the findings.
Source: BBC News, 27 June 2023
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Portugal: Calls for approval of tobacco control laws without exceptions
A group of organisations say that the package of measures to control smoking approved by the Government must be fully approved in parliament, because it is “the lever” necessary to curb the consumption of tobacco and nicotine.
For the group of entities headed by the Portuguese Society of Pneumology, which had already warned of this situation in a letter sent at the end of May to the Government and parliament, there can be no improvement in the health of the population or sustainability of the Serviço Nacional de Saúde (National Health Service) “without robust measures to promote health and the prevention of chronic diseases”.
The letter is now released in the context of the parliamentary debate on the new tobacco law, with the signatories calling "on behalf of civil society organisations, public health, tobacco control and patient associations in the country", for the directive regarding the withdrawal of certain exemptions applicable to heated tobacco products is quickly transposed into national law and that the law is passed, "in accordance with public health science and evidence (proof) of tobacco control".
"Portugal pays a high price for its inertia in tobacco control, both in economic costs and in damage to the health and well-being of its citizens", say the organizations, stressing that the majority of Portuguese support tobacco control policies, according to Eurobarometers.
They also argue that the marketing, promotion, sponsorship and advertising of tobacco and nicotine products (electronic devices) must “be effectively eliminated” through strong regulation. "All these measures must be approved and must not be weakened", they say.
Source: The Portugal News, 27 June 2023
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New Zealand: Trial to help Kiwis quit vaping among projects funded by $53 million Govt grant
A new trial aimed at helping Kiwis quit vaping is among the projects being funded by a multi-million dollar Government grant.
The $53.7m will fund 44 programmes in New Zealand’s health system.
University of Auckland’s Associate Professor Natalie Walker said her team will use a portion of the grant to carry out clinical trials into two methods of low-cost interventions to help New Zealanders stop vaping.
Walker said little evidence exists on the best way to support those attempting to quit vaping. As the Government continues to increase new tobacco control policies, Walker said it is inevitable that vaping in New Zealand will rise.
“These policy changes in the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan will make medical nicotine replacement therapy and vapes [e-cigarettes] the only legal nicotine available for smokers to manage withdrawal symptoms,” Walker said.
The Government also started to crack down on vaping this month with several new regulations. Walker said her trial will also assess whether interventions for quitting vaping have any unintended consequences on smoking rates.
Source: NZHerald, 27 June 2023
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