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** 10 July 2023
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** UK
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** Is vaping in pregnancy just as bad as smoking? A new study gets it wrong (#1)
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** Why 83-year-old Dame Esther Rantzen is furious that the Government's screening drive for lung cancer shuns over-75s (#2)
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** Vaping industry hits back after Leeds councillors call for plain packaging for e-cigarettes (#3)
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** Cillian Murphy on Oppenheimer, sex scenes, self-doubt and smoking (#4)
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** International
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** Germany: Minister plans ban on smoking in cars with children (#5)
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** UK
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In an opinion piece for iNews, Stuart Richie counters recent claims from a recent University of Colorado press release that vaping is just as bad as smoking in pregnancy (“Vaping nicotine during pregnancy may be no safer for developing fetus than smoking cigarettes”).
The study involved placing three pregnant mice in an “exposure chamber”, puffing vape gas in every 20 seconds for four hours per day. They were compared to six pregnant mice who formed a control group. The results found that the mice exposed to vaping had smaller litters of babies than the control group, although these differences were not considered statistically significant. The researchers also looked at differences in the face shape of the mice and differences in gene expression.
Richie points out the small sample size (nine mice), the fact the study was carried out on an animal model, and the lack of a statistically significant difference in the results, as reasons why the study and press release could be misleading.
Source: iNews, 6 July 2023 (paywall)
See also:
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** University of Colorado Press Release: “Vaping nicotine during pregnancy may be no safer for developing fetus than smoking cigarettes” ([link removed])
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** Yunus H. Ozekin et al. Intrauterine exposure to nicotine through maternal vaping disrupts embryonic lung and skeletal development via the Kcnj2 potassium channel. ([link removed]) Developmental Biology. Volume 501. 2023. Pages 111-123. [link removed]
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A new programme to screen all current and former smokers for lung cancer has been criticised for excluding people aged over 75. One senior doctor wrote on Twitter last week that he is "perplexed" that the upper age limit for lung screening is 74 when, in the US, it is 80.
One noteworthy critic is veteran broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen, who was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer last year, aged 82. In a letter to The Times last month, the former presenter – who smoked for a decade – pointed out that the screening programme wouldn’t have spotted her cancer and suggested the exclusion of older people was ageist.
Professor David Baldwin, a lung cancer specialist in Nottingham who has been involved in the UK pilot screening trials, says: "There are always going to be fit 90-year-olds with another ten years of a reasonably good quality of life left who may well benefit from screening and having a lung cancer treated.
"That’s why the age bracket seems unfair. But they are generally an exception. Across a whole population, most people over 75 won’t benefit and we may cause them more harm by investigating and treating them."
The National Screening Committee in the UK will be constantly reviewing the evidence. If it finds there may greater benefits – and reduced harms – for adults outside the current age range, it could change the parameters.
Source: Mail Online, 8 July 2023
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The vaping industry has said that it strongly opposes plain packaging for e-cigarettes, after councillors in Leeds criticised the way the products are marketed.
The tobacco industry funded UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) says such a move, which was recently proposed by the Children’s Commissioner, would “conflate vaping and smoking”. A Leeds council scrutiny meeting was told on Wednesday that underage teenagers are flocking to the city centre to buy vapes from certain shops.
Conservative councillor Dan Cohen claimed the marketing of e-cigarettes was “outrageous”, saying they were “unambiguously designed to attract young people”. The bright colouring and flavouring within vapes were among the features highlighted in the criticism.
Responding to the concerns, the UKVIA said youth vaping “has to be urgently tackled”, but they insisted banning single-use vapes and bringing in plain packaging was not the answer.
Source: Yorkshire Evening Post, 10 July 2023
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If Peaky Blinders made the Irish actor a household name, will Christopher Nolan’s nuclear blockbuster send him into the stratosphere? In a Guardian interview, Cillian Murphy talks about extreme weight loss, hating school and why his next character won’t be a smoker.
Oppenheimer subsisted on little more than Chesterfield cigarettes and double-strength martinis, rims dipped in lime. “Cigarettes and pipes. He would alternate between the two. That’s what did for him in the end,” Murphy adds, a nod to the scientist’s death from cancer in 1967. “I’ve smoked so many fake cigarettes for Peaky and this. My next character will not be a smoker. They can’t be good for you. Even herbal cigarettes have health warnings now.”
Source: The Guardian, 8 July 2023
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** International
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The German Health Minister, Karl Lauterbach, is pushing for a ban to prevent smoking in cars where children and pregnant women are passengers, German media group Redaktions Netzwerk Deutschland (RND) reported on Friday. RND, as well as other outlets, cited a draft by Lauterbach that will be coordinated with other ministries before he presents it to the Cabinet.
Smoking in cars is not currently illegal in Germany. The plan, which is part of Lauterbach's draft proposal to legalise cannabis, aims to expand the existing Non-Smokers Protection Act.
The expansion of the smoking ban, which already applies in public transport, is intended to "ensure the necessary protection from passive smoking for this particularly vulnerable group of people," according to the draft cited by RND. Smoking in cars has been proven to pose higher risks due to the small space volume.
The draft also includes applying the ban to tobacco cigarettes, e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and cannabis — although such details could be changed during discussions with ministers.
A government statement said a ban on smoking in cars with children would be "unconditionally welcomed." But with cars representing private, personal space, it warned of constitutional concerns over any such ban.
Since 2019, several German states have launched initiatives to ban smoking in cars with children. Violations could be punished with fines of up to €3,000.
Source: Deutsche Welle, 7 July 2023
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