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Cigarette packs could carry anti-smoking message inserts
Messages encouraging UK smokers to quit could be placed inside packets of cigarettes under draft proposals being considered by the government.
The inserts would list the health and financial benefits of trying to stop and highlight support available, the Department of Health said.
They are already used in other countries including Canada and Israel.
According to the NHS, about 76,000 people in England die from smoking every year.
The numbers of smokers in the UK are at their lowest on record but about six million people, or 13% of the population, are still thought to have the habit, according to a survey carried out for the Office for National Statistics in 2021.
The government has pledged to end smoking in England by 2030, equating to reducing smoking rates to 5% or less of the population. Earlier this year experts predicted that target would be missed without further action.
The Department of Health said an evaluation of the impact in Canada found that smokers exposed to the inserts were significantly more likely to try to give up.
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health said: "It takes smokers on average 30 attempts before they succeed in stopping, so encouraging them to keep on trying is vital.
"Pack inserts do this by backing up the grim messages about death and disease on the outside with the best advice about how to quit on the inside."
The consultation runs until October and is seeking views on the government's proposals.
Source: BBC, 14 August 2023
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Many cancer waiting time targets set to be dropped in England
Two-thirds of NHS cancer waiting time targets are expected to be scrapped in England, in a move the health service says aims to catch cancers earlier.
NHS bosses want to reduce the number of targets, most of which have been routinely missed in recent years, from nine to three.
They say the plan is backed by leading cancer experts and will simplify the "outdated" standards.
But the head of the Radiotherapy UK charity said she is "deeply worried".
Pat Price, who is also an oncologist and visiting professor at Imperial College London, said current performance was "shockingly bad", and while too many targets could be disruptive, "the clear and simple truth is that we are not investing enough in cancer treatment capacity".
Naser Turabi, Cancer Research UK's director of evidence and implementation, said of the figures last week: "Despite the best efforts of NHS staff, it's incredibly worrying that cancer waiting times in England are once again amongst the worst on record."
He blamed the missed targets on "years of underinvestment" by the government and called for more cancer staff and a clear strategy.
"Without bold action, more people will miss out on lifesaving services," he said.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made cutting waiting lists one of his five priorities. His pledge only refers to waiting lists in England, because Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland manage their own health systems.
However, the overall number of patients waiting for treatment in England rose from 7.47 million in May to 7.57 million in June.
Source: BBC news, 14 August 2023
See also: Cancer Research UK - Cancer waiting times: Latest updates and analysis
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The Guardian view on ultra-processed food: blame business, not consumers
This Guardian editorial discusses the popularity of ultra-processed foods (UPF), which now makes up over half of the average UK diet. These foods can be defined as containing ingredients that wouldn’t generally be found in the kitchen and are often high in salt, fat and sugar.
Dr Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People, notes that UPF “damages the human body and increases rates of cancer, metabolic disease and mental illness”.
These foods are cheap to produce and transport, have long shelf lives and are designed to make us buy more and more in order to increase sales. The editorial writes that the consumption of UPF is not due to greed or laziness but rather “poverty, intensive marketing and foods designed to keep us eating”.
The editorial notes that tackling big food is harder than tackling big tobacco because it involves tackling a broad range of products that are integral to many people’s lives.
Henry Dimbleby set out how we could tackle this issue in the 2021 national food strategy, which was commissioned by Theresa May but has been essentially “ignored by her successors”.
Concluding, the editorial sets out a number of proposals for reducing demand for UPF, including reducing poverty, expanding eligibility for free school meals, reducing the use of UPF in schools, hospitals and prisons, greater education around the risks of UPF and limiting marketing of foods high in fat, salt and sugar.
Source: The Guardian, 13 August 2023
See also: Henry Dimbleby – National Food Strategy
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New Zealand's youth vaping crisis clouds smoke-free future
Coco, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, was 12 when she vaped for the first time. She's now 15 and trying to quit.
It's illegal to sell vapes to under 18s in New Zealand, but Coco said that never stopped her or her friends.
"The older kids sell to the younger kids and lots of shops don't check IDs," she said.
New Zealand is on target to becoming smoke-free by 2025. This means being cigarette and tobacco free and that's where vaping comes in. For long-term adult smokers, it's seen as a less harmful alternative but the flipside to that is the exponential rise and accessibility of vaping to teenagers and at times younger children.
According to data released last year, the number of teenagers in New Zealand who vaped regularly had tripled between 2019 and 2021.
The government has defended vaping, arguing that evidence is growing that vaping can help people quit smoking. But at the same time it has acknowledged the sharp rise in youth vaping, and has implemented new rules.
The new regulations include banning most disposable vapes, not allowing new vape shops within 300m (900ft) of any schools, and enforcing generic flavour descriptions.
There are no rules however to regulate the vast variety of the flavours themselves.
Neighbouring Australia has taken a hard-line approach, moving to ban recreational vaping and making it prescription only.
Ben Youdan, who has worked in tobacco control and campaigning for nearly 20 years both in the UK and New Zealand, said banning vaping only drives it to the black market rather than get young kids off it.
"It's a phenomenon that is happening whether you ban it or not," he added.
Mr Youdan is now director of Ash NZ, a lobby group campaigning for a smoke free New Zealand. He said when discussing vaping one should not lose sight of the bigger picture.
"There's no doubt that our smoking rates have benefited hugely from tens of thousands of people switching from smoking to vaping. We've seen smoking rates here drop by a third in the last two or three years. It really is unprecedented," he says.
He added that while a number of youths have become vape-dependent and need to be treated, there's a large spectrum of teens who are also experimenting. "Not all kids are addicted," he said.
Source: BBC, 13 August 2023
See also: ASH – Resources on youth vaping
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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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