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** 18 August 2023
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** UK
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** Thousands of illegal cigarettes and 50 kilos of tobacco worth £18,000 seized from Kent shops (#6)
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** Opinion: Scarlett McNally: Let’s focus on tertiary prevention and perioperative care (#1)
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** International
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** Egyptians smoke '100 billion cigarettes a year' claims tobacco chief (#2)
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** U.S. Cigarette Smoking Rate Steady Near Historical Low (#3)
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** Link of the week
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** Major conditions strategy: case for change and our strategic framework (#4)
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** Mandating quit information messages inside tobacco packs (#5)
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** UK
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** Thousands of illegal cigarettes and 50 kilos of tobacco worth £18,000 seized from Kent shops

40,000 illegal cigarettes and 50 kilos of tobacco worth thousands of pounds has been seized from two shops in Maidstone in Kent.

Police say two shops were found to be in order while, but at two other locations, 40,000 cigarettes and around 50 kilos of rolling tobacco with a combined value of £18,000, were seized.

Checks carried out outside each property uncovered cigarettes concealed in a car boot.

Clive Phillips, Operations Manager for Kent Trading Standards, said: "Working alongside Kent Police officers, we have removed a significant amount of illegal tobacco from shops in Maidstone as a result of information received. Illegal tobacco brings organised crime into the community and undermines legitimate businesses.

"Trading Standards urges anyone with concerns about illegal tobacco in their neighbourhood to report the matter."

Source: ITV News, 14 August 2023
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** Opinion: Scarlett McNally: Let’s focus on tertiary prevention and perioperative care

Professor Scarlett McNally, a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, writes in the British Medical Journal about the benefits of prevention and the new report A Covenant for Health ([link removed]) which looks into “where to act to improve health: nutrition, exercise, pollution, smoking, alcohol, and promotion of mental health.”

McNally predicts that the reports suggestions on prevention, although “well intentioned” fall short as it concentrates on primary prevention which is “reducing the risk of ever getting a condition in the first place”. She says tertiary prevention, “meaning that once someone has a medical condition, we should focus on interventions that might reduce complications from it” is the key as humans need to see benefits to their actions.

McNally uses the example of exercise for the elderly, citing “the UK’s chief medical officers recommend increasing physical activity in frail older people to reduce falls” and with the UK’s population of over 65 making up 19% of the overall population, exercise could benefit “millions”.

McNally urges the NHS to “invest more in prevention at the most intense interventional part of healthcare: surgery.” The Centre for Perioperative Care found that patients who engaged in preventative measures before surgery can reduce complications by 30-80%, “reduce bed stay by one to two days, dramatically cut the need for postoperative intensive care, and increase the number of people treated as day patients.”

McNally ends by saying “even modest prevention of ill health would tangibly improve patients’ lives and avoid unwarranted NHS pharmacy and care costs.”

Source: The BMJ, 2 August 2023
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** International
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** Egyptians smoke '100 billion cigarettes a year' claims tobacco chief

Egyptians smoke around 100 billion cigarettes a year, the chief executive of Egypt’s largest cigarette manufacturer has said.

Eastern Company (EC) CEO Hany Aman said approximately 18 percent of the country's population are smokers, Arab News reported.

Aman's remarks come amid a spike in demand for cigarettes in Egypt, with consumers speculating that new taxes will soon be introduced.

Since June, the price of a pack of locally produced cigarettes has risen from 24 Egyptian pounds to 60 pounds, according to Egypt's Ahram Online.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 80 percent of the world's 1.3 billion tobacco users live in low- and middle-income countries.

Tobacco use is estimated to kill some 8 million people annually, 1.2 million of whom die as the result of being exposed to second-hand smoke.

Source: The New Arab, 17 August 2023
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** U.S. Cigarette Smoking Rate Steady Near Historical Low

Gallup’s latest update on cigarette smoking finds 12% of U.S. adults saying they smoked cigarettes in the past week, similar to the 11% measured a year ago but significantly lower than any other year in Gallup’s nearly 80-year trend.

When Gallup first asked about cigarette smoking in 1944, 41% of U.S. adults said they smoked. A decade later, a historical high of 45% was reached. From then, smoking rates gradually descended, falling permanently below 30% in 1989 and 20% in 2015.

The survey finds 76% of U.S. adults saying cigarettes are “very harmful” to people who use them, significantly more than for other tobacco-related products like pipes and cigars, as well as other substances like marijuana and alcohol.

A major reason for the decline in smoking is that fewer young adults today than in prior decades are smoking cigarettes. Typically, young adults had much higher smoking rates than other age groups. Whereas 35% of young adults said they smoked cigarettes in 2001-2003, the figure has dropped to 10% in 2019-2023 data.

In addition to asking about cigarette smoking, the poll asked about vaping, or e-cigarette use. Eight percent of U.S. adults say they used e-cigarettes in the past week, consistent with what Gallup has measured on three other occasions since 2019.

Young adults are the most likely to vape, with those under age 30 more than twice as likely as any other age group to smoke e-cigarettes.

In fact, vaping is now more common than cigarette smoking among young adults (18% vs. 10%, respectively). But marijuana usage surpasses both of those products among young adults; since 2019, an average of 27% of 18- to 29-year-olds have said they smoke marijuana.

Source: Gallup News, 18 August 2023
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** Link of the week
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** Major conditions strategy: case for change and our strategic framework

This week, the government published their policy paper ‘Major conditions strategy: case for change and our strategic framework’ which outlines the governments health strategies for the UK, which has set out three aims; narrow the healthy life expectancy gap; reduce ill-health related labour market inactivity; and alleviate pressure on the health service.

See also: NHS ConFed ([link removed].) and The Health Foundation ([link removed]) responses to the Major conditions strategy: case for change.
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** Mandating quit information messages inside tobacco packs

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** The Government is holding a consultation about the UK mandating quit themed information messages and advice (also called pack inserts) inside tobacco packets to help more smokers quit. The inserts would list the health and financial benefits of trying to stop and highlight support available.

According to the NHS, about 76,000 people in the UK die from smoking every year. The government has pledged to end smoking in England by 2030, equating to reducing smoking rates to 5% or less of the population, however experts have predicted that this target would be missed without further action.

This consultation closes at 11:59pm on 10 October 2023, click here ([link removed]) to respond to the consultation.
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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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