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Number of young Londoners smoking halves in decade amid rise in vaping
The proportion of young people in London who smoke has halved in over a decade, new figures have revealed, amid a sharp rise in vaping.
Analysis by the Standard shows that just 10.1 per cent of people aged between 18 and 24 regularly smoked cigarettes in 2022 - a drop of 10.7 per cent on the figure reported in 2011.
Tracy Parr, Programme Director London Tobacco Alliance and Stop Smoking London, told the Standard: “Smoking rates in London may have fallen over the past 12 years, but around a million Londoners still smoke and tobacco remains the single largest cause of health inequalities, preventable illness, and early death in the UK.”
The decline in smoking comes amid a significant rise in the number of young people choosing to vape instead.
A total of 15.5 per cent of Britons aged between 16-24 identified as daily or occasional e-cigarette users in 2022, compared with 11.1 per cent the year before.
The ONS figures also reveal a significant variation in smoking rates across different London boroughs, with more deprived areas seeing a higher rate of smoking than more affluent boroughs.
Hounslow had the highest rate of smoking (16.3 per cent), followed by Haringey (15.9 per cent) and Havering (15.9 per cent). In comparison, just 6.2 per cent of adults in Kingston upon Thames smoked, the lowest figure in the capital. This was followed by Richmond upon Thames (6.4 per cent), Bromley (6.5 per cent) and Sutton (6.9 per cent).
Ms Parr said that the figures showed “a tale of two cities when it comes to the impact that smoking is making on people’s lives and livelihoods”.
“We also know that unemployed people are almost twice as likely to smoke than those who are employed and those in routine and manual jobs are almost three times as likely to smoke than those in managerial positions or professional occupations.”
Source: The Evening Standard, 6 September 2023
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Vape industry body ejects tobacco companies from membership
The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has cut ties with tobacco manufacturers, vowing it will never again accept funding from them.
The association said the move had been made in response to “the ingrained external misperception” that it is “largely financially supported by tobacco firms”.
The UKVIA added that the inclusion of tobacco-owned vaping brands in its membership roster was hobbling it from fully engaging with policymakers, parliamentarians, public health officials and local authorities. The body said it had “underestimated the impact of restrictions” on the involvement of tobacco companies and its ability to meet with “some key stakeholders, particularly those in public health”.
Those restrictions chiefly relate to Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The article states that policymakers should “protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry”.
Most UK government bodies and health authorities cautiously refuse to meet with tobacco linked organisations. Those that must – such as HMRC – insist that any interaction must be essential and extremely limited.
Trading Standards – upon which the vape sector is reliant to stamp out illicit products – is also averse to working with tobacco companies. Guidance, issued in May to officers by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, is scathing of cigarette companies and their “efforts to appear ‘socially responsible”, which it says are “designed to distract attention away from the damage caused by the tobacco industry”.
Source: The Grocer, 6 September 2023
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US: Many people think cannabis smoke is harmless − a physician explains how that belief can put people at risk
Writing in the Conversation, Beth Cohen, Professor of Medicine at the University of California discusses declining tobacco use in the US in contrast to cannabis use which is on the rise. She observes that policies on the two substances are ‘‘moving in different directions’’.
Professor Cohen notes that tobacco policies are becoming more restrictive, with measures put in place to limit areas where people can smoke in public and what products are available. In comparison cannabis is experiencing a relaxation of legislation, with efforts to allow for cannabis exceptions in smokefree laws.
Referencing a study of over 5,000 US adults, Professor Cohen notes that the number of those who thought cannabis was safer than cigarettes has jumped from 26% in 2017 to 44% in 2021.
However, when it comes to providing data on the comparable harms there is a lack of reliable long-term studies. Cohen and her colleagues warn that the view that cannabis smoke is harmless may be a case of ‘’absence of evidence is not evidence of absence’’.
Whilst more research is needed, scientists have already identified chemicals in cannabis and tobacco which share many of the same carcinogens and toxins and note that the combustion of both releases particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs.
However, unlike tobacco, cannabis use has the added complexity of providing some health benefits. It has been shown to be useful in managing chronic pain, reducing the nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy and increasing appetite in those with HIV/AIDS.
Dr Cohen states that much of the information online about the health benefits of cannabis is not supported by scientific research and encourages people who want to learn more to talk to healthcare professionals or “seek sources that present an unbiased view of the scientific evidence”.
Source: The Conversation, 30 August 2023
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Labour reshuffle: Starmer unveils 12 more junior shadow ministers
Labour leader Keir Starmer’s reshuffle of his top team has continued, with the shadow cabinet shakeup followed by 12 new appointments to more junior posts.
Andrew Gwynne moves from shadowing public health to become shadow minister for social care, and Preet Gill, who made way for Lisa Nandy in the international aid brief, will become shadow minister for primary care and public health.
Source: Labour List, 5 September 2023
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