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** 20 September 2023
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** UK
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** Investigation launched over Premier League players' 'widespread' use of snus (#1)
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** End of salt reduction drive led to 24,000 premature deaths in England – study (#2)
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** Sadiq Khan says hundreds of thousands spent on anti-Ulez Twitter manipulation (#3)
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** International
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** Summit featuring Tony Blair and Sadiq Khan cuts tobacco ties after this newsletter's revelations (#4)
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** Philip Morris to consider stake sale in biggest pharma unit (#6)
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** Parliamentary activity
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** Parliamentary (#7) questions (#7)
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** UK
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** Investigation launched over Premier League players' 'widespread' use of snus

An investigation has been launched into the “widespread” use among Premier League footballers of a tobacco product.

Snus, a smokeless product that comes in a tea pouch and is placed between the gum and top lip, is banned from sale in the UK and every country in the European Union except Sweden, but is legal to consume and is not on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances.

It releases nicotine into the bloodstream which is addictive. There is mounting concern inside professional football over its prevalence and reports of it being offered to academy players as young as 13.

Lee Johnson, the former Sunderland manager who is now managing League Two Fleetwood, has described snus as “very detrimental to performance” and a “big big problem in football”.

The joint PFA/Loughborough investigation will last 12 months and seek both to identify how many professional players are using snus, while also raising awareness of its negative health impacts.

This will involve reviewing existing evidence, interviewing players and staff, and surveys of PFA members.

Source: The Telegraph, 19 September 2023
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** End of salt reduction drive led to 24,000 premature deaths in England – study

Thousands of people have died avoidably after the government stopped telling the food industry to cut how much salt it puts into its products, research has found.

Salt is a significant cause of high blood pressure, which leads to tens of thousand of people a year suffering or dying from a heart attack or stroke.

The average amount of salt that people in England consumed fell by almost 20% after the Food Standards Agency (FSA) initiated a programme in 2006 in which food manufacturers reduced the salt content of scores of different types of processed and prepared foods.

The coalition government abandoned that interventionist approach in 2011. Its “public health responsibility deal” instead let food producers once again set their own salt levels. The deal was heavily criticised by public health experts for relying on voluntary efforts by firms to create healthier products rather than the FSA’s tougher regulatory tactics.

Abandoning salt reduction targets also led to a levelling-off of both population-wide blood pressure levels and also the rate of deaths from heart attacks and strokes, both of which had fallen after foodstuffs become less salt, the findings say.

A team of researchers led by Dr Jing Song from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) calculated that if the salt reduction drive had continued, average intake would have fallen by a further 1.45g a day between 2014 and 2018. “This would have prevented over 38,000 deaths from strokes and heart disease in just a four-year period, of which 24,000 would have been premature,” they said.

The research was co-authored by Graham MacGregor, a professor of cardiovascular disease at QMUL who is also the chair of the campaign group Action on Salt. He said: “It is now up to the government to set up a coherent strategy where the food industry is instructed what to do, rather than the food industry telling the government what to do.”

Source: The Guardian, 19 September 2023
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** Sadiq Khan says hundreds of thousands spent on anti-Ulez Twitter manipulation

Sadiq Khan is expected to claim that “hundreds of thousands of dollars” were spent on an anti-Ulez online manipulation campaign on Twitter, citing research conducted after Labour’s unexpected Uxbridge byelection defeat.

The London mayor, who will speak at a conference in New York on Tuesday, said he feared that disinformation and manipulation campaigns were “spreading apace” but it was not always clear who was behind them.

According to remarks released before his speech, Khan will tell social media companies: “You do not need to wait to be led. You wield incredible power. It’s long overdue you meet your responsibilities and bear down on the attempts to distort truth.”

The mayor said there was evidence that “hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on the anti-Ulez online manipulation campaign on Twitter alone” but “we have no idea who was behind the campaign”.

Research conducted by the social media analysts Valent in July concluded there was evidence of “an extensive online campaign targeted to undermine support for the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez)” before the Uxbridge byelection.

It found that 48% of the accounts on Twitter, now known as X, mentioning Ulez were created after November 2022, and of those about 90% “exhibited signs of inauthenticity”, using generic names and with a high proportion of fake followers.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the anti-Ulez misinformation assault was a precursor for a much larger attack on future climate and environmental policies,” the mayor is expected to add, when he speaks at the Strong Cities Network at Columbia University in New York.

Source: The Guardian, 19 September 2023
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** International
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** Summit featuring Tony Blair and Sadiq Khan cuts tobacco ties after this newsletter's revelations

A major international summit has cut all ties with the tobacco industry, after this newsletter revealed on Friday that the conference had been funded by tobacco giant Philip Morris International.

Last week’s scoop prompted calls for Tony Blair and Sadiq Khan to pull out of the Concordia summit, which runs alongside the UN General Assembly in New York this week.

Concordia has now severed all ties with the tobacco industry after its links with Philip Morris were exposed.

Self-described ‘as the leading public-private sector forum’ that runs alongside the UN General Assembly, Concordia’s annual summit starts in New York today.

Philip Morris had been a ‘patron’ of Concordia and its CEO Jacek Olczak was listed among the speakers at the summit.

Asked about Concordia’s links with Big Tobacco on Friday, a spokesman told this newsletter “we welcome the participation of diverse views at our events.”

But on Saturday night, just over 24 hours after Democracy for Sale exposed Concordia’s ties to the tobacco lobby, the summit’s co-founder and CEO Matthew Swift announced on X a “new policy of not working with any tobacco companies, starting with the 2023 Annual Summit.”

The name of Philip Morris CEO Jacek Olcak was swiftly removed from Concordia’s website, as was the text of his speech. Philip Morris’s name was removed from the list of Concordia patrons.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of anti-smoking charity ASH (UK) said, "At last Concordia has cut its ties with Big Tobacco, after many years of protests and pressure from the UN's World Health Organisation, and civil society organisations round the world.

“Tobacco is on track to kill over a billion people this century, mainly in low and middle income countries, it's astonishing that Concordia ever believed allowing Big Tobacco to use them as a lobbying tool was in any way acceptable.”

Source: Democracy for Sale Substack, 18 September 2023
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** Philip Morris to consider stake sale in biggest pharma unit

Marlboro maker Philip Morris International is considering selling a stake in Vectura, its biggest pharmaceutical unit.

The tobacco company told the Journal that it was looking to bring on a partner to help operate and grow Vectura’s drug manufacturing outsourcing business, and could possibly sell a majority or a minority stake.

Philip Morris bought UK-based Vectura, which makes asthma inhalers, for 1.1 billion pounds ($1.36 billion) two years ago, saying it was a part of its long-term plan to switch to being a "broader healthcare and wellness" company.

It also acquired nicotine gum maker Fertin Pharma for over $800 million and respiratory drug development company OtiTopic in the same year.

Source: Reuters, 20 September 2023
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** Parliamentary activity
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** Parliamentary Questions

Asked by Mary Glindon, Labour, North Tyneside

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of (a) the industry proposal to introduce fines of £10,000 to retailers found selling e-cigarettes to children and (b) other alternative strategies to reduce youth access to single use e-cigarettes.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of how many vapers will switch to cigarettes if the sale of single-use e-cigarettes is banned.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had discussions with (a) Trading Standards and (b) other bodies on the practicalities of implementing a ban on single-use e-cigarettes.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential (a) health and (b) economic impact of banning the sale of single-use e-cigarettes on ex-smokers with low incomes.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to publish a consultation on banning the sale of single-use e-cigarettes.

Answered by Neil O’Brien, Conservative, Minister for Primary Care and Public Health

No assessment has been made of the proposal to introduce fines of £10,000 to retailers found selling vapes (e-cigarettes) to children. The Government recently ran a call for evidence on youth vaping, which closed on 6 June. This will identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vaping products and explore where the Government can go further, including on single use vapes. We will respond to the call for evidence shortly.

Source: Hansard, 18 September 2023
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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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