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** 2 November 2023
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** UK
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** Hard-hitting quit smoking campaign launches in Greater Manchester aiming to create a smokefree city-region (#1)
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** Chartered Trading Standards Institute: October 2023: News and Policy Round Up (#2)
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** International
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** Australia: The tobacco industry claims smoking reforms fuel the black market. Health experts say this is wrong (#3)
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** UK
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** Hard-hitting quit smoking campaign launches in Greater Manchester aiming to create a smokefree city-region

A new hard-hitting quit smoking campaign launches today from Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership as part of wider ambitions to become a smokefree city-region by 2030.

The ‘What Will You Miss’ campaign, features on TV, radio, and social media, as well as across Greater Manchester boroughs – with a stark message for residents that data suggests up to two in three smokers will die early if they don’t take the steps to quit.

It comes as the Government has launched a UK-wide consultation to stop the start of young people taking up smoking and end the harm it causes. Additional funding has been announced for mass media campaigns across the country and the new Greater Manchester campaign highlights the importance of hard-hitting health messages for people to make changes to quit smoking.

In Greater Manchester, it’s estimated that around 5,700 people die each year from smoking-related illnesses, with 150,000 smokers living in ill-health and almost 15,000 out of work due to smoking-related Illness.

Dr Matt Evison, Clinical Lead for Greater Manchester’s tobacco control programme Make Smoking History, said: “Most people who smoke get addicted as children and desperately want to stop. This new campaign emphasises that people who smoke won’t escape its harms.

“As a respiratory consultant, I sadly see the impact of smoking every day and I know what it’s like to tell someone that they won’t see their child or grandchild grow up, get married, and enjoy all the things they’re most looking forward to. There is no greater thing that someone can do for their health than stop smoking.”

Hazel Cheeseman, Deputy Chief Executive of ASH, said: “While most smokers know they are risking their health few fully understand just how risky smoking is nor the impact getting ill will have on those around them. The Prime Minister’s commitment to create a smokefree generation will have been a wake-up call for many and campaigns like this will further encourage smokers to quit. This is a vital part of a strategy to make smoking history.”

Source: About Manchester, 1 November 2023

Watch here: [link removed] ([link removed])
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** Chartered Trading Standards Institute: October 2023: News and Policy Round Up

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** The surge in disposable vape usage has become a cause for concern due to its association with heightened youth vaping rates, environmental repercussions, and the proliferation of illicit vape products that fail to meet UK standards. Earlier this month, CTSI hosted our second webinar Spotlight on…Vaping – next steps, which was very well attended by members. We heard from a range of key stakeholders in this space, including Deborah Arnott of ASH. The recording of the webinar and each of the speaker’s slides will be posted on the Vaping Hub on the CTSI website.

CTSI Lead Officer for Vaping, Kate Pike was a featured speaker at a webinar hosted by ASH on the government consultation creating a smokefree generation ([link removed]) .

The webinar was chaired by Ailsa Rutter, Director of Fresh/Balance. The speakers were:
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** Prof Sir Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer
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** Sarah Price, Chief Officer for Population Health and Inequalities and Deputy Chief Executive of NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care
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** Simon Bryant, DPH Hampshire County Council and Isle of Wight Council and ADPH Addiction PAG
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** Kate Pike, Lead Officer for Vaping, Chartered Trading Standards Institute
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** Cllr Jim Dickson, London Borough Lambeth and Chair of London Smokefree Councillor Network
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** Hazel Cheeseman, Deputy Chief Executive of ASH
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** Work continues with our manifesto which is likely to include calls for better controls on vapes.

Source: Wired Gov, 1 November 2023
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** Find Summary notes and a recording of the webinar here ([link removed])
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Read here ([link removed])


** International
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** Australia: The tobacco industry claims smoking reforms fuel the black market. Health experts say this is wrong
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In three days of hearings about wide-ranging law reforms aimed at discouraging smoking, one issue dominated the questioning of health experts by senators. Will the changes actually fuel the tobacco and vape black market?
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It is an argument frequently touted by the tobacco, vaping and retail industries and their lobbyists. They say that by cracking down on the availability of tobacco and nicotine products, users will be driven to the illicit market instead, resulting in a rise in smoking rates and crime.
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If introduced, the reforms will see updated and improved graphic warnings added to tobacco packaging and included on individual cigarettes. The use of specified additives in tobacco and vaping products, like menthols, would also be banned.
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Theo Foukkare, chief executive of the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores, told the hearings on Thursday that the public health aims of the reforms “will not be realised”. Foukkare did not disclose the value of the funding his group received from big tobacco.
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Foukkare said instead of focusing on his industry group being partially supported by the big tobacco brands British American Tobacco, Philip Morris and Imperial brands, the inquiry should deal with “the fallout of the worsening black market in vaping and tobacco, which is a crisis”.
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Public health and tobacco control researchers, including representatives from the Cancer Council and the Tackling Indigenous Smoking program, who also appeared at the inquiry, rejected Foukkare’s claims.
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In the past, tobacco companies have also been complicit in illicit tobacco trade, with leaked documents revealing the companies deliberately smuggled their own products.
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Dr Michelle Scollo, a senior policy adviser at Cancer Council Victoria said “Two out of three people that use tobacco long term will die because of their use of these products. The important thing is to reduce smoking.” She urged the government to urgently pass the amendments to the bill.
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“We can remember how strenuously the tobacco companies argued that plain packaging would have unintended consequences … that clearly did not happen,” she said.
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“We must remember that the tobacco industry has a track record for making these sorts of predictions about the effects of public health legislation.”
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Source: The Guardian, 2 November 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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