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UK falls further behind in global tobacco industry interference ranking
The UK Tobacco Index has been produced by the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath with input from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), ASH Scotland, ASH Wales, and Cancer Research UK.
The UK scored 48 out of a possible 100 in the 2023 ranking, compared to a score of 32 in 2021, where a higher score means greater tobacco industry interference.
This year’s index highlights several areas of concern:
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A lack of transparency across government about its interactions with the tobacco industry and no requirement for the tobacco industry and its associates to register with the government, which is of concern given the industry’s growing use of third parties.
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A wide range of unnecessary interactions between government officials, including senior ministers, and tobacco companies.
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No government ban on tobacco industry activities described as “socially responsible,” meaning the industry was able to launder its image.
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Tobacco companies attempt to influence policy by submitting responses to public consultations and officially commissioned policy reviews, including on issues of tobacco control.
The policy brief that accompanies the UKTI makes eight recommendations to improve the UK’s performance. These include the introduction of a legally binding and publicly accessible register that covers all lobbying and policy influence activity across UK administrations, as well as a call for a renewed commitment to addressing conflicts of interest by prohibiting the tobacco industry from making contributions (monetary or otherwise) to political parties and public officials at all levels.
The lead author of the UKTI report and policy brief, Dr Raouf Alebshehy (University of Bath), said: “Our two-year research highlights a sharp increase in activity by tobacco companies to interfere with health policy making. Unfortunately, this has been coupled with a lack of awareness and absence of implementation of measures protecting public health from the industry interference. Except for the UK’s health agencies and departments, we have evidence of incidents of tobacco industry interference at the most senior political levels.”
Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) UK said: “The Tobacco Interference Index rightly highlights that the UK needs to improve cross government understanding about the processes which must be used to protect public policy from tobacco industry interference. Our ministry of health, which is the custodian for the UK of the WHO Convention on Tobacco Control, has already moved to address this through publication in June of guidance to all UK government officials on just this issue. We feel confident that the next UK Tobacco Industry Interference Index will show the UK moving back up the rankings.”
Source: EurekAlert! 14 November 2023
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Vaping is big business in Britain
Almost one in ten Britons is now a regular or occasional user of electronic cigarettes. On current trends (see chart) vaping is set to become more common than smoking by the mid-2020s. But many in the industry fear that a government consultation, due to conclude in December, will be followed by a regulatory clampdown.
Catering to Britain’s 4.7m vapers is increasingly big business. A report for the industry, carried out by the Centre for Business and Economic Research, a think-tank, put the industry’s turnover at £2.8bn ($3.4bn) in 2021 and calculated that it supported almost 18,000 jobs. The number of vapers has risen by almost a third since.
The country now has almost 3,500 specialist vape shops, according to the Local Data Company, a research firm. The largest chain, vpz, was founded in Leith, in Edinburgh, in 2012 and now has more than 150 stores across Britain. The firm began manufacturing its own liquids in Scotland in 2016. It reported turnover of £36m in 2022, up by almost 60% over five years.
The industry’s rapid growth partially reflects a supportive stance from public-health authorities. Although many governments have sounded cautious on the potential health benefits of inhaling nicotine by breathing in a vapour rather than tobacco smoke, the National Health Service has consistently made the case for switching. In April the government announced a “swap to stop”’ scheme that will give free vape starter-sets to up to 1m smokers, the first scheme of its type globally.
In recent years the industry has also been one of few direct beneficiaries of Britain’s cost-of-living squeeze. An average packet of 20 cigarettes now costs £14.57, compared with around £5 for roughly the same number of puffs from a disposable vape and half that for the equivalent amount of nicotine in a refillable device.
But clouds loom. Just six months after announcing the giveaway of vaping kits, the government unveiled a consultation on vaping regulation that appears to herald a much tougher line. The change in attitude has been driven by two related issues—rising use of disposable devices and concerns over under-age vaping.
Source: The Economist, 14 November 2023
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Mountain of cigarette butts dumped on high street to encourage smokers to stop dropping stubs
Nearly a quarter of a million cigarette butts have been dumped on a high street in London to encourage people to stop dropping their stubs.
The mound was placed on a street in Kingston upon Thames by Keep Britain Tidy, which said 2.7 million cigarette butts are dropped on high streets on a daily basis.
The environmental charity said that equated to around 225,000 butts being dropped between the hours of 8am and 8pm every day - adding that the figure for butts dropped across the whole of the country is likely to be much higher.
The sculpture was made of real cigarette butts collected from UK high streets.
Keep Britain Tidy said cigarettes make up 66% of all items littered in England and an estimated seven out of eight cigarettes smoked outside end up being littered rather than disposed of properly.
Keep Britain Tidy's Allison Ogden-Newton said: "Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the UK and the consequences to our environment, our wellbeing, and our taxpayer are far more significant than many realise[…].’’
"We need attitudes to change towards cigarette litter so that it is no longer viewed as acceptable, but rather as the single-use plastic that it is.’’
"We are asking smokers to please understand that they are contributing to a significant environmental issue in the UK and to take responsibility for disposing of their rubbish."
Source: Sky News 15 November 2023
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Podcast: Oxford Sparks Big Questions: Does banning smoking work?
Oxford Sparks Big Questions podcast has released its latest episode posing the question: does banning smoking work. In light of the new government smokefree generation policy announced by Rishi Sunak, the podcast discusses the evidence with Dr Nicola Lindson from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford.
Source: Oxford Sparks Podcast, 15 November 2023
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Tobacco Industry’s Interference in Government Policy Increases Globally
Tobacco industry interference in governments’ tobacco control policies has increased in 43 out of 90 countries analysed over the past two years.
This is according to the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2023 released on Tuesday by tobacco watchdog STOP, and the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC).
“No country has been spared from the interference, and there is a worsening trend,” said Mary Assunta, CGTC’s head of research and advocacy. “More countries deteriorated in their scores compared to countries that improved” – with only 29 countries improving efforts to push back against industry.
Governments that are party to the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) are obliged to protect their health policies from the commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.
But the report exposes a range of interfering behaviour – including governments accepting tobacco corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributions, politicians accepting campaign contributions and officials weakening controls in the face of industry scare tactics.
The growing influence of industry was experienced very directly in many countries. Tobacco companies successfully lobbied for the end of bans on e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products (HTPs) and/or nicotine pouches in Egypt, Kenya and Uruguay. In Uruguay, the Ministry of Public Health even used information provided by Philip Morris International (PMI) instead of its own experts.
Five countries – Bolivia, Guatemala, Jamaica, Tanzania, and Zambia – reported that the tobacco industry sabotaged efforts to pass comprehensive tobacco control legislation.
Source: Health Policy Watch, 14 November
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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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