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** 6 February 2024
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** UK
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** North West: (#1) Top health boss warns smoking is back on the rise (#1)
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** Guardian letters (#2)
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** International
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** Tobacco and Weapons Industries Receive Fiscal Benefits of $36 Million in Brazil (#3)
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** South Korea pushes for ban on smoking scenes in K-Dramas (#4)
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** COP10
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** Global Alliance for Tobacco Control – COP 10 Daily Bulletin (#5)
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** UK
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** North West: Top health boss warns smoking is back on the rise

The number of adult smokers in Blackburn with Darwen is on the rise, health chiefs warn.

The borough's public health director, Abdul Razaq, has recommended the authority adds a new Community Stop Smoking Service to its existing pharmacy-led model of stop smoking support.

The new programme would cost nearly £290k on top of the current £159.4k for the pharmacy-led service.

In his report, Mr Razaq says: "Tobacco is still the biggest cause of health inequalities and a major disease burden and cause of death in Blackburn with Darwen.

"Smoking is linked to almost every indicator of disadvantage and there is a clear gradient, the more disadvantaged you are the more likely you are to smoke."

According to the report, the cost to the borough of dealing with smoking was a "staggering" 187.2m.

The report adds: "Data drawn from the Local Tobacco Control Profiles, notes that smoking prevalence in Blackburn with Darwen rose to 19.4% in 2022 from 15.5% in 2021, the highest level since 2016 (19.5%)."

But the report adds that the success rate for people quitting smoking in Blackburn with Darwen is higher than the national average.

Source: BBC News, 5 February 2024
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** Guardian letters

Writing in the Guardian, Lord Rennard, Liberal Democrat Peer and Vice-Chair of the APPG on Smoking and Health states: Simon Jenkins appears to argue (Whisper it, but in opposing Rishi Sunak’s smoking ban, Liz Truss might be right, 29 January ([link removed]) ) that because the government has caved in to the food and drinks lobby that it should do the same for the tobacco lobbyists. Obesity and diabetes do great harm, but smoking results in a premature death for 50% of those people who consume the product. His analogy with cannabis is equally perverse. Smoking cost my mother her life and created three young orphans. It is not without consequences for others.

Source: The Guardian, 5 February 2024
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** International
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** Tobacco and Weapons Industries Receive Fiscal Benefits of $36 Million in Brazil

Companies in the tobacco and weapons sectors received fiscal benefits of over R$180 million ($ 36 million) in 2021.

The information pertains to amounts that were not collected in federal taxes and incentives related to government programs. The data were made available for consultation on the Transparency Portal in January.

Among the companies linked to cigarette production, the largest waivers were for Tobacco House and Philip Morris, each receiving about R$9 million in benefits. In total, the sector reduced R$47.4 million ($9.4 million) in taxes.

Source: Folha de S.Paulo, 5 February 2024
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** South Korea pushes for ban on smoking scenes in K-Dramas

South Korea is gearing up for a potential crackdown on smoking scenes in popular K-Dramas that are broadcast on international streaming platforms like Netflix and YouTube. The move comes as part of the government’s broader efforts to regulate tobacco-related content in media.

While domestic laws prohibit smoking and drinking scenes in dramas aired on local broadcast television, there is a significant loophole for content streamed on platforms based overseas.

To address this issue, officials from Seoul plan to raise the matter at the upcoming 10th session of the Conference of the Parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in Panama from Feb. 5-10.

The regulation of smoking scenes on streaming platforms has become a prominent concern in South Korea. It is because of the success of the government’s nationwide anti-smoking campaign. It includes media regulations, taxation, and education initiatives.

A report from the Korea Health Promotion Institute revealed that 87.5 percent of the 14 most popular dramas across seven streaming platforms featured tobacco products or smoking scenes.

Under the current legal framework, streaming platforms fall under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection. This exempts them from the same restrictions imposed on broadcast television. The South Korean government aims to close this gap to ensure consistent regulations across all platforms.

“We will share our tobacco regulation achievements with the international community,” stated Jeong Yeon-hee, an official from the Health Ministry in a report. “We will also carefully consider the FCTC agenda to further strengthen domestic smoking cessation policies.”

The FCTC is the first international treaty in the sector that aims at reducing global tobacco consumption and smoking rates. This year’s session marks an in-person gathering after a five-year hiatus.

Source: The Statesman, 6 February 2024
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** COP10
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** Global Alliance for Tobacco Control – COP 10 Daily Bulletin

The Global Alliance for Tobacco Control (GATC) is publishing a daily bulletin for each day of the tenth Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) taking place in Panama. Below are some highlights from yesterday:
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** The Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2023 ([link removed])
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** The Global Centre for Good Governance in Tobacco Control ([link removed]) and STOP ([link removed]) recently published the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2023 ([link removed]) , using civil society reports
([link removed]) from 90 countries to analyse government efforts according to a set of key indicators. It reveals that no country was immune to the industry’s intensified efforts to sway policy and policymakers to its advantage. Recommendations include a whole-of-government application of Article 5.3, banning industry CSR, improving transparency and constant vigilance.
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** Intimidation within tobacco control ([link removed])
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** A recent study ([link removed]) from the University of Bath's Tobacco Control Research Group ([link removed]) sheds light on intimidation within
tobacco control. Tobacco control advocates and researchers encounter a spectrum of intimidation including media attacks, online harassment, legal threats, and even death threats.
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** Tobacco Companies Targeting Kids, Generating Billions of Views on Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok ([link removed])
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** The report, #SponsoredbyBigTobacco ([link removed]) , outlines how the two tobacco giants have targeted more than 60 countries with expansive marketing campaigns for Velo, a nicotine pouch from British American Tobacco, Vuse, an e-cigarette from BAT and IQOS, a heated tobacco product from PMl. Forty percent of the audience engaging with BAT and PMI marketing content on social media are young people under the age of 25.
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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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