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** 12 April 2024
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** UK
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** Opinion: Spluttering Boris is the one who’s ‘nuts’ if he thinks the public are with him on the smoking ban (#3)
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** Boris Johnson brands Rishi Sunak's policies 'absolutely nuts' and hits out at smoking ban (#6)
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** International
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** Opinion: Menthol cigarettes are killing Black Americans. Advocates are suing the government to change that (#4)
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** Link of the week
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** Addressing the leading risk factors for ill health – supporting local government to do more (#8)
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** UK
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** Opinion: Spluttering Boris is the one who’s ‘nuts’ if he thinks the public are with him on the smoking ban

Writing for the Independent, John Rentoul, chief political commentator for the Independent, discusses Boris Johnson’s recent comments on the smokefree generation legislation and adds that Johnson is “deluded” if he thinks that he has popular support on this issue.

Rentoul states that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill has between 80 to 100 Tory MPs who are unhappy with it, although he says that generally “only about a quarter of that number might eventually vote against the government”.

Johnson recently called the plan “absolutely nuts” and suggested it was unconservative. But Rentoul points to an Action on Smoking and Health survey that finds 71% of adults support the generational ban. Instead, it is primarily libertarian Conservative MPs who oppose it.

Rentoul concludes by writing that libertarian MPs should be careful as if they “succeed in frightening the prime minister into abandoning the bill”, it would likely be Labour that have the next move and that, given the popular support for the Bill, they may go even further than a gradual ban.

Source: The Independent, 11 April 2024
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** Boris Johnson brands Rishi Sunak's policies 'absolutely nuts' and hits out at smoking ban

Boris Johnson has branded Rishi Sunak's policies as "absolutely nuts" with a particularly furious attack on his plan to ban smoking.

Health campaigners have urged Mr Sunak to resist pressure from his predecessors who are part of "a tiny minority out of touch with the public". MPs are expected to vote on the plan later this year. Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), told the Mirror in January that those opposing Mr Sunak’s plan are “making a lot of noise and wind but there is strong cross-party support and they’re not going to win”.

Ms Arnott said the public “overwhelmingly supports” the move. A YouGov poll carried out for the public health charity in November found 67% of people in England back the PM’s plan to raise the smoking age. Tory voters came out on top, with 74% of those who intend to vote Conservative at the next election backing it, followed by 72% of those intending to vote Labour and 65% of those intending to vote Lib Dem.

Source: The Mirror, 11 April 2024

Editorial note: The Canada Strong and Free conference was also attended by Imperial Tobacco, which in Canada is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco.

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** International
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** Opinion: Menthol cigarettes are killing Black Americans. Advocates are suing the government to change that

Writing for the Guardian, Adria R Walker, a reporter on the Guardian US’s race and equity team, discusses the delay in banning menthol cigarettes in the US and how health advocates are trying to get it back on track.

Walker points to how menthol cigarettes were “aggressively marketed” to black people for decades. This marketing, which began in the 1960s, was so prevalent that some Black publications were dependent on the money they gained from tobacco advertising to stay in business.

Walker writes how successful this marketing was. Between 1980 and 2018, “1.5 million Black Americans began smoking menthols”. The author also adds that “In 2020, about 81% of Black smokers smoked menthol cigarettes, compared with 34% of white smokers.”

Walker states that there are now plans to ban menthols, although these have been delayed. Recently, health campaigners sued the US government for the delay. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been attempting to ban menthols for some time and have estimated that doing so “could prevent 300,000 to 650,000 smoking deaths over the course of several decades.”

The author states that the delay is due to interference from the tobacco industry and political concerns that the ban could affect Biden’s chances at the next election.

Walker adds that statistics from Centre for Disease Control and Prevention that show most smokers start in adolescence with those smoking menthols being more likely to continue to into adulthood. Walker states that this is because menthols are more addictive than normal cigarettes because they augment the effect that nicotine has on the brain.

Walker concludes by saying that although overall smoking has decreased in the last twenty years, menthol smoking has increased and that this increase is predominantly focused in “young adults, racial minorities, women and people with mental health issues”. Walker quotes Laurent Huber, the Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health US, who says “The FDA’s own research confirms that a menthol ban would save lives…There is no scientific reason to delay finalizing this rule.”

Source: The Guardian, 10 April 2024
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** Link of the week
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** Addressing the leading risk factors for ill health – supporting local government to do more

The Health Foundation have published a new report which puts forward five proposals for national policy that would allow local government in England to do more to reduce harm from tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food. Their five proposals are:

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** Introduce a license for retailers to sell tobacco products
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** Include public health as an objective for alcohol licensing decisions
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** Give local authorities powers to limit the advertising of food and drink high in fat, salt and/or sugar, and alcohol on non-council-owned premises
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** Enable local authorities to make planning decisions for hot food takeaways based on healthiness
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** Closer integration of planning and public health at the national and local levels.
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** You can read the full report here ([link removed]) .

Source: The Health Foundation, 12 April 2024
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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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