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Tobacco giant BAT shares slide on report of US criminal investigation
British American Tobacco (BAT) is the subject of a US criminal investigation over suspected sanctions-busting, The Times reported on Tuesday, sending the company's shares down more than 5%. The world’s second-biggest tobacco group on Tuesday said it was cooperating with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) without elaborating and declined to say whether the case was a criminal investigation.
BAT, which makes Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes, last month disclosed in its annual report that it was aware of the investigation by the DoJ and OFAC, a financial intelligence and enforcement agency under the U.S. Treasury department. It did not provide detail on the nature of the investigation.
Shares in the company fell 5.5% to £28.54 in early trading, erasing gains made last week.
BAT’s annual report for 2019 said the group has operations in a number of nations that are subject to various sanctions, including Iran and Cuba, and that operations in these countries expose the company to the risk of “significant financial costs”.
Source: Reuters, 14 April 2020
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Smoking cannabis could make coronavirus worse
Smoking cannabis, even occasionally, can increase your risk of suffering more severe coronavirus complications, according to the American Lung Association.
Covid-19 attacks the respiratory system and can develop into viral pneumonia in the most serious cases. Doctors say smoking cannabis leads to inflammation in the lungs, which makes them more sensitive and less able to fight off the virus if it enters the body. Tobacco smokers have also been warned that they could be 14 times more likely to develop severe complications.
“What happens to your airways when you smoke cannabis is that it causes some degree of inflammation, very similar to bronchitis, very similar to the type of inflammation that cigarette smoking can cause,” chief medical officer for the American Lung Association and pulmonologist, Dr Albert Rizzo, told CNN. “Now you have some airway inflammation and you get an infection on top of it. So, yes, your chance of getting more complications is there.”
It can also become harder to diagnose Covid-19 symptoms if you are a smoker, as both can cause a dry cough, said Dr Mitchell Glass, a pulmonologist and spokesperson for the American Lung Association. He said: “Covid-19 is a pulmonary disease… You don’t want to do anything that’s going to confound the ability of healthcare workers to make a rapid, accurate assessment of what’s going on with you.”
Smoking cannabis every day over a period of time has shown lung damage which resembles a person with chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD). Those with chronic lung conditions, or those with asthma, are more at risk of suffering severe complications should they catch the virus. Smoking tobacco is also known to damage the lungs and airways – causing a range of severe respiratory problems, while quitting has a range of short, medium and long-term health benefits.
Dr Rüdiger Krech, Director of Health Promotion at the World Health Organization, told Metro.co.uk: “WHO always encourages people to quit tobacco use for their overall health, but there has never been a more pressing time. Coronavirus has a more severe effect on smokers because their lung function is impaired.”
Source: Metro.co.uk, 15 April 2020
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Study: Around half of young adults who smoke began as children
Around half of young adults who smoke cigarettes daily started when they were children — 50% first tried when they were 6 to 12 years old, and 48% first tried when they were 13 to 14, according to a report in the Journal of the American Heart Association. By comparison, people who took up cigarettes later, at 18 to 19, accounted for only 8% of young adult daily smokers. The younger people were when they first smoked, the more likely they were to become daily smokers in their 20s and the less likely they were to quit smoking by their 40s.
The finding stems from analysis of smoking information on 6,687 people from the United States, Australia and Finland who were followed from childhood to middle age, starting in the 1970s and 1980s. Among people who began smoking after their 20s, just 2.6% still smoked in their 40s, compared with 18% of those who had first tried smoking when they were ages 6 to 14.
The study did not determine why those who started smoking as children were more likely to become steady smokers as adults, but the researchers noted that experts believe nicotine addiction is stronger among children.
See also:
JAHA. Childhood/Adolescent Smoking and Adult Smoking and Cessation: The International Childhood Cardiovascular Cohort (i3C) Consortium. April 2020.
Source: Washington Post, 13 April 2020
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India: Government bans sale of tobacco and alcohol
India’s central government has banned the sale of substances including alcohol and tobacco during its extended coronavirus lockdown, in place to ensure social distancing.
In a list of directives released Wednesday 15 April, enforceable under the Disaster Management Act 2005, the government banned the sale of alcohol, tobacco and gutka [chewing tobacco]. It also said people who spit in public would be fined.
Source: India Today, 15 April 2020
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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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