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** 24 July 2024
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** UK
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** This Morning’s Dr Zoe Williams: Nobody should be smoking at home where there’s a child or pregnant mother (#1)
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** Why preventing long-term sickness in the UK is an economic necessity (#2)
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** International
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** US: Philip Morris lifts annual profit forecast on nicotine pouch demand (#3)
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** Philip Morris delays U.S. heated tobacco device pilot to fourth quarter (#4)
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** UK
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** This Morning’s Dr Zoe Williams: Nobody should be smoking at home where there’s a child or pregnant mother

TV doctor and NHS GP Zoe Williams has urged parents to quit smoking – especially around babies and pregnant woman.

It comes after new data suggests that people aren’t aware that babies exposed to second-hand smoke are more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

The research commissioned by consumer health company Kenvue found that less than half of those surveyed aged 18-24 knew that babies exposed to secondhand smoke are 45% more likely to die from SIDS, according to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

Williams, a regular on ITV’s This Morning, said: “You can reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome if you are able to achieve a smoke-free household.

“This includes everybody who lives in that household as well as [people] who visit. Nobody should be smoking in a household where there is a child, a baby or around a pregnant mother.”
In addition, “Smoking during pregnancy can increase the risk of a still birth, the risk of premature birth, the likelihood that a baby is born with a low birth weight and increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.”

Smoking tobacco near children as they grow up can also led to an array of health complications.
“Because children’s immune systems, lungs and airwaves are still developing, if they live in a household where somebody smokes they are more likely to develop asthma and infections like pneumonia and bronchitis,” explained Williams. “They are also at an increased risk of ear infections, coughs and colds or even more serious things like meningitis.”

Building a strong network of support can increases the chances of giving up smoking successfully, especially the support from a partner, Williams added.

“If a partner continues to smoke when a pregnant person quits that woman is much more likely to fail her attempt to quit or more likely to take it up again. So it is really important to be engaging and supporting partners of pregnant people as well and empower them to make a change.”

Williams said the reintroduction of The Tobacco and Vapes Bill – making it an offence to sell tobacco products to those born on or after 1 January 2009 – is a good start but believes the government needs to do more to protect children.

She said: “The number households with children where there are smokers needs to be addressed because we need to protect all children from passive smoking.”

Source: The Independent, 23 July 2024 See also: ASH Factsheet on Secondhand smoke ([link removed] Smoke) (http://)

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** Why preventing long-term sickness in the UK is an economic necessity

The extension of life expectancy in the 20th century was supposed to be one of the greatest societal opportunities in modern Britain.

But although the longevity dividend bought valuable health and economic gains for individuals and societies, it has long ceased to pay out: instead of living longer, healthier lives, we are an increasingly sick nation where we live longer, but in worse health.

Authoritative figures are increasingly turning to the idea of prevention rather than cure: a substantial report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) in July will show the huge impact that investing in health prevention could have on the economy.

“When you’ve got nearly 3 million people off work with ill health, it’s pretty obvious what the macroeconomic effects are,” said Andrew Scott, who wrote the forthcoming TBI report on the economics of longevity. “The real value of preventive health is long term.

“It’s exactly like compound interest. If you start preventive health interventions early, the economic gains are about four times larger than if you start later,” said Scott, author of The Longevity Imperative and co-author of The 100-Year Life.

Long-term sickness is the main reason why economic inactivity in the UK rose to a record 9.4 million – or 22.2% of adults aged 16 to 64 years – in February 2024, costing the economy £43bn a year.

And at least 80% of the health inequality outcomes in the UK are driven by chronic yet potentially modifiable diseases. Only 9% of men and 16% of women born today can expect to reach pension age in good health.

Although we live in an environment that exposes us to significant risk, it often takes a significant health event – often in the 60s or early 70s – for symptoms of big diseases to become apparent. By this time it is often too late to turn things around.

But given it is impossible to treat the whole population at 35, experts say we need to get better at predicting which asymptomatic young people are likely to be in trouble in later life through blood tests, family history and genetics.

“We need a prevention service because the NHS can’t deliver this stuff,” said Prof Sir John Bell, a trustee of Our Future Health, the UK’s largest-ever health research programme to diagnose and treat diseases early – or even prevent them from developing. “It needs to be done in the community, at low cost, with high throughput.”

Source: The Guardian, 23 July 2024

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** International
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** US: Philip Morris lifts annual profit forecast on nicotine pouch demand

Philip Morris International raised its annual adjusted profit forecast on Tuesday, owing to steady demand for its Zyn nicotine pouches and higher prices of its cigarettes.

Its shares were up 2% in premarket trading after the company also beat expectations for second-quarter revenue.

Zyn nicotine pouches have so far been at the forefront of the company's effort to claim a larger chunk of the demand for alternatives to traditional cigarettes in the United States.

Zyn shipment volumes grew 50.3% in the second quarter, compared with the same period last year, despite supply constraints and a nationwide suspension of the product's online sales. That followed a nearly 80% rise in the prior quarter.

Like its peers, Philip Morris has been raising cigarette prices to offset volume declines amid stricter regulation and greater awareness of health risks, which have led to falling demand in some markets.

The company reported second-quarter revenue of $9.47 billion, beating analysts' average estimate of $9.18 billion, according to LSEG data.

Source: Daily Mail, 23 July 2024

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** Philip Morris delays U.S. heated tobacco device pilot to fourth quarter

Philip Morris International pushed the test-launch of its heated tobacco device, IQOS, in the U.S. to the fourth quarter on Tuesday and lowered its annual forecast for the heated tobacco business.

The company declined to comment on why the launch had been delayed.

Philip Morris has invested billions to promote and expand its portfolio of alternatives to traditional combustible cigarettes amid stricter regulations and falling smoking rates in some markets.

The launch of its flagship heated tobacco device in the United States is also facing resistance from health campaigners, who have written to regulators in the country accusing the company of misrepresenting past regulatory decisions, Reuters reported last week.

A ban on flavored heated tobacco in the European Union has already hit shipments this year, with Philip Morris saying the impact from the ban was "slightly greater" than previously assumed.

This led the company to temper its expectations for volume growth in the heated tobacco category to around 13% for the full year, down from between 14% and 16% expected earlier.

Source: Daily Mail, 23 July 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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