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** 13 August 2019
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** UK
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** H (#1) ow to prevent teen vaping in Britain (#1)
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** Cigarette butts are toxic plastic pollution. Should they be banned? (#2)
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** International
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** USA: (#3) Paediatrician intervention may help parents quit smoking (#3) , study finds (#3)
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** China: Tobacco industry is building schools and no one is watching (#4)
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** UK
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In a feature-length article written for the Guardian, Amelia Tait speaks to teenagers, academics, researchers and an industry spokesperson about e-cigarette use by young people, focusing predominantly on the Juul brand. 20% of high-schoolers in the USA vape, but only 1.7% of 11 to 18-year-olds in Britain vape weekly, according to statistics from Public Health England. The young people interviewed in the article attributed their e-cigarette use to peer pressure, flavourings, Juul social media presence and discreet size.
The article also states that Juul’s popularity is already declining among American teens. In May 2018, the New Yorker chronicled “the promise of vaping and the rise of Juul”, but by November, they released a declaratively titled follow-up, “Goodbye to Juul season”. Meme-based Juul Instagram accounts were disappearing rapidly, the story announced, and teenagers suggested the trend was disappearing.
Source: The Guardian, 11 August 2019
See also:
ASH Fact Sheet - Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain, 2019 ([link removed])
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Read Article ([link removed])
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Although most of a cigarette disintegrates when smoked, trillions of cigarette filters—also known as butts or ends—are left over, only an estimated third of which are disposed of properly. When littered, plastic (cellulose acetate), nicotine, heavy metals, and many other chemicals are absorbed into the surrounding environment, inhibiting plant growth and polluting waterways and oceans, where they pose a hazard to marine animals.
Tobacco companies originally tried a variety of different filter materials, such as cotton, charcoal, and food starch, before settling on a plastic fibre called cellulose acetate, which remains the polymer used today. Many smokers mistakenly believe the filters to be biodegradable. San Diego State University epidemiologist, Tom Novotny, now wants cigarette filters to be banned altogether, as they do not reduce the health risks of smoking and damage the environment.
Source: National Geographic, 12 August 2019
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** International
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Researchers have found that offering help to quit smoking at paediatrician appointments is effective in reducing smoking rates in parents. The researchers tested an intervention called the Clinical Effort Against Secondhand Smoke Exposure to help 8,200 parents quit smoking. After bringing their children to appointments, parents could opt to answer questions from an electronic survey about whether they wanted to quit smoking and obtain nicotine patches and gum.
In addition, the paediatricians offered parents a chance to enrol in their state's quitline and the national SmokeFreeTXT. Finally, parents received motivational texts from the paediatricians to quit smoking, whether they opted to participate in other aspects of the intervention or not. Of parents who completed the survey, just over 44% received "meaningful treatment," with the intervention helping to reduce smoking among parents by 2.7%.
"The people who are most likely to have another pregnancy are the ones who already have a baby and are coming into the paediatrician’s office," Emara Nabi-Burza, a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children and lead author of the study, said in a news release. "If we want to prevent smoking during pregnancy, one of the best strategies is to get parents of young children to quit."
Source: UPI, 12 August 2019
JAMA Pediatr. Treating Parents for Tobacco Use in the Pediatric Setting ([link removed]) . August 2019
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In an opinion piece in The Conversation, Jennifer Fang documents public perception of “tobacco schools” in China. Reports suggest there are more than 100 tobacco-sponsored schools in China, named after tobacco brands, such as Sichuan Tobacco Hope primary school and Yingkesong Hope primary school, in a country with more than 300 million smokers.
The Chinese tobacco industry is a powerful state-owned enterprise. The commercial arm called the China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC) is managed by the government arm, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration. CNTC is the largest tobacco company in the world, producing 40% of the global cigarette supply. The company has a monopoly in China to supply more than 300 million Chinese smokers, but is virtually unheard of outside of China. As a result, CNTC wields significant financial and political power.
As a state-owned enterprise, CNTC is expected to closely follow the government’s policy leads, and to support priorities, such as reducing poverty. The Chinese Government’s Project Hope targets rural development and provides education through what it designates as Hope elementary schools. To actively support this government initiative through its corporate social responsibility projects, CNTC has built numerous schools and will often donate school supplies, equipment, stock school libraries and provide student bursaries and teacher bonuses. We find that what tobacco companies such as Hongta promote as corporate social responsibility acts as a form of indirect marketing.
The overall perception of locals from the Yunnan village was found to be overwhelmingly in favour of tobacco corporate social responsibility exercised through projects such as school sponsorships. An education bureau official denied that the tobacco sponsorships constituted tobacco marketing, stating that “this is a company giving back to the community.”
Some parents, however, were less enthusiastic, having reservations about the school’s name change following tobacco sponsorship. One parent called it “propaganda in disguise.” While the Chinese tobacco control community agrees such corporate social responsibility projects constitute tobacco promotion, some were more lenient, citing local Chinese context of the tobacco industry’s status and pointing out financial needs the local government may not be ready to meet.
The situation is best summed up by a parent, who pointed out that “tobacco is bad, but money is money.”
Source: The Conversation, 11 August 2019
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[email protected]) or visit www.ash.org.uk
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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