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UK MPs urged to give up freebies from tobacco, alcohol and junk food firms
More than 100 health groups are urging Britain’s lawmakers to reject offers of gifts and hospitality from “unhealthy products industries” because they use an array of underhand tactics to disguise the harm they create in order to protect their sales.
The coalition of doctors’ groups, health charities and children’s organisations have challenged Keir Starmer to make good on his promise to restore integrity to public life by banning such firms from lobbying MPs by giving them gifts that could expose them to conflicts of interest.
Prof Sir Ian Gilmore, the chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA), said: “Alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy food are the three biggest killers in our society, with alcohol alone claiming 10,000 lives in 2022 – the worst on record.
“MPs are expected to make decisions based on the best interests of their constituents, but we know that lobbying tactics such as receiving gifts and benefits from these industries can lead to a conflict of interest and impartiality being compromised.”
The AHA, the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA) and Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) have published a new joint report that lays bare the “killer tactics” used by the three industries to gain influence over politicians and thwart moves to improve public health by cracking down on smoking, drinking and bad diet.
They claim that tactics “to cultivate allies” include downplaying the harm their products cause, using legal threats to delay policies aimed at reducing that damage – such as plain packaging of cigarettes and minimum unit pricing of alcohol – distorting scientific evidence, using front groups to put forward arguments helpful to them and giving MPs gifts, benefits and hospitality.
Earlier this year Giles Watling, the then Tory MP for Clacton, declared hospitality worth £351.02 from Japanese Tobacco International. In May he tabled amendments to the tobacco and vapes bill proposing that the mooted ban on buying cigarettes should only apply to under-21s, not everyone born on or after 1 January 2009.
In an unusual political intervention, the Budweiser Brewing Group paid £9,000 to sponsor a fundraising event for Labour general election candidates, including four who won on 4 July – Sarah Hall, Jo Platt, Elsie Blundell and Kirith Entwistle – records show.
The event was also sponsored by Arden Strategies, a lobbying company run by the former Labour minister Jim Murphy, and was attended by Lucy Powell whose new role, as the leader of the House of Commons, includes responsibility for standards of behaviour by MPs. Powell declined to comment on her attendance at the Budweiser-sponsored event or offer a view on the health groups’ proposals.
KFC has invited Labour MPs and councillors to sample some of its “delicious, healthy” dishes – such as salad boxes, twister wraps and rice boxes – at one of its restaurants in Liverpool during Labour’s annual conference there next month. Those who come will be able to talk to the fast-food firm’s nutritionist about how it is making its products healthier.
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has criticised KFC for using legal tactics to challenge 45 local councils over their plans to try to restrict the number of fast-food outlets opening in their area.
The OHA, AHA and ASH also claim a “gap in regulation” allows MPs to accept gifts worth under £300 – such as chocolate and gifts on site visits – and for “unhealthy product industries” to sponsor events in parliament. YouGov polling shows that large majorities of voters want the government to be protected in its formulation of health policies from the influence of the tobacco (78%), alcohol (71%) and food and drink (71%) industries.
Source: The Guardian, 31 August 2024
See also: Action on Smoking and Health – Killer Tactics | The Alcohol Health Alliance - New report warns MPs to ‘wise up’ to lobbying from health harming industries
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Outdoor smoking ban is not an attack on the hospitality industry, Labour's Commons leader Lucy Powell insists
Lucy Powell told Sky News' Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that Labour wants to create a "smoke-free country" and measures to achieve this will be done "in consultation" with businesses that could be affected.
The new governmenthad already pledged to resurrect Rishi Sunak's flagship smoking bill, which intended to ban anyone aged 14 and under from ever buying cigarettes.
However, last week Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he could go further and ban smoking in outdoor venues to reduce the number of preventable deaths linked to tobacco use.
Asked about criticism this move could "kill business", Ms Powell said: "We're certainly not attacking the hospitality industry. We support the hospitality industry. It's vital to our communities, our high street, our economy.
"I'm not going to pre-empt what is or isn't going to be in a future piece of legislation, but what I would say is that any such measures to extend some of these issues around smoking will be done in full consultation with hospitality business."
She added there has been "a consensus for a long time now that we want to see a smoke-free country" and the health and economic benefits "would be huge".
Smoking claims around 80,000 lives a year and estimates suggest it costs the NHS in England about £2.6bn a year.
A smoking ban inside of pubs and other enclosed public spaces was brought in by the last Labour government in 2007.
It led to a 2.4% reduction in hospital admissions for heart attacks and a 12.3% reduction in hospital admissions for childhood asthma within a year, according to Action on Smoking Health (ASH).
ASH said they support the Government's proposals, but stated that it is important for people who smoke to have somewhere outside to do so to prevent them from smoking indoors.
Source: Sky News, 1 September 2024
See also: YouGov - Would you support or oppose banning smoking in pub gardens and outdoor restaurants?
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Disposable vapes may be banned under plans being considered by Labour
Ministers are drawing up plans to curb sales of vapes and other consumer nicotine products to children by placing restrictions on their branding, flavours, packaging and display.
They are also considering going further by taking on plans by Rishi Sunak to ban single-use vapes, which have proved attractive to children as they are often sold in smaller, more colourful packaging.
In opposition, Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would support such a ban to curb the rising number of young people taking up vaping and on Sunday Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell pledged the government would “tackle the scourge of vaping.”
Some 7.2 per cent of 11 to 17-year-olds now vape regularly or occasionally, up from 4.1 per cent in 2020.
Nearly one in five (18 per cent) of 11 to 17-year-olds admit to having tried vaping.
The Treasury is also due to respond shortly to a consultation on whether there should be a new “vape tax”, which would add up to £3 per 10 millilitres of liquids containing nicotine.
The moves are being considered for the Government’s tobacco and vapes bill, which will introduce a progressive smoking ban that would mean that any children born on or after January 1, 2009, will never be able to legally be sold cigarettes.
Ministers believe vapes have an important role to play in helping adults quit smoking but want to ensure they do not hook the next generation onto nicotine.
The Bill will give ministers powers to regulate the flavours, packaging and display of vapes, which is likely to include curbs on flavours targeted at children such as bubble gum and candy floss.
A Treasury source said the Government would respond to the consultation in due course.
Source: The Telegraph, 1 September 2024
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Opinion: Will Labour resist the ‘killer tactics’ of industry’s enemies of public health?
The article, written by Guardian Health Policy Editor Denis Campbell, discusses the report developed by Action on Smoking and Health, Obesity Health Alliance and Alcohol Health Alliance, which calls on the government to confront the lobbying influence of the tobacco, alcohol, and unhealthy food industries.
Campbell highlights how illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes are often driven by an individual’s lifestyle, including smoking, drinking, and poor diet. Campbell discusses the tactics used by these industries to protect profits, such as lobbying MPs and legal challenges, which undermine public health measures. The report emphasises that these industries' actions contribute to avoidable diseases and, cost the UK billions annually: £95bn for obesity, £27bn for alcohol harm, and £46bn for smoking-related harm.
Campbell concludes that this will be a critical test of the Government's commitment to public health and political reform, illustrating how the new Government will tackle public health crises and uphold integrity in public life by curbing the influence of these powerful industries.
Source: The Guardian, 30 August 2024
See also: Action on Smoking and Health – Killer Tactics | The Alcohol Health Alliance - New report warns MPs to ‘wise up’ to lobbying from health harming industries | WHO - Commercial Determinants of Noncommunicable Diseases in the WHO European Region
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Opinion: Who smokes in Britain now? (Clue: they’re younger than you think)
The article, written in the Times by Data Editor Tom Calver, discusses changes in smoking after the 2007 indoor smoking ban in England and the ongoing efforts to reduce smoking rates. Calver discusses how the 2007 ban, which faced opposition at the time, has been highly successful. He highlights how smoking rates have since fallen dramatically, from 22% in 2007 to just over 10% in recent years, equating to more than 6 million people quitting.
Calver argues that challenges remain, however, regarding smoking cessation. He emphasises that recent Smoking England data shows smoking prevalence has stalled at 14.4%, with provisional figures showing rates among 16 to 17-year-olds on the rise and smoking remaining more common among disadvantaged groups.
Calver concludes by saying that although the risks of exposure to secondhand smoke outdoors will be less than exposure indoors, any exposure is adverse to health. He also adds that the move is ultimately popular amongst the public, with a poll published by YouGov on Friday finding that 58% of adults support a ban.
Source: The Times, 31 August 2024
See also: Smoking Toolkit Study - Resources Relating to Smoking in England | YouGov - Would you support or oppose banning smoking in pub gardens and outdoor restaurants?
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Opinion: The Times view on Starmer’s tobacco ban plan: Smoking Out
The Times Editorial sets out the Times view on the leaked government plans to ban smoking in outdoor spaces. The article outlines the hospitality industry's mixed response, with JD Wetherspoon's founder, Tim Martin, downplaying the potential business impact.
The article argues that whilst exposure to second hand smoke outdoors poses less risk than exposure indoors, there is still a rationale to the ban in that it will help reduce smoking rates by further marginalising smoking. The article maintains that since smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the UK, responsible for 64,000 deaths annually in England, even a small reduction in smoking due to the ban would be beneficial. The article also highlights the proposal in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to raise the age of sale for tobacco to create a smokefree generation and calls for further regulation to address youth vaping.
Source: The Times, 30 August 2024
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Call for crackdown on illegal youth vaping sales
The Association of Directors of Public Health for the East Midlands said: “The increase in youth vaping is concerning, and public health teams across the East Midlands should continue to monitor the situation."
It called for trading standards to be given "the tools necessary to undertake enforcement work and other measures to protect children and young people".Nearly 8% of 11-17 year-olds vape, according to figures from an online survey, external of 2,000 children by health charity ASH (Action on Smoking and Health).
The British Medical Association has called for action, saying vapes have no rightful place in young people’s lives.
The Association of Directors of Public Health for the East Midland’s report will be put to councils across the region to endorse, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The report said: “E-cigarettes are an age restricted product, and we are against inappropriate marketing practices that promote them to under 18’s."
Source: BBC News, 30 August 2024
See also: ASH – Use of e-cigarettes (vapes) among young people in Great Britain
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Tory MP's smoking ban tweet branded 'repugnant'
Conservative MP Esther McVey has been branded "repugnant" for using a poem about the Holocaust to criticise the government's proposals for tougher rules on outdoor smoking.
The MP for Tatton shared a section of Martin Niemoller's 1946 poem, "First They Came", on social media, adding: "Pertinent words re Starmer's smoking ban."
The Board of Deputies of British Jews called on the former cabinet minister to apologise for the "breathtakingly thoughtless comparison".
Ms McVey later insisted she was not equating banning smoking outside pubs with the Nazi persecution of the Jews and "no offence was ever intended".
She added that she would "not be bullied" into removing the post on X.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting responded to her post: "No, I do not think the post-war confessional of Martin Niemöller about the silent complicity of the German intelligentsia and clergy in the Nazi rise to power is pertinent to a Smoking Bill that was in your manifesto and ours to tackle one of the biggest killers.
"Get a grip."
Source: BBC News, 30 August 2024
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What the outdoor smoking ban in Australia could tell us about UK's future
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says his government is looking at tightening outdoor smoking rules to help reduce the number of preventable deaths linked to tobacco use and the burden on the NHS.
In Australia, rules vary from state to state but, broadly speaking, at pub gardens and parks, designated smoking sections or zones are set up to protect non-smokers from secondhand smoke. At beaches and playgrounds, smoking is banned altogether.
Daily smoking rates in Australia are now down to 8.3% - from 16% in 2000 and 24% in 1991.
Experts attribute that to a mix of policies, including banning adverts for tobacco, health warnings and plain packaging on cigarettes, and high product taxes.
But smoke-free environments have been key to stamping out smoking in public, several researchers told the BBC.
Lawmakers took smoking bans outdoors in the 2000s. Health authorities were concerned about the impact of secondhand smoke, when a non-smoker breathes in smoke exhaled by others.
“We ban smoking to protect the health - primarily - of the people who work there, but also for other people dining who are non-smokers,” tobacco control researcher and associate professor Becky Freeman, from the University of Sydney, told the BBC.
Australia’s bans in areas like beaches and parks aren't necessarily about secondhand smoke "because there’s plenty of fresh air around".
Instead it's more about “preventing litter, keeping outdoor spaces safe and role-modelling”, she says.
"In Australia we’ve been very successful in making smoking no longer socially acceptable, no longer normal."
In the UK, leading figures in the hospitality sector worry that outdoor smoking restrictions could hinder some businesses, particularly pubs.
And for the pub trade in Australia there was definitely some initial pushback, figures from both the hospitality industry and medical profession recall.
But the researcher, Prof Freeman, says businesses shouldn’t be too concerned.
“There’s often fear that when you ban smoking in licensed premises that revenue is going to plummet - but when you look globally at the research at smoking bans on hospitality venue revenue you actually see the opposite,” she says.
The World Health Organisation has come to a similar conclusion, labelling the economic harm argument a “myth” and pointing to data that suggests smoke-free policies have a positive long-term impact on the sector.
Source: BBC News, 31 August 2024
See also: ASH - Smokefree Pavement Licenses
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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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