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** 20 September 2024
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** UK
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** Brussels to copy Starmer with call for ban on smoking outside cafes and restaurants (#1)
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** Police seize vapes worth £1m found behind hidden door (#2)
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** International
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** Ireland set to oppose EU’s proposed ban on outdoor smoking (#3)
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** Link of the Week
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** Podcast: Prevention is the new cure (#4)
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** Video: Medical Digest & Congress Report (#5)
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** UK
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** Brussels to copy Starmer with call for ban on smoking outside cafes and restaurants
The European Commission will call for a ban on smoking on cafe terraces and in other outdoor spaces as part of a crackdown that will also hit airports and workplaces.
Last month, Sir Keir Starmer said he was considering a similar move amid reports of new tobacco curbs on top of a smoking ban for anyone born in or after January 2009, launched under the Tories and taken on by Labour.
Recommendations by Brussels will also cover vaping and new nicotine-free products, according to documents leaked before an announcement on Tuesday.
Brussels does not have the power to ban smoking in the European Union’s 27 member states. That remains among the powers reserved for national governments.
The suggestions expand existing guidelines for workplaces, public transport and public places, which were set out in 2009.
While the new guidelines are not binding, EU officials argue that the older recommendations led to a cut in exposure to second-hand smoke. It is part of a wider effort by Brussels to cut down cancer rates in Europe.
The guidelines say smoking should be banned in outdoor or semi-outdoor areas such as patios, terraces, balconies and rooftops. Such areas are closely associated with restaurants, bars and cafes or used as smoking areas at workplaces.
Airports, bus stops and other public transport hubs will be covered by the ban, as well as outdoor areas in hospitals, nursing homes, schools and universities.
Public playgrounds, amusement parks, swimming pools and zoos are also included as part of the measures to protect children from second hand smoke.
Source: The Telegraph, 17 September 2024
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Read Here ([link removed])
** Police seize vapes worth £1m found behind hidden door
A haul of counterfeit vapes worth £1m were found in a hidden room during a police raid on a shop in Manchester.
They were discovered at the vape shop in Cheetham Hill in the joint raid by police, Salford City Council and Trading Standards officers on Monday.
Officers entered the shop and noticed a hidden door, where they found a "whole new room concealing the illicit vapes".
Greater Manchester Police said patrols were remaining in the area to "ensure no criminality can creep back in".
Source: BBC News, 19 September 2024
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**
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Read Here ([link removed])
** International
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** Ireland set to oppose EU’s proposed ban on outdoor smoking
Irish Finance Minister Jack Chambers yesterday indicated he was opposed to banning smoking and vaping in many outdoor areas.
He said: ‘There’s been a lot of positive changes from a public health perspective, obviously, for smoking indoors, and I know there’s been changes made, for example, in hospital campuses and other public realms on smoking.
‘Many people who were smoking, are trying to move away from it, or have changed their current habit with different measures.’
‘I’d be careful about removing smoking completely from public environments, and I think we need to take a balanced approach on it and support people who have an addiction with nicotine.’
Other senior Cabinet figures also indicated their opposition to any proposals to further regulate where people could smoke.
The Irish Government has already moved strongly this year to further regulate cigarettes and vapes.
There are now plans to raise the age at which a person can buy cigarettes to 21.
The Irish Government has approved plans to ban the sale of disposable vapes and introduce new bans on flavours and advertising of vapes. The Department of Health has banned the sale of e-cigarettes to under-18s.
However, senior Government sources also pointed out that there were elements in the existing e-cigarette legislation that had yet to be enacted.
Under the proposed laws there will be a complete ban on the sale, manufacture or import of single-use or disposable vapes in Ireland.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly plans to introduce a ban on disposable vapes on environmental and public health grounds.
The EU says 700,000 people a year lose their lives due to tobacco consumption, and that tens of thousands of these deaths are due to second-hand smoke.
Data shows that over 2% of cardiovascular deaths in Europe are due to exposure to second-hand smoke. The risk of heart disease increases by up to 25%-30% for non-smokers who breathe in second-hand smoke.
Source: The Irish Daily Mail, 19 September 2024
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Read Here ([link removed])
** Links of the Week
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** Podcast: Prevention is the new cure
In this podcast, hosts Steve Brine, a former MP and Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee and Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard, one of the country's foremost medical academics and a general practitioner, discuss the proposed outdoor smoking ban and talk about Deborah Arnott's, Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health, retirement.
Listen from 18:30.
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Listen Here ([link removed])
** Video: Medical Digest & Congress Report
This video shows a talk from the European Respiratory Society conference in Vienna given by Professor Nick Hopkinson, Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Honorary Consultant Physician, Imperial College London. In this video, Professor Hopkinson discusses the importance of achieving a smokefree generation in Europe.
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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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