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The ban on menthol flavoured cigarettes in the United Kingdom came into effect today, 20th May, as part of efforts to discourage young people from taking up smoking. Shops have been warned that it is now an offence for retailers to sell menthol flavoured tobacco.
The ban stems from the EU Tobacco Products Directive 2014. This has been transposed into UK law, and will remain in force after the transition period for leaving the EU comes to an end on December 31, 2020.
The smoking of menthol cigarettes is significantly more common among newer, younger smokers says Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). There is also a greater risk of progressing to regular smoking for those who start on menthols.Young people are more likely to get addicted as menthol makes it easier to inhale the smoke into the lungs by creating a sweeter, milder, or “colder” smoke and by reducing its harshness.
The ban prohibits the manufacturing of menthol rolling tobacco and “skinny” cigarettes. It also includes capsule, click on, click and roll, crushball or dual menthol cigarettes.
Source: The Sun, 20 May 2020
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Imperial Brands has cut down its dividend for the first time since 1996 as the tobacco company struggles with a £13.5bn debt. The maker of Lambert & Butler and Gauloises cigarettes has been one of the FTSE's biggest dividend payers.
Interim chief executive Dominic Brisby insisted that the dividend cut was not related to coronavirus. He said: "COVID-19 has only had a small impact on trading but we expect this to be more pronounced in the second half due to continued pressures to our duty free and travel retail businesses."
With airports largely shut, smokers do not have access to cheap duty-free cigarettes. It means that fewer packs are being bought, but customers are having to spend more on tobacco in shops, so the value of sales has held up.
Source: The Telegraph, 19 May 2020
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Michele Beaudoin, a clinical nurse in the A&E department at Hull Royal Infirmary has given up smoking after 40 years with the help of the “Quit for COVID” campaign and SmokeFree Hull.
The 'Quit for COVID' campaign led by Action and Smoking and Health (ASH) and partners in the Smokefree Action Coalition, was launched to encourage more people to stop smoking during the pandemic and beyond.
Health implications, the threat from the COVID-19, and family members were some of the reasons that helped Michele quit. She has been smokefree for 10 weeks with nicotine replacement patches and even a fake cigarette to suppress the urge to smoke.
Michele is now urging her work colleagues to quit for good and saving the £40 - £50 she used to spend on cigarettes to go on holiday.
Tracy Mikkelsen Edwards, manager of SmokeFree Hull, said: "We're trying to encourage those that smoke to access services wherever they can to try to get support to help them stop smoking.
"In the current climate, the case for doing that is obvious. Public Health England has said that if you smoke you are putting yourself at much greater risk of the dangers of COVID …. so, we would encourage anyone to get support where they can."
She said self-referrals for the service had increased by 200% since the lockdown began.
Source: Hull Live, 19 May 2020
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Researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Centre for Health and Policy Research have found that most owners and tenants of multiunit housing are in support of smokefree policies.
Peggy Toy, director of the Health DATA Program at the Center for Health Policy Research and lead author of the study, said: "We found that one in two tenants said that they were exposed to secondhand smoke and that there is a need to reduce that exposure to protect all tenants and children from harmful health effects".
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, drifting secondhand smoke has been linked to over 40,000 annual deaths from heart disease and lung cancer combined.
Findings from the study also show that children, the more vulnerable and minority tenants were more likely to be exposed to secondhand smoke.
"As more people are spending time at home due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that tenants feel safe about their surroundings and protected from exposure to unwanted environmental risks like second hand smoke," said Dr Tony Kuo, director of the division of chronic disease and injury prevention at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
"We are hopeful that multiunit housing owners, tenants and community stakeholders can come to a solution that protects our communities from this danger in their homes," Kuo added.
Source: Medical Xpress, 19 May 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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