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The UK university pension scheme is to end investments in tobacco, coal, and controversial weapons manufacturers after pressure for policy changes was bought by its membership of academics and higher education staff. The £75bn Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) will divest its holdings in tobacco companies and exclude future investments in thermal coal producers along with businesses with ties to cluster munitions, white phosphorus, and landmines.
Simon Pilcher, Chief Executive of USS Investment Management, said: “these exclusions will balance keeping the financial promises made to hundreds of thousands of members in the higher education sector with investing in a responsible way over the long term.”
Ethics for USS, a coalition of academics, welcomed the changes which were announced on Monday 1 June 2020. Catherine Howarth, Chief Executive of Share Action, said USS appeared to be listening after many years of closing its ears to members’ views. “This will greatly help to restore trust in USS at a time when it is badly damaged.”
Professor Paul Kinnersley, chair of the school of medicine at Cardiff University said: “The overwhelming majority of USS members will support this decision as they do not want their pension contributions invested in sectors which accelerate climate change, kill people or cause harm.
“It is high time that USS acknowledged that divestment on ethical grounds by a pension fund is perfectly legal. We will continue to make USS aware of members’ views on the need for further rapid divestment, particularly from carbon-intensive industries.”
Source: Financial Times, 01 June 2020
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Smokers in Bolton are being encouraged to quit for COVID in a new campaign, ‘Bolton Can Quit’, led by Bolton Council and the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust.
Pharmacies across Bolton will be providing people who want to quit with advice, information, and guidance. This includes informing people about nicotine replacement therapies over the phone during the coronavirus outbreak.
The campaign is also focusing on encouraging pregnant women to stop smoking to ensure that their babies get the best start in life. Specialist support is being offered by the midwifery service to guide pregnant women through the process.
Local stop smoking services can provide expert support on quitting and details of local services can be found on the NHS Smokefree website or by calling the stop smoking helpline.
Source: This is Lancashire, 30 May 2020
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New calculations by Cancer Research UK show that about 1,179 children under age 15 start to smoke in Bradford each year, whilst two-thirds of those will go on to become daily smokers.
According to Bradford Council’s Living Well Team, one of the best ways to stop children smoking is by making your home smokefree and setting an example by quitting smoking. Children whose parents smoke are nearly three times as likely to become smokers themselves highlighting the importance of trying to quit smoking.
Fewer than one in five adults in the Bradford district still smokes (18.5 %) but that means that there are still 73,002 smokers and 795 premature deaths in the district from smoking each year.
Sarah Muckle, Bradford Council’s Director of Public Health, said: “Smoking is the leading cause of preventable premature death in Bradford killing 795 people a year. Our Living Well team is working locally to help families to create smokefree homes to make sure that future generations grow up free from addiction and the unnecessary health complications caused by smoking.”
Source: Telegraph & Argus, 01 June 2020
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British American Tobacco South Africa (Batsa), a unit of British American Tobacco (BAT), the world’s second-largest cigarette producer, said on Friday (29 May) that it was suing the South African government because the extension of the COVID-19 related ban on tobacco sales was threatening the survival of the legal tobacco sector. The company alleged that the ban on tobacco sales had succeeded only in growing a nationwide illegal tobacco industry at the direct expense of law-abiding businesses, citizens, and taxpayers.
Batsa said it had received support from Japan Tobacco International.
Source: IOL, 01 June 2020
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For World No Tobacco Day (31 May), the Australian Dental Association (ADA) sent a message to tobacco users of all ages— with oral cancer a known risk of tobacco use, it is never too late to quit.
Around 2.6 million Australian adults are daily smokers. Smoking kills about 15,500 Australians every year and remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the country.
Statistics from an oral oncology study found that stopping smoking reducing reduces the risk of developing oral cancer, with a 35% reduction in risk within one to four years and an 80% reduction of risk after 20 years, the same level seen in lifelong non-smokers.
Dr Sue-Ching Yeoh, an oral medicine specialist at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and a member of the ADA’s Dental Therapeutics Committee, encouraged smokers to: “Take steps to reduce and quit smoking. It is about improving your health, and the health of the people around you.”
Source: Bite Magazine, 01 June 2020
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To celebrate World No Tobacco Day (31 May), the Ministry of Health in Spain published a study: ‘Tobacco, other forms of consumption and quarantine.’
The survey shows 6.4% of the 17,000 participants reported that they have stopped smoking during the COVID-19 lockdown and that 6% have reduced the amount smoked since the beginning of the pandemic.
A World Health Organization (WHO) study last month found smokers may be at greater risk from COVID and are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory illnesses and diabetes. These side effects have promoted 13.6% of smokers to try to quit. About 70.8% of those who have tried to quit have done so by themselves while 10% have tried with the help of pharmaceuticals. The survey found that cigarettes were the most used tobacco products during the quarantine (54.7%), followed by rolling tobacco (26.1%). The survey found 4.3% of respondents were using electronic cigarettes or vapes.
The study also shows that household exposure to environmental tobacco smoke has decreased during the lockdown. According to the data, 61.8% of the people surveyed said they were exposed to secondhand smoke before quarantine but that they have stopped being exposed. Overall, the lockdown has helped to reduce tobacco consumption and close to 7% of survey respondents have taken advantage of this opportunity to quit permanently.
Source: Euro Weekly, 01 June 2020
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Asked by Baroness Northover
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 5 March (HC Deb, cols. 1078–1079), what assessment they have made of the success of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) 2030 project in accelerating the implementation of strong tobacco control policies and advancing sustainable development in low-and middle-income countries; whether, in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the countries participating in the FCTC 2030 project will be given more time to implement the project; and whether official development funds will be made available beyond 2021 to support low-and middle-income countries to implement the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As a world leader in tobacco control, the Government is continuing to deliver its commitments under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control 2030 project. The countries receiving support continue to make good progress in strengthening their tobacco control measures.
The five-year project is in its final year and scheduled to end in March 2021. Year 5 (2020/21) objectives have been set and the project delivery revised to take account of the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
No decision has been made on whether Official Development Assistance funding will be made available to support the project beyond the original commitment of March 2021.
Source: Hansard, 01 June 2020
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