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** 09 June 2020
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** UK
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** Smoking cessation: People awaiting or recovering from surgery (#1)
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** Norfolk: Two men arrested after counterfeit cigarettes were seized in King's Lynn (#2)
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** International
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** WTO backs Australia in appeal over plain tobacco packaging (#3)
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** Republic of Ireland: Illicit tobacco seized at Dublin port (#4)
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** UK
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** Patients who are awaiting surgery, or recovering after surgery, can play an active role in achieving good outcomes, and stopping smoking is one of the most important measures that they can take. This article, the last in a five-part series on the nurse’s role in smoking cessation by Louise Ross, a freelance smoking cessation consultant, looks at how nurses are well placed to prompt this change by giving patients tailored information and motivational interventions to ensure they understand the harms of continuing to smoke before surgery and the benefits of quitting.
Key points include:
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** Surgical outcomes for patients who smoke are significantly worse than for those who do not smoke
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** Even quitting smoking the day before surgery leads to better outcomes
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** All health professionals should inform patients of the risks of smoking before surgery and refer them to stop-smoking services where available
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** Nurses can make peri-operative interventions a teachable moment to help patients quit smoking
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** There is no evidence that using an e-cigarette to quit before surgery has any negative effects
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Source: Nursing Times, 8 June 2020
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** See also: ASH Joint Briefing: Smoking and surgery ([link removed] )
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Read Article ([link removed])
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** Two men have been arrested after thousands of counterfeit cigarettes were seized in King’s Lynn on Monday 8 June.
Officers from the Local and Neighbourhood Policing teams investigated three separate addresses across the town, where they discovered more than 50,000 counterfeit cigarettes.
The men, who were arrested on suspicion of money laundering offences, have since been released under investigation while the inquiry is ongoing.
Source: Norfolk Constabulary, 9 June 2020
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** International
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** On Tuesday (9 June) the World Trade Organization's (WTO) appeals body upheld Australia's right to require plain packaging for tobacco products, rejecting arguments from two tobacco-growing nations: The Dominican Republic and Honduras, that the law places unfair restrictions on trade.
Plain tobacco packaging was introduced in Australia in December 2012 with the aim of making tobacco products less appealing. The packs are an identical olive green, bearing no logos and instead include graphic health warnings.
In 2014, a range of countries, including major tobacco producers Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Honduras, launched separate complaints before the WTO, saying the Australian legislation harmed their business.
A WTO panel of experts ruled in 2018 that the countries had failed to show that Australia's actions contravened international law or blocked international trade. It also rejected the charge that the plain packaging does not reduce tobacco consumption.
Honduras and the Dominican Republic appealed against that ruling, but the panel's decision was fully upheld on 9 June 2020 by the WTO Appellate Body.
The World Health Organization, which estimates that more than 8 million people die each year from tobacco use, analysed data from Australia four years after it introduced plain packaging. It found that the drab packets and graphic health warnings helped significantly decrease the number of smokers in the country.
Source: Reuters, 9 June 2020
See also: WTO Reaffirms Australia’s Tobacco Plain Packaging Measure ([link removed])
WHO report: Plain packaging of tobacco products: evidence, design and implementation ([link removed])
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** Illicit cigarettes and tobacco worth €3.8m have been seized by Revenue at Dublin Port. As part of routine checks, 3.5 million 'Richmond' branded cigarettes, which were labelled as engineering components, and 3.9 tonnes of ‘Old H’ branded tobacco, labelled as 'confectionery', were discovered by officers.
Revenue said both shipments originated in Germany and have a combined retail value of €3.8 million, representing a loss to the Exchequer of €3.25 million.
Investigations are currently ongoing.
Source: RTE News, 9 June 2020
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