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** 22 June 2020
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** UK
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** 'Don’t wait to quit smoking' - powerful plea from NHS doctors in major new campaign (#1)
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** Cumbria 'worst county' for quitting smoking (#2)
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** International
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** Republic of Ireland: Philip Morris says Irish ad for ‘menthol blend’ cigarettes a ‘mistake’ (#3)
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** Australian government plans to ban importation of e-cigarettes and refills from July 1 (#4)
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** UK
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** Almost 2,400 people from Greater Manchester are estimated to have died from smoking-related causes alone since the start of the year, new figures reveal. The findings have led NHS doctors from some of the most affected areas across the North to join together and make a powerful plea for people to stop smoking in a major new campaign launching imminently online, on-air and on TV across Greater Manchester.
One of the medics supporting the campaign is Dr Matt Evison, a lung specialist at Wythenshawe Hospital, part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Smoking damages every organ in the body. It causes heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, cancer, and lung disease. And for smokers who get coronavirus, the symptoms may be more severe because of the damage tobacco smoke causes the lungs and immune system.”
Dr Ruth Sharrock, the respiratory consultant who features in the main TV advert for the campaign, said: “In my role, I particularly work with patients with COPD and lung cancer, so I see the terrible harms of smoking on a daily basis. It is devastating to watch patients and their families having to deal with such difficult diagnoses.”
Dr Sharrock went on to say: “In the last few months we have seen the awful effects of COVID-19 across our hospitals and communities. Together this is a particularly deadly combination. It is never too late to see the benefits that come from quitting smoking. I see some incredible success stories from patients who have been able to stop, despite significant health issues already - they get a new lease of life, and all wish they had done it sooner. You should never give up on yourself.”
According to an analysis by King’s College London and Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) of YouGov’s COVID-19 tracker, at least 300,000 people in the UK have quit smoking successfully. A further 550,000 have tried to quit, and 2.4 million have cut down on the number of cigarettes they smoke as a result of concerns about coronavirus.
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Source: Oldham Evening Chronicle, 20 June 2020
See also: ASH Press Release – Around 300,000 smokers have #QuitforCovid. Over half a million more have tried to quit and 2.4 million have cut down ([link removed])
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** Nearly nine in ten Cumbrians accessing the County’s stop smoking services failed to quit. NHS Digital data shows 938 people on the NHS Stop Smoking Service in the county set a date to quit between April and December last year. At follow-up meetings held a month later, 106 said they had given up – equivalent to 11 %, this was the worst outcome in the country.
About 7% of service users across Cumbria quit when only counting those who confirmed this with a test to measure carbon monoxide (CO) levels in their bloodstream. The self-reported rate in county was below the average of 51% across England as a whole – this decreased to 36% nationally for those CO tested. In Cumbria, £50,000 was allocated for stop smoking services in 2019-20, excluding the cost of medicines. This was down from £560,000 in 2014-15, the earliest period with comparable data.
The charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) said the variation in the support smokers can receive across the country “is not good enough” adding that: “All smokers deserve support to quit and for many, it can make the difference between success and failure. However, good services need funding, and national government has repeatedly cut the public health budget. We are now in the midst of a respiratory pandemic with the biggest impacts being felt by the most disadvantaged. While local authorities are doing their best, if we are to ensure that all smokers get the help they need, those cuts to the public health budget must be reversed.”
Source: The West Morland Garzette, 22 June 2020
See also: NHS Digital - Statistics on NHS Stop Smoking Services in England - April 2019 to December 2019 ([link removed])
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** International
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** Philip Morris, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, has told Irish retailers it made a “mistake” by running an advertisement in the trade press for a “menthol blend”- Marlboro Bright, which it introduced in Ireland after discontinuing its old menthol cigarettes, Marlboro Green.
Menthol cigarettes were banned across the European Union and in the UK on May 20th as part of efforts to prevent young people from smoking.
When asked by The Irish Times what it meant when it said in its original ad that the new Marlboro Bright brand is a “menthol blend”, Philip Morris said: “The phrase ‘menthol blend’ should not have been used in the advert because the product does not contain any menthol. Marlboro Bright is a traditional cigarette. The advert was a mistake and should never have run.”
Philip Morris declined to directly address repeated questions as to why the phrase “menthol blend” was used in the advertisement in the first place. It insisted the new brand is in full legal compliance with the ban.
Source: The Irish Times, 19 June 2020
See also: ASH Press release - ASH warns that the ban on sale of menthol cigarettes is long overdue as 280 children a day take up smoking in England ([link removed] )
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** The Australian Government has announced that it intends to ask the Governor-General in Council to make regulations from 1 July 2020 prohibiting the importation of e-cigarettes containing vaporiser nicotine (nicotine liquids and salts) and nicotine-containing refills unless on prescription from a doctor. The ban on importing nicotine e-cigarettes and refills would be in line with existing bans on their sale in each state and territory.
The Minister for Health, the Hon Greg Hunt MP, has asked the Department of Health to work with the Australian Border Force to implement this new approach to regulating e-cigarettes containing nicotine.
Under the new regulations, individuals would need to visit a doctor and be issued a prescription to purchase their nicotine-containing e-cigarettes or refills. Even valid prescription holders would still not be allowed to buy the devices from overseas themselves. Vaporisers and refills containing nicotine would have to be imported by doctors or medical suppliers via a courier or cargo service with express permission from the Department of Health. Also, importing the equipment through international mail would not be allowed.
The plan is for the prohibition to remain in place for 12 months while the government conducts public consultation on the regulation of nicotine products by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). The regulation would strengthen regulations on nicotine products in the Poisons Standard, prohibiting all but tobacco cigarettes and TGA approved smoking cessation products, such as gums and patches.
A final decision by the Therapeutic Goods Administration is expected in early 2021.
Source: Mail on Sunday, 22 June 2020
See also: Australian Government proposes strengthening its stance against e-cigarettes containing vaporiser nicotine ([link removed])
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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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