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** 03 July 2020
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** UK
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** Tobacco firm funded attack on council quit-smoking services (#1)
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** Kent: Police closes shop over illicit tobacco sales and antisocial behaviour (#2)
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** International
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** Spain warns citizens of potential coronavirus threat from hand-to-mouth action of smoking and vaping (#3)
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** Turkey: Ban on the sale of hand-rolled tobacco comes into effect (#4)
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Parliamentary questions (#5)
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** Link of the week
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** ASH Webinar: Opportunities for driving down smoking prevalence among people with mental health problems (#6)
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** UK
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** A PR campaign against council stop smoking services, which has led to reports in local papers across England, is funded by British American Tobacco (BAT) it has been revealed.
The PR agency Pagefield last week sent news outlets press releases that appeared to attempt to discredit NHS and Council stop smoking services, which are understood to create vast net savings nationally by helping people quit. Pagefield did not initially say it was working on behalf of the manufacturer of cigarette brands including Camel, Pall Mall and Dunhill.
Citing NHS figures, the press release documented the cost per taxpayer for the services in their areas without considering the money saved by the health service through the reduced burden of smoking related diseases. BAT, which owns the e-cigarette brand Vype, suggested the campaign was intended to encourage smokers into vaping. The press release was used in reports by at least half a dozen local newspapers, such as the West Essex Guardian without mentioning BAT.
Deborah Arnott, the Chief Executive of the health charity ASH, said it was the first time to her knowledge that a tobacco company in the UK had employed a PR agency that had issued a press release which did not disclose its client. She said: “This covert ad for e-cigs purports to be public information and has been covered as such by unsuspecting journalists. BAT has an appalling and shameful track record going back generations. In just the last year, BAT has been found to have broken advertising rules by promoting its Vype e-cigs to young people on social media.”
Councillor Ian Hudspeth, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said reducing smoking rates among the 6 million smokers in England was the “single biggest thing” councils could do to improve public health. Smoking-related illnesses are costing the NHS approximately £2.5bn a year.
Councillor Hudspeth went on to say: “People’s lives are improved for the better by councils, with every pound invested by [the] government in council-run services such as public health helping to relieve pressure on other services like the NHS, criminal justice and welfare.”
Source: The Guardian, 2 July 2020
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** A convenience store has been closed by a court order after police found more than 8,000 illicit packets of cigarettes in the store in the past two years. The convenience store is the first to be forced to close in Kent under the legislation following illegal tobacco sales and repeated antisocial behaviour.
Magistrates approved the order after police made an application on Tuesday, 30 June 2020. The order means nobody can enter the shop under powers usually used to prevent people from entering homes associated with drug dealing or antisocial behaviour. The application will remain in place until 8 September 2020.
Source: Kent Online, 2 July 2020
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** International
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** Spain has warned its citizens not to smoke or to vape in public places given the amount of hand to mouth contact that smoking involves, which could pose a risk as the nation battles to contain coronavirus. The Spanish health ministry has also warned against the use of shisha or waterpipes as they are often shared between people.
Smoking and vaping "should be avoided in social and communal settings" as a means of preventing new COVID-19 infections, according to a document from Spain's public health commission. "In situations where it is carried out, it should be in open spaces, and with personal hygiene by the consumer such as handwashing before and after and cleaning the devices used."
The World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly warned that smoking may potentially increase the risk of severe illness for those infected with COVID-19.
Spain is currently planning to reform its 2005 Law Against Tobacco, which ended smoking in all public places, including bars or nightclubs. The left-wing coalition government wants to introduce higher taxes on cigarettes and bring in more restrictions on smoking in public.
Source: The Telegraph, 2 July 2020
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** Turkey has imposed a ban on the sale of hand-rolled tobacco starting from Wednesday, 1 July 2020. Sellers will be sentenced to prison terms ranging between three to six years. Raising cigarette prices has driven smokers to tobacco shops, and authorities say smokers are increasingly turning to the sale of hand-rolled tobacco, which is far cheaper than regular cigarettes.
According to media reports, Turkey is now home to more than 25,000 tobacco shops whose earnings mostly depend on the sale of hand-rolled and raw tobacco. Illegal online sales of hand-rolled cigarettes also increased in recent years, complicating efforts to track down illicit sales.
Turkey has taken stricter measures against smoking in recent years. According to official figures, 28% of adults in the country smoke.
Source: Daily Sabah, 1 July 2020
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** PQ: Smoking: Young people
Asked by Helen Hayes, Dulwich and West Norwood
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish his Department's response to the potential funding options for programmes to reduce smoking uptake amongst young people in the Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s consultation, which closed on 14 October 2019.
Answered by Jo Churchill MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Source: Hansard, 2 July 2020
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Read Transcript ([link removed])
** Link of the week
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On Friday, 26 June 2020, ASH hosted a webinar on smoking and mental health in the context of COVID-19. The webinar included presentations from academic experts on providing support to quit smoking for people with mental health conditions.
The webinar was recorded and is now available to view online.
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View Webinar ([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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