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** 22 July 2020
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** UK
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** Natalie Bennett: When will tobacco companies pay for damage they cause? (#1)
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** South Shields cancer survivor is calling the government to achieve its ambition of a smokefree generation by 2030 (#2)
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** International
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** Study: Flavoured cigarette ban significantly reduced youth smoking (#3)
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** China: Tobacco control advocates call for the ban of sales within 100m of schools (#4)
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** UK
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Natalie Bennett, Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle, an associate editor at Left Foot Forward, and a Green Party member of the House of Lords shares her opinions on making tobacco companies pay for the damage they cause.
A year ago, the government published a Green Paper on health prevention that included a proposal on working for a “Smokefree England by 2030”, defined as a rate of smoking below 5% of the population. As a route towards that, the paper proposes a fund on the “polluter pays” principle, forcing the tobacco companies to pay a fraction of the massive windfall profits that they enjoy into a fund to help people quit the addictive, deadly product they sell.
However, it is over a year now, and there is no sign of a levy on the tobacco companies; which might have funded extensive quick action to help many more people quit, grabbing the opportunity afforded by COVID-19 and immediately reducing its impact. That inaction was the subject of a question in the House of Lords on Monday 20 July 2020 from Lord Faulkner of Worcester.
While the Government has professed to be aiming for a smokefree 2030 it is not taking simple steps to get us there. This was demonstrated in the Business and Planning Bills which makes provision, in the light of COVID-19 social distancing, to make it much easier for pubs, cafes and similar businesses to apply to use pavement and road spaces, essentially shifting their tables and chairs outside. In its initial versions of the Bill, there was no smoking restriction on the outside seating at all.
Under enormous pressure, from campaigners, a cross-party group of peers and some MPs, the Government finally shifted on Monday 20 July, moving an amendment to ensure the provision of smokefree areas, but not supporting a cross-party amendment requiring that all new outdoor seating areas be smokefree. Baroness Grey-Thompson noted how cigarettes are customarily held at face level for wheelchair users, and that they, and people with visual disabilities, can find it very hard to move away from the smoke.
Baroness Bennett says that astonishingly, during COVID-19, the “Government is promoting the profits of tobacco companies rather than the health of the nation.”
Source: Left Foot Forward, 21 July 2020
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South Shields resident Sue Mountain will speak at the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Smoking and Health virtual meeting on Wednesday, 22 July to urge the Government to deliver on its ambition to be smokefree by 2030. The meeting will have in attendance both the Public Health Minister Jo Churchill MP and Shadow Public Health Minister Alex Norris MP.
Sue 54 started smoking at the age of 11, and in 2012 she was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer. Despite initially giving up smoking and getting the all-clear, Sue began to smoke again due to stress and her cancer returned twice. Sue finally quit smoking for good in 2017 and is now cancer-free and working with Fresh – the UK’s first dedicated regional programme for tobacco control.
New figures from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) show that since last July over 102,000 children under 16 have started smoking in England and Fresh says that every day over 15 people die from smoking in the North East. On Wednesday 22 July, MPs will hear from experts what measures are needed to deliver the smokefree ambition – including increasing the age of sale to 21 – and how legislation could be implemented to levy a charge on the tobacco industry to finance them.
Sue said: “I’m delighted the government has set an ambition for a smokefree generation by 2030, but words on their own are not enough. Action is needed to prevent future generations [from] ending up like me, with a constant worry that cancer will come back because of my smoking. And I am one of the lucky ones I’ve survived.”
Ailsa Rutter OBE, director of Fresh, said: “Tobacco companies make huge profits – at least £1 billion a year in the UK alone - from an addiction which not only robs smokers of many years of life but also costs communities, families, every GP surgery, every local authority, every hospital and is a major driver of poverty. They should be made to pay for prevention.”
Source: The Shields Gazette, 22 July 2020
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** International
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** New research led by George Mason University’s College of Health and Human Services found that the flavoured cigarette ban was linked to a significant reduction in smoking among youth and young adults. The US Food and Drug Administration’s national ban on flavoured cigarettes products went into effect on 22 September 2009 banning the sale of flavoured cigarettes other than menthol.
The researchers examined data from the 2002-2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health data, where they found that the flavoured cigarette ban reduced smoking among youth (ages 12-17 years) by 43% and young adults (ages 18-25 years) by 27%. They did not see a similar reduction in smoking among older smokers, which suggests that this ban was effective at reducing smoking, specifically among young people.
Dr Matthew Rossheim, assistant professor of global and community health, said: “We observed an increase in smoking of menthol cigarettes among youth right after the ban took effect. It appears that young people smoke menthol cigarettes more when other flavour options are no longer available.”
The researchers suggest that to maximize their effectiveness among young people and to avoid increasing health disparities among African Americans who disproportionately smoke more menthol-flavoured tobacco, flavour bans should include menthol products as well.
Source: Scienmag, 15 July 2020
See also: Journal of Adolescent Health - Cigarette use before and after the 2009 flavored cigarette ban ([link removed](20)30335-9/pdf)
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** The Chinese Association of Tobacco Control has called for legislation to ban tobacco sales within 100 meters of school compounds at a symposium on Monday (20 July). Professionals from the disciplines of tobacco control, protection of minors and law reached a consensus that the draft amendment to the country’s legislation on the protection of minors should stipulate a precise distance from school premises.
China passed its law on the protection of minors in 1991 and then passed amendments in 2006 and 2012. This third drafting started in October 2019 to prohibit sales of tobacco, alcohol, and lottery tickets near a school and, for the first time, also included vaping.
China has been making progress on tobacco control with cities having implemented local bans on smoking. In the capital city of Beijing, tobacco control ordinances that were passed in 2014 states that sales to minors are prohibited in stores, automatic vending machine or online and tobacco sales are not allowed within 100 meters of nurseries, schools or academic institutions.
In its “‘Healthy China’ Outline Plan 2030,” the country pledged to strengthen tobacco control policies by pricing, taxing, and legislation, aiming to reduce the prevalence of smoking among people aged 15 and above down to 20%.
Source: CGTN, 21 July 2020
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