View this email in your browser ([link removed])
** 04 August 2020
------------------------------------------------------------
** UK
------------------------------------------------------------
** South East: Illicit tobacco seized in Gravesend (#1)
------------------------------------------------------------
** International
------------------------------------------------------------
** Study: Changes in exercise, sleep, smoking, and alcohol habits linked to mental health decline during COVID-19 pandemic (#2)
------------------------------------------------------------
** US: Study: Coca-Cola ‘paid scientists to downplay how sugary beverages fuelled the obesity crisis’ (#3)
------------------------------------------------------------
** Parliamentary Activity
------------------------------------------------------------
** Parliamentary questions (#4)
------------------------------------------------------------
** UK
------------------------------------------------------------
**
------------------------------------------------------------
** Police in Gravesend seized 36,000 illegal cigarettes after raiding a town centre premises selling illegal tobacco products. Police shared news of the seizure online on 29 July with a request for anyone with information about illicit tobacco in the town to report it.
No arrests have been made, and police are working with Gravesham council as part of ongoing enquiries.
Source: Kent Online, 3 August 2020
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed] )
** International
------------------------------------------------------------
**
------------------------------------------------------------
** A recent study suggests that a subset of Australian citizens have experienced adverse changes in health-related behaviours since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and are at risk for heightened depression, anxiety, and stress.
The researchers explored how changes in health-related behaviours would impact the mental health of citizens during the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 1,491 Australian adults took part in an online survey between 9 April and 19 April 2020. Participants were asked to indicate, along a scale, how their physical activity, sleeping habits, smoking, and alcohol intake had changed since the onset of the pandemic. Participants additionally completed the depression, anxiety, and stress scale as a measure of psychological distress.
Findings suggest nearly half (49%) of respondents indicated that their physical activity had dropped since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. An additional 41% said their sleep quality had worsened, and over a quarter (27%) reported an increase in alcohol consumption. Further, 7% of the overall sample had increased the amount they smoke. This statistic is important, researchers say, because smokers are not only more likely to catch a respiratory illness, but smoking has been linked to a poorer prognosis after contracting COVID-19. Most importantly, adverse changes in each of these health behaviours were linked to poorer mental health.
The researchers acknowledge that their study relied on self-report data and that reports may have been biased. Still, the findings suggest that the impact of lockdown regulations should be monitored continually. Additionally, public health campaigns should actively encourage citizens to maintain positive health behaviours during the coronavirus pandemic to reduce psychological distress.
Source: PsyPost, 3 August 2020
See also: IJERPH - Depression, Anxiety and Stress during COVID-19: Associations with Changes in Physical Activity, Sleep, Tobacco and Alcohol Use in Australian Adults ([link removed] )
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])
**
------------------------------------------------------------
** Researchers have looked at more than 18,000 pages of emails between the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, West Virginia University, and the University of Colorado. Both universities were part of the Global Energy Balance Network (GEBN), claiming to be a non-profit organization studying obesity, which ran from 2014 to 2015.
The researchers found the group was created by Coke to minimize links between obesity and sugary drinks. Coca-Cola directly funded GEBN, contributing at least $1.5 million by 2015, and distributed millions more to GEBN-affiliated academics to conduct research.
There were two main strategies used by Coke to promote the research. The first strategy included obscuring Coca-Cola as the funding source and shaping the evidence-based on diet and public health-related issues. The second strategy was the coalition building, which included building Coca-Cola’s network of researchers and establishing relationships with policymakers. This second strategy included researchers meeting members of the West Virginia Legislature and Coca-Cola supporting a small group of scientists called the ‘email family’ by the then-vice president of Coca-Cola, Rhona Applebaum.
Gary Ruskin, the executive director of US Right to Know, a non-profit investigative group focused on the food industry, said: “Coke used public health academics to carry out classic tobacco tactics to protect its profits. It's a low point in the history of public health and a warning about the perils of accepting corporate funding for public health work.”
Source: Mail Online, 3 August 2020
See also: Public Health Nutrition - Evaluating Coca-Cola’s attempts to influence public health ‘in their own words’: analysis of Coca-Cola emails with public health academics leading the Global Energy Balance Network ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])
** Parliamentary Activity
------------------------------------------------------------
**
------------------------------------------------------------
** PQ1: Tobacco: Sales
Asked by David Morris, Morecambe and Lunesdale
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the level compliance with the prohibition on the sale of menthol cigarettes under the EU Revised Tobacco Products Directive.
Answered by Jo Churchill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
No assessment has been made. We expect the tobacco industry to comply with the requirements of The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016, and this includes the recent ban on the sale of menthol flavoured cigarettes. A breach of the regulations could result in enforcement action being taken.
Source: Hansard, 3 August 2020
------------------------------------------------------------
** [link removed]
------------------------------------------------------------
**
PQ2: Tobacco: Marketing
Asked by Mr David Jones, Clwyd West
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the decision by the US Food and Drug Administration to authorise the marketing of the IQOS electrically heated tobacco system as a modified risk tobacco product in the US, if he will (a) undertake a review of policy in relation to such products in the UK and (b) introduce a regulatory framework for those goods based on risk.
Answered by Jo Churchill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
On 7 July 2020, the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) classified IQOS as a ‘modified risk product’ and permitted the use of certain information in their advertising and marketing of the products. The FDA states that this does not mean these products are safe or “FDA approved” and they will continue to monitor them.
The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) provided an independent assessment of the harms of heated tobacco products for the Government. COT reported in December 2017 and found that the evidence suggests heated tobacco products pose a risk to users and though there is likely to be a reduction in risk for cigarette smokers who switch to these products, it is best to quit entirely.
In the United Kingdom heated tobacco products are regulated under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR) and classed as a novel tobacco product. The Government has a legal commitment to carry out a post-implementation review of TRPR by May 2021.
------------------------------------------------------------
** Source: Hansard, 3 August 2020
------------------------------------------------------------
** [link removed]
------------------------------------------------------------
Have you been forwarded this email? Subscribe to ASH Daily News here. ([link removed])
For more information call 020 7404 0242, email
[email protected] (mailto:
[email protected]) or visit www.ash.org.uk
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.
============================================================
Our mailing address is:
Action on Smoking and Health
6th Floor New House
Hatton Garden
London
EC1N 8JY
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
