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Health Secretary Matt Hancock was under mounting pressure on Friday, 21 August 2020, to say who will take responsibility for the national fight against obesity after his controversial decision to close Public Health England caused dismay among experts.
Ministers confirmed that the immediate shake-up was going ahead even though they did not know who will take over PHE’s work on tackling obesity, reducing smoking, and tackling health inequalities.
Jonathan Ashworth, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who is writing to Hancock to demand answers, said: “Not only is a major structural reorganisation mid-pandemic risky and irresponsible but it has left open big questions as to who will lead on important lifesaving health improvement agendas including obesity, anti-smoking, addiction and sexual health services. Weeks ago, Boris Johnson was telling us his obesity strategy was vital to building resilience ahead of a second wave. Now he can’t even explain who is responsible for delivering it.”
Gabriel Scally, visiting professor of public health at Bristol University, said: “There is a complete lack of clarity on what it is to happen to all the other functions currently carried out by Public Health England, whether it be other infectious diseases like tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases, or the really major non-communicable disease problems like obesity and tobacco. That’s deeply worrying – but inevitable, given the chaotic way in which this decision was made and announced. It is the most incoherent and potentially damaging decision around public health structures in more than 150 years of public health in the UK.”
Whitehall sources said the government remained committed to the anti-obesity drive and would be consulting widely about how best to take forward this work.
Source: The Guardian, 22 August 2020
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Bolton Council is backing a campaign to crack down on the sale of illegal tobacco as children in the region are getting hooked after buying it from shops. Recent seizures made by Trading Standards show that smuggled and counterfeit illegal tobacco products continued to be sold in stores across Greater Manchester throughout the coronavirus lockdown.
The highly addictive tobacco products are being sold by organised crime gangs with links to human trafficking, loan sharking and the drugs trade.
Bolton Council’s executive cabinet member for environment services regulatory, Councillor Hilary Fairclough, said: “We take a tough stance on this issue, and there is ongoing work to clamp down on traders who supply illegal and counterfeit tobacco products. We undertake regular operations visiting retail premises, which have resulted in prosecutions. Shopkeepers dealing in illegal tobacco can also have their licence to sell alcohol taken away from them. We will continue to take robust action on those who ignore their legal and moral obligations by selling these products.”
Source: The Bolton News, 24 August 2020
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A shopkeeper who was found in possession of thousands of illegal cigarettes and packs of hand-rolled tobacco which carried false trademarks and were not in standardised packaging has been convicted after claiming they were for his personal use.
Blackburn magistrates sentenced him to a curfew for 12 weeks between 9 pm and 7 am; fined him £105 and ordered him to pay £940 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.
The magistrates also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of all the products seized by trading standards.
Source: Lancashire Telegraph, 23 August 2020
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Helen Clark, New Zealand’s former prime minister, shares her opinions on how she led the passage of New Zealand’s first comprehensive tobacco control legislation and what needs to be done to regulate the supply and demand of tobacco products.
Thirty years ago, New Zealand dreamed a big dream – to prevent the harm and death caused by tobacco smoking. At the time, one in three adults, New Zealanders – adults and youth – smoked regularly. In comparison to other health risks, smoking is uniquely harmful to the health of individuals, the health services and society.
As Minister of Health in 1989, Clark says she wanted to promote a strengthened response to the tobacco epidemic and the tobacco industry. The Smoke-free Environments Act was passed while she was in office this week in 1990. The legislation banned smoking on public transport, prohibited sales to under-sixteens, and required disclosure of ingredients. It also restricted smoking in indoor workplaces, banned tobacco advertising and sponsorship, and established the Health Sponsorship Council (now the Health Promotion Agency) to replace tobacco sponsorship.
A private members bill extended the Act in 1995, and in 2011 New Zealand set a target to be tobacco smokefree by 2025. New Zealand’s smoking rate has plummeted to one in eight adults, and very few young people now take up smoking. However, about 500,000 New Zealanders still smoke and more than 4,000 die every year from tobacco-related diseases.
There is a need to encourage more quit attempts and to reduce relapse with encouragement from mass and social media campaigns under the leadership of the Health Promotion Agency. There is also a need to scale up successful community quit smoking programmes. Incentives for quitting, especially for pregnant women, are strongly supported by scientific evidence.
Ms Clark said: “Above all, we need a plan to get to Smoke Free 2025. A multi-pronged approach will be a win-win-win for individual, whanau [communities], the health service, and our nation.”
Source: Stuff, 23 August 2020
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Australia's health regulator has formalised a ban on heated tobacco products, rejecting an application from tobacco company Philip Morris which suggested they present a less harmful alternative for smokers and people trying to quit. In a final decision published on Monday (24 August), the Therapeutic Goods Administration said it was not satisfied that the heated tobacco products (HTPs) offered any public health benefit.
The administration said, "I do not consider HTPs would make a significant contribution to population harm reduction. I consider that maintaining the current scheduling for HTPs is necessary to protect public health from the risks associated..."
The administrator said smokers who wish to use e-cigarettes containing nicotine, as opposed to HTP, could still apply for a prescription to do so.
Source: Mail Online, 24 August 2020
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