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** 25 September 2020
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** UK
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** Research finds smokers across the North West more likely than non-smokers to be without work (#1)
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** North East: Impose a COVID-19 lockdown of your own and help save your life (#2)
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** Tobacco company launches new cigarette butt litter campaign (#3)
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** International
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** Nigeria: Report indicts tobacco industry interference in government policies (#4)
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** Links of the Week
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** Smoking, employability, and earnings (#5)
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** Webinar: Public Health: Supporting recovery from COVID-19 (#6)
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** UK
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** A new analysis by Landman Economics for public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) finds that the collective impact of smoking related joblessness and lower earnings in the North West amounts to £1.4bn a year.

Over 31,000 smokers over the age of 21 are economically inactive each year in the North West, forfeiting over £657 million in lost earnings, whilst those in employment collectively earn over £746 million less than non-smokers. Working smokers have weekly earnings that are on average, 6.8 % lower than non-smokers, equivalent to £1,424 less per smoker. Across the UK, the total impact of joblessness and lower earnings because of smoking amounts to £14.1bn.

ASH is submitting the research to the Comprehensive Spending Review, demonstrating how the Government’s ambition to end smoking also has a crucial role to play in delivering the “levelling up” agenda, particularly in the poorest, most disadvantaged communities where smoking rates are highest. The analysis compared the employment prospects of smokers and non-smokers using national surveys and found that over time and adjusting for other factors such as level of education smokers were 5% less likely to be in employment compared to non-smokers, rising to 7.5% for those who had been smoking longer. After controlling for age, gender and educational attainment, the relationship between unemployment and smoking appears to be driven primarily by disability caused by smoking-related illness, which impacts worse on smokers than non-smokers. Disabled smokers are around 12.5% less likely to be in work than disabled non-smokers.

Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive of ASH, said: “Our findings demonstrate how crucial the Government’s ambition to end smoking is to delivery of other key pledges to ‘level up’ economic opportunity and close the health gap between the richest and poorest. Funding for public health must be put on a strong and sustainable footing, or the Government will not be able to achieve any of these pledges. The Spending Review must provide the significant additional investment that is desperately needed. The ‘polluter pays’ levy on tobacco manufacturers, which the Government promised to consider over a year ago, should be introduced without further delay.”

Source: About Manchester, 24 September 2020

See also: ASH report - Smoking, employability, and earnings ([link removed])
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** Smokers in the North East are being urged to impose a COVID-19 lockdown restriction of their own - on buying cigarettes. Amongst several symptoms, COVID-19 attacks the lungs and impairs breathing. Now, as we enter the flu season as well, smokers are being encouraged to put their lungs first and strengthen their immune system as part of the annual Stoptober campaign.

In the North East, one in seven adults now smoke (15.3%) compared to 29% back in 2005, representing the most significant drop of any English region in that period; and it seems the coronavirus crisis has had an effect too. Data from the University College London (UCL) Smoking Toolkit Study shows that in England in 2020 there has been an increase of almost two-thirds in the quitting success rate, rising from 14% to 23%, the highest since 2007.

Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Fresh, the regional tobacco control office, said: “Since the start of the pandemic we have seen an increase in smokers trying to quit. As the Autumn approaches, it is incredibly important to give it another go, and thousands of people will be doing so this Stoptober. Don’t ever give up on quitting smoking or think it is too late - no matter when you quit; it brings important health benefits at any age.”

Source: Chronicle Live, 24 September 2020

See also: About Manchester - Stoptober Launches in Greater Manchester with Free Quit Support for Residents ([link removed])
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Read Article ([link removed])


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** Tobacco company Japan Tobacco International (JTI) has announced two new schemes to reduce cigarette butt litter. The first campaign, #IGiveAButt, provides a portable ‘stub tidy’ that acts as a temporary way to hold cigarette butt litter until a bin is available. The scheme is to be piloted among 5,000 smokers via a nationwide digital sampling campaign in conjunction with the Daily Mail and Metro. JTI will also be running campaign adverts around four central London train stations.

The second campaign, in conjunction with Keep Wales Tidy, expected to take place later this year will test the impact of positive messaging on smoking-related litter levels in Abertillery, Ebbw Vale and Tredegar. The company says the bilingual messages will remind smokers to dispose of their litter responsibly, using the hashtags #TidyButts and #BonionTaclus. Monitoring and perception surveys will take place to understand the impact of the campaign better as well as to raise awareness.

Source: Convenience Store, 24 September 2020
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Read Article ([link removed])


** International
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** The Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) and the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) have said the tobacco industry is interfering with policies of the Nigeria government. They stated this during the launch of the 2020 tobacco industry interference index report for Nigeria.

The report of the survey forms part of the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index – a global survey of how public health policies are protected from the industry’s subversive efforts, and how well governments have pushed back against this influence. Nigeria, being a party to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) has obligations to protect government policy making from the tobacco industry’s commercial and vested interests.

The survey revealed that the Nigerian government fell short on several critical standards of transparency and integrity. The tobacco industry in Nigeria has also been found to interfere in tobacco control policies and to unlawfully engage in corporate social responsibility activities in clear contravention of the National Tobacco Control Act 2015. Overall, Nigeria scored 49 in the survey, which was supervised by the Global Centre for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC) in the School of Global Studies at Thammasat University.

Speaking on the report, Executive Director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi urged the Nigerian government to put in place global standards, probity, and transparency in all its dealings with the tobacco industry. He said: “15 years has [elapsed] since Nigeria signed the WHO FCTC and Article 5.3 of the treaty is binding on Nigeria. It is disheartening that despite having a five- year old tobacco control law, Nigeria still records a lot of infringement on the law and the treaty. This is not good for public health in the country.”

Source: The Guardian Nigeria, 25 September 2020
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Read Article ([link removed])


** Links of the Week
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**

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** ASH has published a new report on the impact of smoking on employment and earnings in terms of lost income across the UK. The report builds on previous estimates of the cost of smoking to society, further joining the dots between the importance of health to wealth and productivity across the UK.
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View Report ([link removed])


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** ASH, in collaboration with Fresh, is hosting a webinar on Monday 28 September 2020 at 10.00 – 11:30 am on the importance of public health to COVID-19 recovery. The event will cover the further activity needed to reduce harm from alcohol, obesity and smoking as the leading causes of non-communicable diseases in the UK.

The presentations will include:
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** The role of public health in building population health resilience
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** Tests for a new public health system
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** Delivering comprehensive prevention at national, regional, and local levels
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** Panel Q&A
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Register Here ([link removed])
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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.

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