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Downing Street has unveiled plans to implement a total ban on online junk food advertising – the most stringent digital marketing restrictions in the world – to tackle the growing obesity crisis. While health campaigners have welcomed the proposed ban, which is now subject to a six-week consultation, it has stunned the advertising industry, which has called it indiscriminate and draconian.
The new rules would affect foods deemed to be too high in fat, salt, and sugar. However, a range of foods, from avocados and marmite to jam and cream, could be caught alongside what is viewed as traditional “junk food.”
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said: “I am determined to help parents, children and families in the UK make healthier choices about what they eat. We know children spend more time online. Parents want to be reassured they are not being exposed to adverts promoting unhealthy foods, which can affect habits for life.”
If implemented, the ban would affect digital marketing, from ads on Facebook to paid-search results on Google, text message promotions, and social media activity on Twitter and Instagram. Bernhardt, the coordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign, said: “Online adverts have cast unhealthy food in the starring role for far too long. The current regulations are inadequate to protect children. Companies advertising healthier foods have nothing to fear.”
Breaches of the new rules would be enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority, which has the power to ban ads that break the UK code. The government said that if industry regulation failed, or advertisers flouted the new rules, stronger statutory penalties would be introduced, such as “civil sanctions, including the ability to issue fines.”
Source: The Guardian, 10 November 2020
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The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Act 2020 passed in August 2020 comes into effect today – 11 November. It introduces a range of prohibitions and restrictions on vaping which will be phased in over 15 months.
The first raft of measures prohibits the use of e-cigarettes in workplaces, schools, early childhood education and on public transport.
New Zealand's new act also prohibits advertising and sponsorship related to vaping products.
Source: Daily Mail, 11 November 2020
See also: Ministry of Health - Regulation of vaping and smokeless tobacco products
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Nearly one in five people who have had COVID-19 are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder such as anxiety, depression or insomnia within three months of testing positive for the virus, according to a study that suggests action is needed to mitigate the mental health toll of the pandemic.
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford and NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, analysed 69 million electronic health records in the US, including 62,000 cases of COVID-19 that did not require a hospital stay or an emergency department visit.
The researchers found that the incidence of any diagnosis of mental ill-health in the 14 to 90 days after a COVID-19 diagnosis was 18.1%, including 5.8% that was the first diagnosis. They also found that people with a pre-existing mental health diagnosis were 65% more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than those without, even accounting for known risk factors such as age, sex, race, and underlying physical conditions.
Paul Harrison, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford and one of the study authors, said more research was needed to establish whether a diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder could be directly linked to contracting coronavirus.
Source: The Guardian, 10 November 2020
See also: The Lancet Psychiatry - Bidirectional associations between COVID-19 and psychiatric disorder: retrospective cohort studies of 62 354 COVID-19 cases in the USA
Editorial note
At this time of uncertainty articles are being included in Daily News if they cover issues likely to have an impact on tobacco control or smoking cessation even if they are not specifically mentioned.
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Smoking - DHSC
Asked by Alex Norris Labour, Nottingham North
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of levels of compliance with the ban on menthol cigarettes; and what steps the Government is taking to remove illegal products from the market.
Answered by Jo Churchill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care
No assessment has been made regarding levels of compliance with the ban on menthol cigarettes since its introduction in May earlier this year. We expect the tobacco industry to comply with the requirements of The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. A breach of the regulations could result in enforcement action being taken.
Source: Hansard, 10 November 2020
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