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** 26 January 2021
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** UK
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** English council chiefs back postponement of May local elections (#1)
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** Cancer operations down by 800 in first two weeks of January (#2)
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** West Midlands: Thousands of illicit cigarettes found hidden in the ceiling at a Walsall shop (#3)
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** International
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** US: Prisons taking tobacco orders ahead of legal smoking (#4)
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** US: Philip Morris International faces a risk of cigarette alternative block (#5)
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** UK
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** A further postponement to this year’s local elections, in the wake of the continuing difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic, is backed by most senior council figures across England.

According to findings from a survey by the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), only 11% of the senior officials dealing with the forthcoming elections believe they should go ahead in May 2021 as planned. More than two-thirds (69%) believe the elections should now occur in the autumn while a further 14% called for a shorter delay to the summer and 6% backed a postponement beyond this autumn. Of the more than 350 officials who responded to the survey, two-thirds said they were “very concerned” about holding elections in May.

Boris Johnson has backed holding elections in May but has suggested he is keeping the decision under review. However, serious concerns among councils about the practicalities of proceeding with the elections have been made clear to Robert Jenrick, the housing, communities, and local government secretary.

About 80% of those surveyed by the LGIU were concerned about their ability to recruit and train electoral workers, with fewer volunteers likely to come forward. Difficulties in obtaining polling and count venues have also emerged, while schools’ usual use as polling stations is also proving contentious. Some traditional polling venues are also being used as vaccination centres. Some insiders expressed concern about the democratic problems created by a further delay. After elections were delayed last May, some councillors and mayors will have exceeded their original mandate by 18 months if voting is delayed until autumn. Some local councillors have already stood down in their area because they could not serve beyond the scheduled end of their tenures last year.

Source: The Guardian, 24 January 2021
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** There were 800 fewer cancer surgeries in the first two weeks of January than usually take place during the period, according to provisional data seen by the Health Service Journal (HSJ).

The bulk of this reduction was mainly in London and the surrounding counties such as Essex, Bedfordshire, and Surrey. London and the south east have been severely hit by COVID-19 pressures, causing widely reported mass cancellations of non-urgent elective surgery. However, the impact on cancer cases has been less clear.

In the last week, NHS England has insisted that urgent cancer cases should be given the same priority as coronavirus patients. The “weekly activity returns” data, seen by HSJ, which is used to provide timely information to NHS management, suggests that from November 1 to December 20, London performed a weekly average of around 410 cancer surgery procedures. Then in the two weeks from January 3 to January 17, the capital averaged just 270 operations per week. This suggests London performed 280 fewer operations than would have been expected without the COVID pressures, a fall of around 33%. Within the capital, north central and north east London were hardest hit.

The weekly activity returns data typically under-reports the volumes of surgery carried out, compared to the official cancer statistics published with a two-month lag. Therefore, it was not possible to reliably compare the activity at the start of January with the same period on January 19. However, data from previous years suggests activity volumes in the first two weeks of January typically return to their pre-Christmas period levels, so comparing these two periods in the same dataset gives a strong indicator of the expected trend.

Michelle Mitchell, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: “NHS staff have been doing everything they can to protect services and deliver urgent care, but we’re extremely concerned to hear about delays leaving patients waiting for potentially life-saving surgery at what is already a very anxious time for them. The government and NHS leaders have taken positive steps to make extra care available through the private sector, but they must guarantee the NHS can cope in all parts of the country so that every cancer patient has access to the treatment they need, and clearly reassure people the NHS is still open for them.”

Source: HSJ, 24 January 2021
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** An owner of a Walsall off-licence where thousands of illegal cigarettes were found stashed away in the ceiling could lose his licence. Walsall Trading Standards officers with the help of a tobacco detection dog discovered more than 56,000 illicit cigarettes on three separate raids between 2018 and 2020.

Test purchases carried out in 2018 and 2019 saw cigarettes sold for half the standard retail price. As a result, Walsall Council’s chief inspector of weights and measures, Stuart Powell, has called for the premises’ licence to be revoked and a hearing will take place on Wednesday, 3 February 2021.

Stuart Powell said: “Illegal tobacco is produced, smuggled and distributed by organised crime gangs with large profits to be made. These activities also have the potential to have a serious detrimental effect on the health of customers, facilitate smoking by children and bring more crime into the area.”

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** Source: Birmingham Live, 25 January 2021
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** International
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** Officials at some Mississippi prisons say they are being inundated with tobacco products orders as the state prepares to allow inmates to smoke again.

Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain announced in December 2020 that smoking would be made legal in Mississippi prisons starting 1 February 2021, a decade after the practice was banned. He said the change would decrease the amount of illicit tobacco being smuggled into prisons. Some public health groups, including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, are opposed to the change.

In a statement, the organisation’s officials said they are “disappointed” in the decision to legalise tobacco products by the Mississippi Department of Corrections. They called the ban a “lifesaving policy” and said inmates have the right to “breathe clean smoke-free air.”

Cain said under the new plan prisoners have a designated place outdoors to smoke and smoking cessation products will be available for those who want to quit.

Source: AP News, 23 January 2021
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** Philip Morris International Inc. faces the possibility of having imports of its IQOS heated tobacco sticks to the US blocked as early as November 2021 in an intensifying legal battle with British American Tobacco (BAT) Plc over cigarette alternatives.

BAT's subsidiary Reynolds American Inc. seeks to block the sticks' imports as it alleges that the tobacco heating technology used in IQOS devices infringed its patents. Reynolds and Altria have accused each other of infringing patents for things like the pod assembly, charging case and flavour enhancements body.

The six-day trial at the US International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington began Monday (25th January), with a judge scheduled to release his findings in May. A final decision will be issued by September and the ban, if ordered then, would take effect in November.

Source: Bloomberg, 25 January 2021
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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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