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** 29 January 2021
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** International
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** EU considers recommending restrictions on vaping (#1)
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** US: Decline in cigarette sales stalls (#2)
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** Tobacco sales plummet in the Balearic Islands (#3)
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** Study: Support for tobacco control policies on campus grew more popular over time, even among tobacco users (#4)
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** Link of the Week
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** Recruitment: Communications Officer, ASH Wales (#5)
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** International
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** The European Commission will recommend that EU countries introduce new rules to ban vaping in public places as part of a push to reduce smoking prevalence across the bloc to 5% by 2040, according to a draft leaked document seen by The Telegraph on the EU cancer strategy.
The commission is considering updating EU recommendations on smokefree environments by 2023 to include “emerging products, such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.” The recommendations call on EU member states to ban smoking and vaping in public places, workplaces and public transport. The commission does not however have the power to enforce the ban and can only recommend it, because such a decision would involve national powers.
The EU should also consider imposing existing minimum taxation rates on tobacco to novel tobacco products, according to the draft, which is subject to change. The paper pledges to overhaul existing EU tobacco laws to make smoking less attractive to young people, including by enforcing rules on plain packaging, a ban on flavours and tackling online and social media advertising.
Similar measures are planned on taxation and advertising for alcohol to curb harmful consumption. The plan is the first step in a long process towards possibly introducing binding rules. The commission will not be able to enforce every aspect of the plan in member states, which retain national powers in some areas. The wide-ranging plan further calls for action to promote healthy eating and exercise as well as better early detection of cancer. It also sets out initiatives aimed at reducing exposure to carcinogenic substances in food and in the wider environment from factors such as air pollution.
Source: The Telegraph, 27 January 2021
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The decadeslong decline in US cigarette sales halted last year as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country. Before the pandemic, U.S. cigarette unit sales had been falling at an accelerating rate, hitting 5.5% in 2019, as smokers quit or switched to alternatives like e-cigarettes. The pandemic put the brakes on that slide. In 2020, the U.S. cigarette industry’s unit sales were flat compared to the previous year, according to data released Thursday by Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc. Commentators claim e-cigarette users switching back to tobacco products, amid confusion around their relative safety, has also contributed to the trend.
Public health officials say that while e-cigarette use isn’t risk-free, it poses significantly less risk than cigarette smoking, which is associated with more than 480,000 deaths in the US each year. According to a Euromonitor survey in early 2020, 73% of US respondents said vaping products were as harmful or more harmful than cigarettes. Euromonitor reported that public perceptions of e-cigarette safety worsened in all 20 of the countries it surveyed. “This weakness was undoubtedly a factor in the relative robustness of cigarette volumes in 2020,” the research firm said. Adults using e-cigarettes as an alternative to cigarettes shouldn’t go back to smoking, said Brian King, a deputy director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health and a senior official involved in the agency’s vaping-related illness response.
Other adult smokers said in interviews that restrictions on fruity and minty e-cigarette flavors have nudged them back to cigarettes. An FDA spokesperson said changes in tobacco consumption couldn’t be attributed to a single policy, event or piece of legislation. She noted that adult consumers still had access to flavoured vaping products like disposable e-cigarettes and tank systems, adding that “COVID-19 has created a drastic change in daily life, including increased stress and anxiety, that may contribute to a smaller-than-expected reduction in cigarette sales."
Source: The Wall Street Journal, 28 January 2021
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Tobacco sales fell by a third in the Balearic Islands in 2020 because of the State of Emergency and the non-existent tourist season, according to data released by the Ministry of Finance. 55.3 million packs of tobacco were sold in 2020 compared to 86.6 million in 2019, equating to a drop of 36%.
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Source: Majorca Daily Bulletin, 29 January 2021
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Support for policies prohibiting smoking and the use of tobacco products on Oregon State University's Corvallis campus grew substantially over a five-year span, especially among tobacco users, a recent study by the university found. The study, published earlier this month in the journal Preventive Medicine, is unique in its analysis of support for smoke- and tobacco-free campus policies over a long period of time. Most other studies of attitudes toward smoking policies only assess a single point in time.
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The researchers used two surveys conducted at the university, one in 2013 and one in 2018, that asked members of the campus community about their smoking and tobacco-use habits and their support for tobacco control measures. The university enacted a smoke-free campus policy in 2012, a few months before the first survey was conducted. In the 2013 survey, 72% of students and 77% of faculty and staff were in favour of a smoke-free campus. Support was highest among non-tobacco users. Among self-reported tobacco users, only 36% of students and 29% of faculty and staff supported a smoke-free policy.
Five years later, overall support rose to 73% among students and 84% among faculty and staff. But approval among tobacco users jumped dramatically: The 2018 survey found 48% of students and 49% of faculty and staff supported the smoke-free policy. Researchers found an even more dramatic shift in support for a fully tobacco-free campus (a policy including not just smoked tobacco but any tobacco product, such as heated and oral tobacco). In 2013, only 19% of student tobacco users and 16% of faculty and staff tobacco users supported a tobacco-free policy. In 2018, those numbers rose to 35% and 28%, respectively.
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Source: Medical Xpress, 28 January 2021
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** Preventative Medicine - Five-year changes in support for tobacco control policy options among students, faculty and staff at a public university ([link removed])
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** Link of the Week
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** ASH Wales is currently recruiting for a new Communications Officer.
Are you a skilled communicator who is passionate about delivering real change in Wales? Do you have graphic design experience and understand social media marketing? If so, ASH Wales would love to hear from you.
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** The application deadline is 8th February 2021.
Full details can be found here: [link removed]
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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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