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** 26 March 2021
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** UK
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** 15th anniversary of indoor smoking ban in Scotland (#1)
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** CCGs to be absorbed into integrated care systems by autumn, says NHSE (#2)
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** Risk-takers predisposed to smoking and e-cigarette use, new study suggests (#3)
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Parliamentary Questions (#4)
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** Links of the week
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** Webinar: Effective behavioural support in 2021 and beyond (#5)
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** Podcast: ‘Let’s talk e-cigarettes’ (#6)
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** UK
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**

Fifteen years ago today, Scottish people packed away their cigarettes and lighters in public places as Scotland’s smoking ban came in. The laws, brought in on March 26th 2006, when around a quarter of Scottish adults smoked, were brought in to protect people from second-hand smoke in enclosed places. It came at a time when an estimated 865 never-smokers died each year in Scotland from diseases linked to secondhand smoke. Scotland followed Ireland on a smoking ban and brought in the legislation around a year before England.

In the year following the ban, the number of those going into hospital with conditions linked to smoking dropped. There was a 17% reduction in heart attacks and an 18% fall in childhood asthma cases. Saliva tests of the population today show that 80% of non-smoking adults in Scotland now show no sign of breathing second-hand smoke compared to about 16% before the smoke-free laws.

Source: The Scotsman, 26 March 2021
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Most clinical commissioning group teams at ‘sub-ICS level’ should not be operating by October, as they are effectively subsumed by integrated care systems, new NHS England guidance says. Implementation guidance for 2021-22 also confirmed that, if the government’s planned health bill goes ahead, CCGs will be statutorily dissolved into ICS in April 2022.

HSJ understands that NHSE envisages all staff and structural reorganisation taking place well before April 2022, when the legal changes are expected to take place.

At present many ICS still have multiple CCGs in their area, and in some cases within large CCGs covering a whole ICS, there are several large teams within it working on the footprints of previous CCGs.

Source: HSJ, 26 March 2021
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Research by the University of Bristol has found that the association between smoking and e-cigarette use could be explained by a broader genetic susceptibility to risk-taking. The findings imply that the genetic influences associated with people taking up smoking also influence people being e-cigarette users; these were also found to be associated with risk-taking behaviours more generally, such as externalising disorders in childhood.

Dr. Jasmine Khouja, lead author of the study said: "There is concern that young people who are non-smokers might be more likely to become a cigarette smoker if they have access to e-cigarettes. This is known as the 'gateway hypothesis."

"However, studies that have previously looked at the gateway hypothesis, have not taken into account potential genetic influences on both e-cigarette use and cigarette use. This study explored the genetic influences on smoking and using e-cigarettes. It found that genetic predisposition for impulsivity and risk-taking makes some individuals more likely to use both.

"These findings suggest that e-cigarette use and smoking may share a common genetic basis, which could reflect a broader predisposition to taking risks. Our findings could have important implications for policy going forward."

Previous research had already established that some individuals are more likely to smoke due to genetic influences, but little is currently known about the genetic influences on e-cigarette use. Given that many e-cigarette users have smoked before, it is likely that there may be an overlap between genetic influences on smoking and e-cigarette use. People who are genetically predisposed to smoking are more likely to smoke and therefore more likely to use e-cigarettes to quit smoking.

Researchers now aim to replicate this study with a cohort of adolescents for whom e-cigarettes and cigarettes have been available throughout their adolescence. This is to further explore the relationship between genetic influences and e-cigarette use among individuals who have never smoked before.

Source: Medical Xpress, 25 March 2021

Study: Jasmine N. Khouja et al. Association of genetic liability to smoking initiation with e-cigarette use in young adults: A cohort study, PLOS Medicine (2021). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003555 ([link removed])
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** Parliamentary Activity
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**

PQ1
Asked by Mary Glindon Labour, North Tyneside
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits for reducing single-use plastics by allowing larger e-liquid bottles for e-cigarettes.

Answered by By Rebecca Pow (Conservative, Taunton Deane) on 23 March 2021
The Government has made no specific assessment of the potential merits for reducing single-use plastics by allowing larger e-liquid bottles for e-cigarettes.

Regardless of size, e-liquid bottles can and should be recyclable. The Government's landmark Resources and Waste Strategy sets out our plans to eliminate avoidable plastic waste over the lifetime of the 25 Year Plan and drive up recycling rates. We will also be introducing a new world-leading tax on plastic packaging which will apply to businesses producing or importing plastic packaging which doesn't meet a minimum threshold of at least 30% recycled content, subject to further consultation, from April 2022. Together with the government's reform of the Packaging Producer Responsibility system, this will transform the economic incentives of producers by encouraging more use of recycled plastic and driving up recycling rates.

The Department of Health and Social Care is undertaking a post implementation review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 that provides the regulatory framework for e-cigarettes. This includes a public consultation, which closed on the 19 March, which allowed the opportunity for people to share their opinions on the regulations. The Government will publish its response later this year.

Source: Hansard, 23 March 2021 ([link removed])

PQ2
Asked by Mary Glindon Labour, North Tyneside
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his Department's policy to take an evidence-based approach to the upcoming Tobacco and Related Product Regulations review.

Answered by By Jo Churchill (Conservative, Bury St Edmunds) on 23 March 2021
The Government is conducting a Post Implementation Review of both the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015 and the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 to assess if the regulations have met their objectives. As part of this review a public consultation is being conducted, which was open until 19 March 2021. The responses, alongside other available evidence, will be fully analysed and used to inform the Post Implementation Review.

Source: Hansard, 23 March 2021 ([link removed])
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** Links of the week
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**

On Wednesday 24th March, ASH hosted a webinar that shared findings from the Cochrane Review of behavioural interventions for smoking cessation, exploring how delivery of behavioural support has changed over the past year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how to ensure it continues to be as effective as possible.

Speakers included:
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** Dr Jamie Hartmann Boyce, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford
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** Robbie Titmarsh, ASH
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** Dr Sophia Papadakis and Louise Ross, National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT)
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** Sarah Tinker and John Gear, Essex County Council
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** Maggie Milne, Yorkshire Smokefree Sheffield
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** Julie Harrington, Bath and North East Somerset Council
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** The webinar is now available to watch in full online.
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Watch video ([link removed])


**

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Nicola Lindson discuss emerging evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Professor Caitlin Notley. This podcast is a companion to the electronic cigarettes Cochrane living systematic review and shares the evidence from the monthly searches.

The interview with Professor Caitlin Notley from the Addiction Research Group at the University of East Anglia covers her qualitative research that centres on electronic cigarettes as a harm reduction tool, smoking cessation and relapse prevention in vulnerable populations. Professor Notley also discusses relapse prevention in pregnant and post-partum women and the role of social identity.

Also available on iTunes and Spotify.
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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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