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According to public health officials, thousands of households in Cornwall could be “lifted out of poverty” if they stopped smoking. Smokefree Cornwall has published its latest annual report, which shows that smoking costs Cornwall £117.3 million a year. The figures were revealed in a presentation given to the Cornwall Council health and wellbeing board.
Gareth Walsh, a public health practitioner, explained that smokers in Cornwall spend around £84.7 million on tobacco products every year, which equates to about £2,050 per smoker. Of that expenditure, £67.8 million is taken by the exchequer in tobacco duty. However, due to the cost to society, the net cost in Cornwall is £49.6 million. Mr Walsh said that the statistics, provided by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), also provided information about households with smokers. He said 24% of households with a smoker fall below the poverty line in Cornwall, adding: “If those smokers quit over 3,000 households in Cornwall would be elevated out of poverty.”
The health and wellbeing board also heard that 15.2% of adults in Cornwall smoke compared to 14% across the wider South West and 13.9% in England.
Rachel Wigglesworth, Cornwall’s director of public health, said: “We are still seeing that high level of smoking prevalence in Cornwall. Smoking remains one of our top priorities.” She said that the costs of smoking were not just for the health and care sector but for the whole of society.
Source: Falmouth Packet, 26 April 2021
See also: ASH Ready Reckoner – The local costs of tobacco
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The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has revealed that tobacco giant Japan Tobacco International (JTI) has been running disguised adverts for its brands on Facebook and Instagram, enabling it to bypass social media site rules and national laws to assist the marketing of cigarettes to teenagers and young people.
On the first impression, the pages appear to centre around events, travel, and music. The pages have been used to promote three brands of JTI cigarettes: Camel, Winston and American Spirit. The Camel brand pages are called Let’s CML, and those for American Spirit are named Full of Spirit. Pages supporting the Winston brand are called Ganz Genau, which translates as “exactly” and is a slogan used to advertise the brand in Germany.
These pages – which are listed under “festival” and “community” in Facebook’s transparency section – use the fonts, colour schemes and imagery associated with the brands without making any affiliation explicit. A technique is known as alibi marketing. The practice appears designed as a workaround to skirt both Facebook’s rules and the German law stating that it is “illegal to use promotional information that is likely to encourage juveniles and young adults to engage in [tobacco] consumption.”
This social media presence chimes with JTI’s promotional ventures at some of Germany’s major music festivals, including branded lounging areas and organised activities, as well as roving vendors offering cigarette samples and tokens for free drinks.
Camel recently ran seven separate sponsored adverts on Instagram to promote a competition for 10 AirPod Pros, while a Winston page placed five adverts across Facebook and Instagram. Most of Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising. In this case, although the company states it does not allow ads for tobacco products on its platform, it draws a distinction between advertising products and advertising brands, allowing it to keep accepting money from tobacco companies.
Facebook told the Bureau: “We don’t allow ads or branded content that promotes tobacco-related products on Facebook or Instagram, and no ad brought to our attention violated this policy.” The company is reviewing how the tobacco industry might be able to use its services.
Source: The Bureau Investigative Journalism, 25 April 2021
See also: The Independent – Tobacco giant placing ‘stealth adverts’ on Facebook and Instagram, bypassing social media rules
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BBC Sounds: Menthol cigarettes could be banned in the US
Jennifer Maloney, a reporter with the Wall Street Journal, discusses how the Biden administration is considering two big policy ideas that might result in thousands of more lives saved and a potential reduction in tobacco related inequalities.
Listen from: 00:48 to 05:20.
Source: BBC Sounds
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A “Tobacco-Free Youth Postcard Campaign” has been launched in Islamabad to create awareness of the dangers of tobacco and demand an increase in taxes on the tobacco industry.
The postcard campaign for tobacco-free youth will be active for one month. Youths will have the opportunity to design postcards digitally and physically. The designs will be shortlisted, and judges will then finalise the names of three winners.
The postcards thus finalised will be sent to Prime Minister Imran Khan requesting a visible increase on tobacco tax in the upcoming budget.
Source: Ex Bulletin, 26 April 2021
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PQ1: Smoking: Health education
Asked by Bob Blackman, Harrow East
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on campaigns to promote the cessation of smoking in 2020-21.
Answered by Jo Churchill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care
Provisional expenditure by Public Health England on smoking cessation promotion for the financial year 2020-21 was £1,340,000.
Source: Hansard, 21 April 2021
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PQ2: Life expectancy: Disadvantaged
Asked by Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Slough
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons life expectancy decreased from 2010 to 2018 in the most deprived regions of England; and what steps he is taking to reduce the increasing gap in life expectancy between England's most deprived and least deprived regions.
Answered by Jo Churchill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care
For the most deprived areas, female life expectancy has increased from 78.3 years to 78.7 years and male life expectancy has increased from 72.8 years to 74.1 years from 2008/10 to 2017/19. Inequality in life expectancy between the most and least deprived measured by the slope index of inequality has remained stable for males from 2008/10 to 2017/19 at 9.4 years. For females, the gap has increased from 6.7 years to 7.6 years in the same time period.
Although life expectancy at birth remains the highest it has been, we want everyone to have the same opportunity to have a long, healthy life, whoever they are, wherever they live and whatever their background. Prevention is one of the priorities for the health service and we are taking action to help people live longer and healthier lives. We have refreshed our obesity strategy, we are offering National Health Service health checks, have a tobacco control plan in place and the world’s first diabetes prevention programme. The NHS also delivers national vaccination and screening programmes. Delivery of public health services is devolved to local authorities as they are best placed to decide how these resources are provided for their community.
Source: Hansard, 21 April 2021
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