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Today (Wednesday 19th May) two of the world’s biggest tobacco companies will ask the high court in London to strike out a case against them alleging the exploitation of Malawian farmers and their children as a result of their drive for profits. British American Tobacco (BAT) and Imperial Brands, both based in the UK, deny the allegations. They are asking that the case be dismissed on the grounds that lawyers for the Malawian families cannot prove the tobacco they grew ended up in their cigarettes and other products. The tobacco companies simultaneously refuse to disclose documents they hold which would verify the families' claims.
The watershed case was brought after investigations by the Guardian into child labour in the tobacco fields. Families are trafficked from southern Malawi, allege Leigh Day solicitors, their London-based lawyers, to tobacco-growing regions in the north. Once there, they have to build their own homes from branches and leaves and work seven days a week in the fields. They receive a small portion of maize each day to feed their family and have to borrow money to live until harvest time at the end of the season, when they are paid for the crop. Loans and the costs of farming supplies are deducted and some end up in debt.
Leigh Day argue their conditions of work breach the definition of forced labour, unlawful compulsory labour and exploitation under Malawian law. They also say that they breach the UK Modern Slavery Act, article 14 of the European convention on human rights and the International Labour Organization definition of forced labour. Several thousand of Malawi’s poorest tobacco tenant farmers have joined the claim. They sell all their crop to a leaf-buying company in Malawi, which they say supplies BAT and Imperial. BAT and Imperial want proof that the families’ tobacco ended up in their products. However, the companies have refused to disclose documents they hold which will show whether their tobacco is sourced from the specific families bringing the claim.
Martyn Day, senior partner at Leigh Day, said: “The heart of the claim is that two of the largest tobacco companies in the world cynically exploited impoverished tobacco farmers from Malawi and their children. Fortunately the two defendant companies are based here in Britain giving our courts jurisdiction to adjudicate these claims.” He said he was optimistic the judge would allow the claims to progress toward a full trial.
Source: The Guardian, 19 May 2021.
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Guernsey's Health & Social Care Committee (HSC) has finalised regulations yesterday (Tuesday 18th May) that will make plain packaging of tobacco products mandatory. The regulations will come into force on 31 July 2021. There will be a one-year ‘sell through’ period for cigarettes and loose tobacco, with a two-year period for other tobacco products such as cigars.
Guernsey HSC President Deputy Al Brouard said "The Tobacco Advertising and Related Activities (Guernsey) Regulations 2021 underline Guernsey’s commitment to, and responsibilities under, the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control [...] As tobacco advertising and promotion is largely prohibited, packaging has become the main source of promotion for the industry and is targeted towards young people. Implementing plain packaging is therefore an important public health measure to see a reduction in the uptake of smoking in the years to come.”
The same regulations have been proposed for Jersey and will be debated by the the States Assembly on the island. Guernsey's HSC has attributed 16% of annual deaths in Guernsey and Alderney to smoking, equating to around 86 people every year.
Source: ITV, 18 May 2021
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Artificial intelligence is as good at picking up lung cancers as doctors, a new study has found. The AI programme is able to accurately predict the risk of developing lung cancer based on images of nodules, which are an early warning sign of possible cancer. The analysis of these scans by the AI programme performed just as well compared to 11 doctors, including specially trained radiologists.
The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Radiology, said that while it is a useful tool, further tweaks could make it even more successful at picking up cancer. Dr Colin Jacobs, assistant professor at Radboud University Medical Center, in the Netherlands, said: "This may lead to fewer unnecessary diagnostic interventions, lower radiologists' workload and reduce costs of lung cancer screening."
Although nodules which are picked up by scans are often benign and do not require further treatment, determining the difference between benign and malignant nodules is crucial to catch cancers early and improve a patient’s prognosis. The artificial intelligence algorithm was trained in order to distinguish between the two. In order to improve the AI programme researchers are looking to add further factors which can increase someone’s chances of developing lung cancer such as age, sex, smoking history. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide with an estimated 1.8 million deaths in 2020, according to the World Health Organisation.
Source: The Telegraph, 18 May 2021
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PQ1: APPG on Vaping
Asked by Adam Afriyie MP, Windsor
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the findings of the all-party Parliamentary group on vaping's inquiry into COP9 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; and if he will meet the APPG to discuss the inquiry's conclusions.
Answered by By Jo Churchill, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
The Department has reviewed the report and agrees that e-cigarettes can play an important role in supporting smokers to quit.
Source: Hansard, 18 May 2021
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