View this email in your browser ([link removed])
** 25 May 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
** UK
------------------------------------------------------------
** Smokefree strategy could cut cigarette break spots from Oxfordshire workplaces (#1)
------------------------------------------------------------
** Yorkshire and the Humber: Man convicted for smuggling illicit tobacco after three years on the run (#2)
------------------------------------------------------------
** International
------------------------------------------------------------
** Greece: First smoking cessation clinic to open in Athens (#3)
------------------------------------------------------------
** Pakistan wins the WHO award for its tobacco control campaign (#4)
------------------------------------------------------------
** UK
------------------------------------------------------------
**
------------------------------------------------------------
** A strategy that hopes to make Oxfordshire the first “smokefree” county in England by 2025 aims to discourage workplace smoking areas. Plans for how to “deliver a smokefree Oxfordshire” are being considered later this week, a year after the strategy was first launched.
One of the key aims for the strategy this year is to prevent more people from smoking cigarettes. One of the ways Oxfordshire public health officials plan to do this is to “support the implementation of smokefree indoor and outdoor places,” including workplaces.
A report by Dr Adam Briggs, a Consultant in Public Health for Oxfordshire County Council, said smoking is the “leading preventable cause of premature death and disease from conditions such as cancer and cardiovascular disease” in Oxfordshire. This in turn results in more than £120 million costs to the public purse each year because of “lost productivity, health care, and social care” for people who have illnesses caused by smoking.
The report, due to be discussed by Oxfordshire’s Health Improvement Partnership Board on Thursday (27 May), sets out progress in a “four-pillared” approach to reducing the number of smokers in the county, which was first agreed in February 2020.
The four pillars include: prevention, local regulation and enforcement of counterfeit tobacco, creating “smokefree environments,” and helping smokers quit.
Source: Oxford Mail, 25 May 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed] )
**
------------------------------------------------------------
** A Leeds man has been jailed for his role in a criminal tobacco smuggling gang after spending three years on the run. Andrew Bilton was part of a criminal gang that smuggled tobacco worth more than £2 million in unpaid duty into the UK.
The 56-year-old was caught handling more than £225,000 in criminal cash linked to the sale of illegal tobacco by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers in August 2014.
Bilton went on the run three years ago, fleeing the country before a trial began in April 2018. He was arrested by HMRC officers when he arrived back in the UK on a flight from Amsterdam on 1 May 2021. Bilton admitted two counts of money laundering and absconding at Leeds Crown Court on 21 May. He was sentenced to 2 years and five months in prison. Bilton’s associates were convicted in May 2018.
Eden Noblett, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Bilton thought he could escape punishment for his crimes, but now he has to face the consequences. People involved in money laundering help fund the illegal activities of organised crime gangs and other illegal activity that causes real harm to our communities, such as drugs, guns and human trafficking. We will not hesitate to seize proceeds of crime and investigate anyone who may be involved.”
Source: Yorkshire Evening Post, 24 May 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed] )
** International
------------------------------------------------------------
**
------------------------------------------------------------
** The first smoking cessation clinic will open in Athens next month. According to an announcement by the Municipality of Athens, the clinic will be a pilot scheme with four weekly group sessions, with the aim of subsequently hosting them permanently at the city’s municipal clinics.
The clinic’s primary goal is to help smokers who want to quit smoking achieve it easily and safely and prepare those who are not yet ready. Among other things, the clinic will provide detailed information to smokers about the effects of smoking and the benefits of quitting.
It will also offer cardiorespiratory examinations and implement international guidelines for quitting smoking, combining personalised counselling and medication.
Source: Greek City Times, 24 May 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed] )
**
------------------------------------------------------------
** Pakistan has been chosen as the regional winner of the “World No Tobacco Day 2021 Award” by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in recognition of its effective anti-tobacco campaign in the past decade.
The WHO’s regional office for the eastern Mediterranean said the award would be presented to Pakistan’s ministry of national health services on World No Tobacco Day - 31st May.
In a statement in Islamabad, the health ministry said that the WHO recognised Pakistan’s policy initiatives to progressively reduce tobacco consumption across the country. The statement pointed out that “Pakistan has grabbed the global award after the significant work on tobacco control through policymaking as the country has set a target of reducing the number of persons consuming tobacco products by up to 30% by 2025.”
Monitoring cells are formed at district levels under the tobacco-smoke free city project as part of the campaign to reduce tobacco consumption. Pakistan has also made 304 localities and parks smokefree in 12 districts, becoming the world’s first country to declare smoke free public parks, the statement added.
However, Prime Minister Imran Khan came under criticism for not enforcing pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs which has been due since June 2020.
Source: Eastern Eye, 25 May 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed] )
Have you been forwarded this email? Subscribe to ASH Daily News here. ([link removed])
For more information email
[email protected] (mailto:
[email protected]) or visit www.ash.org.uk
@ASHorguk ([link removed])
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.
============================================================
Our mailing address is:
Action on Smoking and Health
Unit 2.9, The Foundry
17 Oval Way
London
SE11 5RR
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
