From Action on Smoking and Health <[email protected]>
Subject ASH Daily News for 24 June 2021
Date June 24, 2021 12:27 PM
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** 24 June 2021
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** UK
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** UK to ban junk food advertising online and before 9pm on TV from 2023 (#1)
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** More than two million people in England may have long Covid (#2)
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** Opinion: Matt Hancock is heading for a huge row over the new Health Bill – even No10 is wavering in its support (#3)
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** Yorkshire and the Humber: Illegal tobacco seized in Hull (#4)
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Parliamentary questions (#5)
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** UK
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**
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** The government is poised to announce a ban on junk food advertising online and before 9pm on TV from 2023, as Boris Johnson looks to deliver on his pledge to tackle the UK’s growing obesity crisis. The new measures, which will be some of the toughest marketing restrictions in the world, will heavily impact the more than £600 million spent by brands on all food advertising online and on TV annually.

The 9pm pre-watershed ban on advertising TV products deemed high in fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS) could cost TV broadcasters such as ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky more than £200 million a year in revenue. In addition, the online ad ban would affect all paid-for forms of digital marketing, from ads on Facebook to paid-search results on Google, text message promotions, and paid activity on sites such as Instagram and Twitter. It is estimated that more than £400 million is spent on advertising food products online in the UK annually.

Research has found that one in three children leaving primary school are overweight or obese, as are almost two-thirds of adults in England. Last year, the government’s consultation on proposals to implement a ban estimated that children under-16 were exposed to 15 billion junk food ads online in 2019, compared with 700 million two years earlier.

However, the new restrictions include a significant number of “carve-outs” and exemptions which mean that they will fall short of the total ban proposed last year, which the advertising and broadcasting industry said was too “indiscriminate and draconian”. The government is also to exempt a range of products from inclusion in the ban after the definition of junk food products proposed last year. As a result, the advertising of items including avocados, Marmite and cream would have been blocked. These will include products not considered as traditional “junk food”, such as honey and jam, but will also cover zero-sugar drinks and McDonald’s nuggets, which are not nutritionally deemed an HFSS product.

Small and medium-sized companies – those with less than 250 employees – will continue to be allowed to advertise junk food products. In addition, the business-to-business market – companies that do not target consumers but are part of the food industry supply chain – will still be allowed to advertise HFSS items. Junk food advertising will still be allowed through audio media, such as podcasts and radio, and there will be no new restrictions for the out-of-home sector, including billboards, poster sites, buses, and locations such as railway stations and airports.

The list of products, and the ban itself, will be reviewed every few years.

Source: The Guardian, 23 June 2021
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** A major study suggests that more than two million people in England have suffered from long Covid three months after beating the coronavirus virus. The findings are based on self-reported data from 508,707 adults aged 18 and over who took part in the Imperial College London study conducted between September 2020 and February 2021.

Nearly one in five of the respondents – 19.2% – said they had Covid, while one-third of people who reported having symptoms said they lasted for at least 12 weeks. Around a tenth of those with symptoms said the symptoms impacted their daily life. Overall, the most reported symptoms during Covid infection were a loss or change to taste or smell, tiredness, shortness of breath and muscle aches. But after 12 weeks, tiredness, shortness of breath and muscle aches were the three most persisting symptoms.

The study researchers found the prevalence of long Covid increased with age and was higher among women. Those who suffered a bad bout of Covid and received hospital care were also more likely to suffer long-lasting symptoms. According to the research, other risk factors include people who are overweight or obese, those who smoke, vape, and people who live in deprived areas.

Professor Paul Elliott, director of the REACT programme at Imperial, said the team were concerned long Covid could become “a major challenge as we go into the next stage of the pandemic.” He said the study is “reassuring” because most people get better within four weeks and “a whole lot more get better by 12 weeks. But there is a rump of people who continue to have symptoms after 12 weeks, and that’s what we’re talking about.”

The Imperial researchers noted that because many of the symptoms they asked about are common and the study is based on self-reported data, their findings may overestimate the number of people with long Covid. But they have just started a follow-up study that will do more testing on both those with and without Covid to gather more precise data.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “Long Covid can have a lasting and debilitating impact on the lives of those affected. Studies like this help us to rapidly build our understanding of the impact of the condition, and we are using these findings and other new research to develop support and treatments. We are learning more about long Covid all the time and have made £50 million of research funding available to support innovative projects, with clinics established across the country to help improve the treatment available.”

Source: Daily Mail, 24 June 2021

See also: Imperial College London - Persistent symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 infection in a random community sample of 508,707 people. ([link removed])
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**
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** Isabel Hardman, an assistant editor of The Spectator magazine, discusses why Matt Hancock’s proposed health bill is “distrusted by ministers and backbenchers alike.”

Hardman points out that part of the reason Hancock’s idea has gone unnoticed is that it was portrayed as a clean-up of Andrew Lansley’s Health and Social Care Bill. She highlights that most of the provisions of the Bill – which put Sustainability Transformation Partnerships and Integrated Care Systems on statutory footing – have been requested by NHS Chief Executive Sir Simon Stevens. However, they do not represent the entirety of the legislation. Only 80% is coming from the NHS, while the rest is politically driven and has ingredients that some in the health sector believe will lead to “Lansley mark II,” as one senior Whitehall figure has predicted.

The new legislation will give the Health Secretary new powers allowing him to exert more control over NHS England, intervene in local reconfigurations, and eliminate arm’s length entities. As a result, Hardman points out that “backbenchers aren’t happy” and that they already don’t trust Hancock with the powers he has. She highlights a few of their concerns: “Why are they overhauling the NHS right now? It’s going to take up so much time and energy when my constituents are sitting on waiting lists. What are they thinking? He doesn’t seem to realise that with great power comes great responsibility. He’ll get to boss people around more. But he’ll also get the blame when things go wrong.”

Additionally, Hardman states that Number 10 has reservations about the reforms as they currently stand.

Hardman concluded by saying: “That assumes, of course, that the reforms will make it through parliament intact. The Lords, in particular, will be very hostile. [So], by the time the Bill makes it to the Upper Chamber, Hancock may well be asking himself what he was thinking, too.”

Source: i News, 24 June 2021
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**
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** More than 87,600 cigarettes and 207 packets of tobacco have been seized by Hull City Council’s Trading Standards Team and Humberside Police during visits to several premises. On one site, 12,520 cigarettes and 207 packets of tobacco were concealed in a hydraulically operated hidden compartment under a concrete floor in the shop’s toilet. A tobacco detection dog led officers to the hiding place.

Chris Wilson, trading standards officer at Hull City Council, said: “Work like this is vital and has continued throughout the [coronavirus] pandemic, with additional safety measures wherever necessary. As we’ve seen with previous seizures like this, no matter how clever the hiding place, it can and will be found. Working with detection dogs, our team has seen it all and won’t be thrown by goods being hidden within a floor, behind a fake shelf or inside a light.

Councillor Gwen Lunn, the portfolio holder for public protection, added: “Our teams and their colleagues in the police have continued to make this work a priority throughout the pandemic, and they certainly won’t let up as the city continues to open up again.”

Source: Talking Retail, 23 June 2021
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** Parliamentary Activity
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**
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** PQ1: Tobacco: Regulation

Asked by Mr David Jones, Clwyd West

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to regulate non-nicotine products intended for vaping which are not currently covered by the provisions of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016.

Answered by Jo Churchill, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care

Non-nicotine vaping products are regulated under the General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR) 2005. The GPSR requires all products to be safe in their normal, or reasonably foreseeable, usage. The Department is also undertaking a post implementation review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 and we will publish a response later this year.

Source: Hansard, 23 June 2021
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** PQ2: Hospitality industry - Coronavirus

Asked by Sam Tarry, Ilford South

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when shisha businesses will be allowed to open under the roadmap for easing COVID-19 restrictions.

Answered by Paul Scully, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

From Step 3 which took place on 17 May, indoor areas of hospitality venues reopened. Venues are prohibited from providing smoking equipment such as shisha pipes, for use on the premises.

The Government’s COVID-19 Response – Spring 2021 set out that the Government aims to reopen the remaining closed settings by Step 4. We have always said that we would be led by data, not dates. We have looked at the data very closely and assessed it against the four tests. It is on the basis of worsening data that we have taken the difficult call not to proceed with Step 4 reopening at this point, but to pause for four weeks until 19 July.

Source: Hansard, 23 June 2021
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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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