View this email in your browser ([link removed])


** 28 June 2021
------------------------------------------------------------


** UK
------------------------------------------------------------


** Six in 10 Britons want pub gardens to ban smoking and vaping, finds study (#1)
------------------------------------------------------------


** UK tobacco firms fail in bid to have Malawi child labour case struck out (#2)
------------------------------------------------------------


** North East doctor fronts campaign to inspire thousands of smokers to quit this summer (#3)
------------------------------------------------------------


** Opinion: Sajid Javid's in-tray (#4)
------------------------------------------------------------


** International
------------------------------------------------------------


** Researchers confirm global smoker numbers hit record total of 1.1 billion (#5)
------------------------------------------------------------


** US: Tobacco farm workers fight British American Tobacco's union busting in North Carolina (#6)
------------------------------------------------------------


** UK
------------------------------------------------------------


**
------------------------------------------------------------


** A new poll has found that more than 6 in 10 Britons think pub gardens should ban smoking and vaping. The survey was conducted by OnePoll for Swedish Match, a Swedish tobacco company that manufactures and sells oral tobacco, cigars, matches and more recently, tobacco-free nicotine pouches.

The survey of 2,000 adults also found that three quarters of Britons feel smokers and vapers should check with non-smokers before smoking in a group situation. Nearly half (45%) of people polled reported asking smokers or vapers not to smoke around them. More than half (58%) of respondents said they had switched seats or moved away from friends who are smoking or vaping around them.

The survey found that just over six in 10 parents (62%) ask friends or family who smoke or vape near their children to stop whilst nearly a third (29%) keep their children away from friends or family who smoke or vape altogether. Four fifths of smokers admitted to smoking next to non-smoking family members and more than a quarter (27%) admitted to never asking the people they are with if they are comfortable with them smoking or vaping around them. However, 70% of smokers did say that you should always ask for permission from those around you before smoking.

Source: The Mirror, 25 June 2021

Editorial note: Swedish Match has previously been accused of promoting tobacco use via social media and has a history of attempting to subvert tobacco control measures in Europe. For more information, see the Tobacco Tactics page ([link removed] ) .
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])


**
------------------------------------------------------------


** British American Tobacco (BAT) and Imperial Tobacco (IT) have failed to persuade the high court to strike out a case against them alleging that they are responsible for the exploitation of Malawian farming families and the use of child labour.

BAT and IT have denied the allegations, arguing that the Malawian families concerned in the case could not prove that the tobacco they had grown had ended up in their cigarettes. The lawyers of the Malawian farmers, however, said that they had repeatedly asked the tobacco companies for proof that they had not bought tobacco from their clients but had not had any documents disclosed to them.

In the high court, Mr Justice Martin Spencer said the companies’ application to strike out the case had been “misconceived”. The judge said lawyers for the farmers were not required to offer proof at the beginning of a legal action, only when it came to full trial.

The case follows the publication of a Guardian investigation in June 2018 that revealed the plight of children forced to work in the fields. Families are trafficked from southern Malawi to tobacco-growing regions in the north, their lawyers at Leigh Day allege. Once there, it is said, they have to build their own homes from branches and work seven days a week in the fields. They receive a small portion of maize each day and get by largely by borrowing money 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, the lawyers say. The families have no money to hire labour, so the entire family, including children as young as three, work the fields.

The lawyers argue that this breaches the definition of forced labour, unlawful compulsory labour, and exploitation under Malawian law, as well as the UK Modern Slavery Act, article 14 of the European convention on human rights, and the International Labour Organization definition of forced labour.

Source: The Guardian, 25 June 2021

See also: The Guardian - Special Report: The children working the tobacco fields: 'I wanted to be a nurse' ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])


**

A North East doctor is fronting a new campaign hoping to inspire smokers to quit this summer. Dr Ruth Sharrock, a respiratory consultant and clinical lead for the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System, is fronting the Don’t Wait campaign which is being launched by Fresh.

The campaign focuses on how smokers can experience the benefits of quitting even if they have smoked for a long time. Some smokers are put off by a perception that the damage of smoking is already done or that they have tried and failed to quit previously. The campaign however highlights evidence showing that improvements can be seen in the lungs of patients who had smoked a pack a day for 40 years before giving up – but only because they had completely given up.

Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “We know that some smokers can feel pessimistic about their chances of success but there is so much to be gained from quitting. 2020 saw a surge in quit attempts and an incredible two out of five smokers in the North East took a positive step towards quitting as a result of seeing the Don’t Wait campaign. This is why we are running these important messages for smokers again this summer. Smoking is still one of our biggest causes of death, disease, hospital admissions and health inequalities in the North East, killing 15 people a day. It is vital we encourage every smoker to do something amazing, keep trying and make 2021 the year to quit smoking.”

Source: Chronicle Live, 27 June 2021

See also: Fresh - 1 in 6 cut down or quit for Don't Wait ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])


**

Richard Sloggett, the founder and programme director of Future Health Research Centre, runs through what new Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid can expect to find in his in-tray.

Sloggett says that Sajid Javid’s in-tray will be daunting. Most obviously, he will have to make crucial decisions on the pandemic. He will have to balance the concerns of agitated Conservative backbenchers, who argue that restrictions should be lifted, and those of scientists and NHS leaders who argue that the data necessitates greater caution. Javid will hope that increasingly positive pandemic data will make a compromise possible and a re-opening on July 19th feasible.

Javid will also have to decide what to do about the NHS. A top priority is the treatment backlog. Sloggett says that Javid will find himself boxed in between the Prime Minister and the NHS on this. Number 10 has taken more oversight of the NHS agenda in recent months, which puts pressure on the Department. To counter this, Sloggett argues that the new Secretary of State will need to get his early calls right on who should be the new CEO of the NHS and whether he wants the powers of direction set out by Matt Hancock in the Health and Care white paper. Sloggett says Javid will either take the power and gets caught between Number 10 and the NHS or holds off and attempts to rebalance the public and political opinion that accountability is with the Department.

Javid must also decide on funding for the health and care system. Funding must be secured for the NHS backlog, social care reform, workforce recruitment and pay, buildings, estates, technology, and the over-looked area of public health. Sloggett says that Javid’s political belief in maintaining low taxes may create a headache for him in requesting new funding. Sloggett argues that we should therefore expect to hear more about “cutting waste” and “bureaucracy” from Javid.

Source: HSJ, 28 June 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])


** International
------------------------------------------------------------


**
------------------------------------------------------------


** A new study published in The Lancet has found that there were 1.1 billion smokers across the world in 2019, the highest number ever. Though the study found a decrease in smoking rates since 1990, the increased global population has led to a 10% increase in the number of smokers since then.

The study explored 3,625 global surveys with data gathered from 204 countries amongst people over the age of 15. As well as smoking prevalence it looked at other subjects such as associated diseases, age of initiation, and risks amongst current and ex-smokers.

It found that a third of smokers worldwide are from China with 341 million Chinese people smoking. Around 10 million Britons were found to be smokers. Globally, smoking was found to have caused 7.7 million deaths with cancer, heart disease, and strokes being the predominant causes of death. The study found a particular uptick in the number of young people smoking. Around 155 million people who smoke are aged between 15 and 24.

Source: Diabetes.co.uk, 28 June 2021

See also: The Lancet - Spatial, temporal, and demographic patterns in prevalence of smoking tobacco use and attributable disease burden in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 ([link removed](21)01169-7/fulltext)
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])


**
------------------------------------------------------------


** Tobacco farm workers in North Carolina have called for international solidarity over “union-busting” operations by British American Tobacco (BAT). The workers have united in the Farm Labour Organising Committee in their campaign for the right to organise and bargain collectively to improve their working and living conditions. They accuse BAT of refusing to recognise the union and not acknowledging its own union-busting operations.

Source: Morning Star, 25 June 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])