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** 22 July 2021
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** UK
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** Government has failed to deliver on smokefree pledge for England (#1)
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** Nurses may consider industrial action over 3% NHS pay rise, union says (#2)
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** International
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** US medical fears over Vectura tobacco deal (#3)
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** US: New project aims to reduce smokeless tobacco use in American Indian communities (#5)
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** US: Troops younger than 21 could again buy and use tobacco products under proposed change (#6)
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** ''Set an example for other developing nations'' - new call for plain packaging in India (#4)
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** UK
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Health charities and professional bodies have today (22nd July) written to the British Medical Journal to warn that two years on from its pledge to make England smokefree by 2030, the Government has failed to deliver on the policies promised and needed to achieve this vision.

In an open letter to the Prime Minister and Health Secretary, the groups note that smoking is likely to have killed more people last year than the pandemic and will carry on doing so for many years unless the Government acts. The letter explains that the rate of decline in smoking in the years leading up to 2019 has not been sufficient to deliver the 2030 ambition. In the last two years, an estimated over 200,000 children under 16 have started smoking, two thirds of whom will become regular smokers.

The groups state that the blueprint to achieve the 2030 ambition is laid out in the recently published All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Smoking and Health recommendations for the upcoming Tobacco Control Plan. However, these recommendations must be properly funded. They call for a ‘polluter pays’ levy on tobacco manufacturers to provide the funding, saying that "the time has come to make the tobacco manufacturers pay to end the epidemic they and they alone have caused."

The signatories also note that there is a clear incentive for action. Delivering the Smokefree ambition "would play a major role in achieving Government manifesto commitments to increase healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035, while reducing inequalities and levelling up the nation," they write.

Signatories include Dr Nicholas Hopkinson, chairman of Action on Smoking and Health; Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairwoman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges; Dr Jennifer Dixon, chief executive of the Health Foundation; Dr Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians and Professor Maggie Rae, president of the Faculty of Public Health.

Source: Medical Xpress, 21 July 2021

See also: The BMJ - Open letter to the prime minister and secretary of state on the second anniversary of England’s announcement that it would be smoke-free by 2030 ([link removed])
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The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has told the BBC that nurses may consider industrial action over the offer of a 3% pay rise in England and Wales. The RCN said that it would be consulting members but staff were ‘’angry’’ and deserved a bigger increase.

The 3% pay rise is for most NHS staff including nurses, paramedics, consultants, dentists, and salaried GPs and is backdated to April 2021. According to government calculations for the average nurse, this will mean an additional £1,000 a year, while many porters and cleaners will receive around £540. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the pay rise recognised the "extraordinary efforts" of NHS workers.

However, Patricia Marquis, England director of the RCN, said the whole process had been "shambolic" and nurses had "fallen way behind on pay". She added that nurses were "really angry and upset" at the pay award, which the union says amounts to a pay cut once inflation is taken into account, and it made them feel they were not "valued for what they do".

The RCN had called for a 12.5% pay increase, which it said would help fill vacancies and retain staff. Other unions have also criticised the pay rise. Unison said the increase, though an improvement on the initial offer, fell short of what NHS staff deserved. The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents doctors, also said the pay rise was disappointing, adding that junior doctors and some GPs could miss out on it altogether. The GMB union described the increase as "insulting" and said it would recommend its members reject the offer.


Source: BBC News, 22 July 2021
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** International
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** The heads of two US health organisations have warned that Philip Morris could use the acquisition of Vectura to make tobacco products more addictive. In a joint statement, the chief executives of the American Lung Association and the American Thoracic Society said that they were ''deeply concerned’’ about the tobacco company’s potential misuse of Vectura’s inhalation services technology.

The organisations said the takeover, worth 150p per share, was the “latest reprehensible choice from a company that has profited from addicting users to its deadly products”. It urged Vectura’s shareholders, which include Axa, Legal & General and Columbia Threadneedle, to reject the offer and became the latest to call for the British government to intervene.

The organisations added that “the proposed acquisition creates a complex entanglement of conflicts of interest throughout the respiratory medicine supply chain that could undermine public confidence in essential medical products. It is clear this acquisition is not in the best interest of the public and lung disease patients, or even the medical drug and device industry.”

Source: The Times, 22 July 2021
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** The College of Health Institute for Indigenous Studies (IIS) has been awarded nearly $1.8 million from the American Cancer Society (ACS) for a project testing the efficacy of a culturally tailored program aimed at reducing Native American use of smokeless tobacco.

The project focuses on multi-tribal Native American communities in urban locations that face disparities related to greater exposure to toxic chewing tobacco and high poverty rates, coupled with low access to care. The program, All Nations Snuff Out Smokeless (ANSOS), marks the first randomized trial of a smokeless tobacco cessation program designed specifically for American Indians.

The project assesses individual and programmatic factors that may help participants quit chewing tobacco. It is framed in community-based participatory research, including community members throughout the entire research process, to empower individuals to take control of their health and research related to their health.

Chewing tobacco use and the resulting cancers continue to be a particular issue for the Native American population. American Indians use chewing tobacco at rates twice that of other racial/ethnic groups. The grant program, which is for $1,797,750, is due to last five years starting this month.

Source: News Medical, 21 July 2021
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** A proposal being pushed this week by Republican senator Tom Cotton would see US servicemembers under 21-years-old once again allowed to buy and use tobacco products on military bases. Senator Cotton is expected to recommend the change as part of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s debate on the annual defense authorization bill, which begins later today (22nd July).

In late 2019, Congress passed legislation raising the federal minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21 and last summer, military commissaries ended all sales of tobacco products to individuals under 21. However, military officials at the time acknowledged they would not strictly police use of the product among underage troops.

Cotton’s proposal would reverse those changes just for members of the military. Any store on Defense Department property which sells tobacco products would be allowed to sell to individuals as young as 18 years old. However, Cotton’s proposal is unlikely to become law, even if it survives committee debate.

Military officials have strongly discouraged use of tobacco products in recent years, spending billions on smoking cessation campaigns. A 2015 federal study found the Defense Department spends more than $1.6 billion per year on tobacco-related medical care, hospitalization, and lost work days.

Committee members will hold closed-door debate on the authorization bill amendments on Wednesday and Thursday, with public release of their decisions expected later this week.

Source: Military Times, 21 July 2021
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** A newly published study is urging the Indian government to implement plain packaging on all tobacco products, calling it ''a public issue’’ due to an ongoing smoking epidemic in India.

The study, written by Anmol Maheshwari, a legal research fellow at the Regional Multi Trade Division of India’s Department of Commerce, states that despite 13% of all annual deaths in India reportedly being due to tobacco use and India having 120 million active smokers, India “has not played a very significant role in dealing with the problems arising out of the consumption of tobacco”.

In 2018, India’s Supreme Court decided that tobacco products will continue to carry pictorial and health warnings on 85% of its packaging and it was predicted that plain packaging in India was only a matter of time. However, little has changed since then, with no sign from the Indian government that plain packaging for tobacco products is on the horizon.

Maheshwari says that India should now implement fully plain packaging, to ''set an example for other developing jurisdictions to pave their way for legislation regarding plain packaging of tobacco products.”

Source: World Trademark Review, 21 July 2021

See also: Research Gate - A Study Unlocking the Conflict between the Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products and the Value of Trademark Rights ([link removed])
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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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