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** 12 November 2021
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** UK
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** North East: Smokers offered free pocket ashtrays to clean up Durham (#1)
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** International
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** At the other COP, countries eye an investment fund for tobacco control (#2)
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** US: Cancer death rates have fallen 25% in the 50 years since it became a national priority (#3)
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Parliamentary question (#4)
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** Links of the Week
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** UK – Statement WHO FCTC Global Progress report (#5)
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** HMRC officials’ meetings with tobacco stakeholders, July to September 2021 (#6)
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** Job opportunity: Policy and Advocacy Manager – Alcohol Health Alliance (#7)
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** UK
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**
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** City of Durham Parish Council has launched an anti-cigarette waste campaign calling on residents and visitors to the city not to throw their cigarette butts on the ground. The Council has also teamed up with businesses in hotspot areas to distribute free pocket ashtrays. The pocket ashtrays are reusable anti-litter devices designed to store cigarette butts and chewing gum until they can be disposed of properly. They are a soft, lightweight pouch with a fireproof lining to extinguish cigarettes and lock in smoke odours and easily fit into a pocket whilst the user is out and about.

As smoking is the biggest cause of preventable deaths in England, the Quit Smoking helpline number is printed on the pocket ashtrays being given away. The parish council is also funding an enhanced neighbourhood warden who is issuing on-the-spot fines of £70 for anyone found dropping a cigarette butt on the ground.

Councillor Carole Lattin, chair of the parish council’s environment committee, said: “Cigarette litter is often time-consuming and expensive to clean-up because of its small size, as well as being unsightly where cigarette butts are allowed to accumulate. Like every city across the country, Durham has its issues with cigarette litter. Obviously, our key message to everyone is to quit smoking and this campaign includes the helpline for support. Keeping the city clean and green and our residents healthy are key priorities for the council.”

Source: Northern Echo, 12 November 2021
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** International
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**
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** At the ninth session of the Conference of the Parties to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), or COP 9, countries have adopted a proposal to set up an investment fund that would help generate additional resources for tobacco control.

The proposed investment fund aims to raise $50 million, mainly from governments and will be managed by the World Bank and an oversight committee nominated by parties to the WHO FCT. The $50 million capital revenue is currently projected at $2 million per year, subject to market fluctuations, and will go to the FCTC Secretariat to help implement the tobacco control treaty. This will include providing technical assistance to countries in setting up and strengthening their tobacco taxation systems.

Tobacco control advocates said more funding is needed to implement all the treaty measures and counter aggressive tobacco industry tactics. Mary Assunta, head of global research and advocacy at the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control, said: “The resources put into tackling this global problem is minuscule compared to the proportion of the damage that this product [tobacco] causes. She said the investment fund should consider adopting the “polluter pay” principle, a practice often applied by countries in their environmental laws, to boost funding for tobacco control. Under the principle, polluters should bear the cost of the damage they have made. “They [tobacco companies] should pay for the damage that they cause,” Assunta added.

Governments should also make progress in implementing Article 19 of the tobacco control treaty to hold tobacco companies liable for the damage they cause, including financially. This will create an additional revenue source for tobacco control, said Bobby Ramakant, board member at Corporate Accountability. Ramakant said: “The industry will be held liable legally and financially, [and] governments will be better in position to implement more effective tobacco control measures.”

Funding has been one of the central topics at COP 9, as most substantive items have been pushed to COP 10 in 2023 to allow for more lengthy discussions that observers say aren’t viable in a virtual setting.

Source: Devex, 11 November 2021
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**
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** A new study has found that the United States slashed cancer mortality rates since making it a priority to do so 50 years ago. Researchers from the American Cancer Society (ACS) found that overall cancer mortality in America dropped by about 25 % from 1971 to 2019.

The National Cancer Act of 1971 officially declared fighting against the disease as a national priority, established the modern National Cancer Institute and led to an investment of more than $138 billion into preventing and treating cancer. The death rate from lung cancer has since fallen by 13%, and the death rate from breast cancer by more than 30%.

The researchers gathered national data on cancer and calculated a mortality rate per every 100,000 Americans. They found that in 1971, the year the National Cancer Act was signed, a total of 198.9 of every 100,000 Americans died of cancer. In the nearly 50 years between the law’s passing and 2019, the overall cancer death rate fell by 26%, to 146 in every 100,000.

Lung and bronchial cancers had the highest death rate of all recorded in the study. In 1971, the death rate was 38.2 in every 100,000 before reaching a peak of 59.1 in 1993. However, rates started to fall again after that, to 33.4 per 100,000 people in 2019. The researchers think the decline is attributed to implementing comprehensive smokefree laws and other public health introduced to curb lung cancer risk. Researchers also link these efforts to curb smoking with reductions in deaths from mouth cancer — a 34% drop in the past 50 years — and bladder cancer — a 27% drop.

The most significant drop in mortality was in female breast cancer deaths, another cancer where a great effort has been made the curb it. While rates have decreased, cancer remains a persistent problem in the US and especially in the South.

Source: Daily Mail, 11 November 2021

See also: JAMA Oncology - Progress Against Cancer Mortality 50 Years After Passage of the National Cancer Act ([link removed])
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** Parliamentary Activity
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**
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** PQ: Oral Tobacco

Asked by Lord Storey

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the medical reasons for the ban of the smoking substitute snus.

Answered by Lord Kamall, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Technology, Innovation and Life Sciences).

Evidence shows that the consumption of any tobacco product is harmful and it is the Government's policy to support people to quit all forms of tobacco use. Oral tobacco, or snus, is banned in the United Kingdom under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016.

The Impact assessment on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products stated that oral tobacco products contain carcinogenic substances which are associated with a number of adverse health effects. Snus can also contain carcinogenic tobacco specific nitrosamines and other carcinogenic substances such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which also have been associated with several adverse health effects. A copy of the impact assessment is attached.

Source: Hansard, 10 November 2021
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** Links of the Week
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**

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** At the 9th edition of the conference of parties (COP 9) of the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the UK Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care, Maggie Throup, set out the Government’s commitment to reducing the harms caused by smoking.

The Minister stated that the UK takes its’ role as a party to the FCTC “very seriously” and is proud to support it. She confirmed that the Government will soon be publishing a new Tobacco Control Plan to help achieve its Smokefree 2030 ambition, and said that smokers would be supported to transition onto less harmful products like e-cigarettes and Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT). However, this would be done under a “robust regulatory framework that prevents young people and nonsmokers from using them.”

Source: WHO FCTC, 3 November 2021
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**
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** HM Revenue & Customs have published details of officials’ meetings with tobacco stakeholders. Details of the meetings can be viewed here: [link removed]
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**
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** Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) is looking for a Policy and Advocacy Manager to lead their campaigns across various topics and get the UK Government to take action on alcohol harm. The successful candidate will identify opportunities to influence policy development and legislation, get Parliamentarians and other stakeholders to support their campaigns priorities, and engage their supporters and AHA members to generate even greater impact.

To apply, please send your CV and a covering letter to Sarah at [email protected].
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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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