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


** 17 November 2021
------------------------------------------------------------


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


** Flavoured vapes less harmful to young people than smoking and could help teen smokers quit, finds study (#1)
------------------------------------------------------------


** Welsh Conservative MS criticised for hosting tobacco company event at the Senedd (#2)
------------------------------------------------------------


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


** Three-quarters of Irish population want legal age to buy tobacco raised to 21, research shows (#3)
------------------------------------------------------------


** Investigation: Smokeless tobacco is fuelling an epidemic of oral cancer across Asia (#4)
------------------------------------------------------------


** Obituary: Susan Rosenblatt, who alongside husband challenged Big Tobacco and won (#5)
------------------------------------------------------------


** Parliamentary Activity
------------------------------------------------------------


** Backbench debate: Tobacco Control Plan (#6)
------------------------------------------------------------


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


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


** A new study from the University of East Anglia has found that flavoured vapes are much less harmful to young people than smoking and could help teenage smokers quit tobacco. The study finds that flavours are an important part of the enjoyment of vaping for young people, suggesting that they encourage young people to use e-cigarettes to switch from harmful tobacco smoking.

The research was led by Professor Caitlin Notley and reported the views of more than 500,000 under 18s using all of the available evidence, comprising 58 studies. Whilst the research found that flavoured e-liquids may be an important motivator for e-cigarette uptake, it found no evidence that using flavoured e-liquids attracted young people to also take up tobacco smoking.

The researchers also found no adverse effects or harm caused by using e-liquid vape flavours but did note a need to monitor flavour use to ensure young people who have never smoked do not take up vaping. Overall, the team found that the general quality of evidence on use of e-cigarette flavours by young people was low, with many studies not clearly defining e-liquid flavours.

Source: Medical Xpress, 17 November 2021

See also:
------------------------------------------------------------

*
** University of East Anglia - Youth Use of E-Liquid Flavours – A systematic review exploring patterns of use of e liquid flavours and associations with continued vaping, tobacco smoking uptake, or cessation ([link removed])

------------------------------------------------------------
*
** ASH - Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain, 2021 ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

Read Article ([link removed])


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


** A Welsh Conservative MS has been criticised for sponsoring an event inside the Senedd estate involving Japan Tobacco International (JTI). The chair of the Senedd smoking and health cross party group John Griffiths MS said that he was “disappointed and concerned” with the decision to allow the event to go ahead whilst ASH Wales have written to Senedd members to remind them of their obligations under Article 5.3 of the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

The event is planned for Wednesday November 17 and will be sponsored by Conservative MS Darren Millar. Millar said that it would focus on the problem of cheap, illegal tobacco on sale in Wales. Griffiths said that the event “undermined” Wales’ strong public health message on smoking and its ambitions for a smokefree Wales by 2030. “Tobacco companies have a long record of working to undermine health messages and measures, fighting a rear-guard action to continue to profit from death, ill health, and misery [whilst] seeking to portray themselves as cooperating with governments and agencies to address the damage smoking causes,” said Griffiths.

Welsh Conservative politicians have been criticised for links to JTI in the past. For Wales party secretary and MP Alun Cairns received two tickets from JTI for the Chelsea Flower Show in 2011 and 2012 worth over £2,200, before voting against a bill banning smoking in cars carrying children and vocally opposing plain packaging laws. Millar has also previously sponsored other JTI events.
------------------------------------------------------------


**
Source: Wales Online, 16 November 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])


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


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


** New research shows that almost three-quarters of people in Ireland want the legal age for the sale of tobacco raised from 18 to 21. The Ipsos MRBI poll was conducted for the charity Irish Heart Foundation (IHF) to coincide with the conference ‘Tobacco 21: The case for raising the legal age for the sale of tobacco in Ireland’ on Tuesday 16 November. The IHF said that the findings send a clear message to the Government that the public wants action on the "health catastrophe" of smoking.

A total of 73% of the 1,029 people aged over 15-years-old surveyed are in favour of raising the age of sale for cigarettes to 21 with 26% disagreeing and 1% undecided. In the age group 18-24, 71% of respondents backed the proposal. The study follows research showing that smoking among young people in Ireland is rising for the first time in a quarter of a century. It also follows data showing that rates of teen smoking have risen, from 13.1% in 2015 to 14.4% in 2019.

IHF director of advocacy Chris Macey said that the evidence showed that raising the age of sale will reduce teenage smoking rates. He cited that Tobacco 21 laws, introduced in several states in the US before becoming federal law in 2019, reduced smoking in the 18-20 age group by 33.9%. He said that raising the age would not amount to a breach of people's rights as under-21s are already prohibited from other activities such as adopting children and driving large passenger vehicles.
------------------------------------------------------------


**
Source: Irish Mirror, 16 November 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])


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


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


** The Telegraph has investigated the endemic use of chewing tobacco which is driving a growing epidemic of oral cancer across South Asia, particularly among young people.

According to the World Cancer Research Fund, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, where chewing tobacco is very popular, were all among the top five countries in the world for rates of oral and lip cancer per capita in 2018. The Telegraph investigation focuses upon India. Approximately 200 million people in India use smokeless, chewable tobacco products known as gutka, twice the number of cigarette users. Around 10% of minors in India use gutka.

Gutka works by mixing a powder with saliva when in the mouth to create a paste which releases nicotine for around 15-20 minutes. It is popular for several reasons. First, it can be used on the go, meaning that workers in India’s informal sector do not have to take breaks and lose earnings. Second, it is far cheaper than cigarettes for lower-middle class consumers, with one packet costing as little as ₹3 (£0.03) while a singular cigarette is sold for ₹10 (£0.10). Third, whereas cigarette smoking is largely seen as socially unacceptable for women in much of India’s lower and middle classes, chewing tobacco is seen as traditional and accepted. Finally, India’s Bollywood stars have also been paid large sums to advertise gutka, which is marketed as mouth freshener.

The Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2016-17 found that over 20% of more than 70,000 people in India had seen an advert for smokeless, chewable tobacco in the last 30 days. The study found that almost half of the gutka packets sold did not contain health warnings. In one high-profile case that made national news, a 17-year-old boy who was a gutka user from the age of 13 had to undergo facial reconstruction surgery after developing late-stage oral cancer. India's Government has tried to reduce gutka use, banning the sale, manufacture, distribution, and storage of gutka and its variants in 27 of India’s states and union territories in 2013. However, enforcement is almost non-existent, with stalls selling gutka on most streets in India’s towns and cities.
------------------------------------------------------------



** Source: Telegraph, 16 November 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])


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


** Susan Rosenblatt, who alongside Stanley Rosenblatt was part of a wife-and-husband team of independent attorneys who took on Big Tobacco and won $145bn (£107.75bn) in damages on behalf of thousands of Floridians sickened from smoking, has died. Rosenblatt’s victory remains the highest punitive judgement awarded in a personal-injury case in US history. She died on Sunday November 14 at the age of 70 after battling acute myeloid leukemia for the past three years.

The $145bn case, starting in the early 1990s, became a class-action lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Floridians suffering from smoking-related diseases. It took six years and millions of dollars in legal costs before the verdict on July 14, 2000. The Rosenblatts had previously won a $349 million (£259.53 million) settlement in 1997 on behalf of flight attendants suing the tobacco industry for illnesses from years of working in airplane cabins filled with secondhand smoke.

Husband Stanley recalls that at any given time during the trials, there could be 10 attorneys and up to 40 paralegals working for the tobacco companies with just himself, Susan, and a couple of paralegals at their table. ''People would walk in the courtroom and say, ‘What’s going on? You’re in over your head.’ Were we ever,'' Stanley said.
------------------------------------------------------------


**
Source: Miami Herald, 17 November 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])


** Parliamentary Activity
------------------------------------------------------------


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


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


** Yesterday (16th November) Bob Blackman MP, Chairman of the APPG on Smoking and Health, led a backbench debate to discuss the APPG’s recommendations for the Government’s forthcoming Tobacco Control Plan. Below is a summary of what was covered within the debate.
------------------------------------------------------------


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


** Bob Blackman MP urged the Minister to consider the amendments on tobacco tabled by Mary Foy MP to the Health and Care Bill, particularly on a ‘polluter pays’ levy on the tobacco industry and raising the age of sale to 21. He called on the Minister to confirm when the new Tobacco Control Plan will be published.
------------------------------------------------------------


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


** Mary Kelly Foy MP spoke on the other amendments tabled to the Health and Care Bill: health warnings on cigarettes, cigarette pack inserts, prohibiting child-friendly e-cigarette branding, banning all tobacco flavours, and prohibiting the free distribution of e-cigarettes and other consumer nicotine products to under 18s.
------------------------------------------------------------


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


** Jim Shannon MP spoke about the issue of smoking in Northern Ireland. He expressed regret that tax rises in the Budget and spending review did not go further, particularly on the disparity between factory made cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco. He called for retail licensing to be introduced for the sale of tobacco across the UK.
------------------------------------------------------------


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


** Responding for the Labour opposition, Shadow Public Health Minister Alex Norris MP spoke about the need for more cross-party work on tobacco. He called for the Government to consider the APPG on Smoking and Health’s proposals for the new Tobacco Control Plan. Specifically, he called for more promotion of smoking cessation and reversal of the cuts to the public health grant.
------------------------------------------------------------


**
In her response, Public Health Minister Maggie Throup MP said that:
------------------------------------------------------------

*
** The Government would soon publish a new Tobacco Control Plan with “an even sharper focus on tackling health disparities.”
------------------------------------------------------------


*
** The Health and Care Bill was the wrong place for the proposals made in Mary Foy MP’s amendment, but they would be considered for the next Tobacco Control Plan.
------------------------------------------------------------


*
** The Government is committed to the WHO FCTC, as further demonstrated by the overseas development funding the UK contributes to the FCTC 2030 project.
------------------------------------------------------------


*
** The Department of Health continues to work with the Treasury to assess the most effective regulatory means to support the smoke-free 2030 ambition including a potential future levy.
------------------------------------------------------------


*
** The Government supports a robust regulatory framework for e-cigarettes to enable smokers to use them to quit without encouraging non-smokers and young people to take them up.
------------------------------------------------------------



** You can watch a recording of the debate here ([link removed]) and read the transcript here ([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])