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Health experts have expressed concern that tighter COVID-19 restrictions in England could have a major adverse impact on cancer patients by restricting access to life-saving cancer trials. A report by the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) shows that almost 40,000 cancer patients in England could not participate in life-saving trials during the first year of COVID-19, a drop of almost 60%.
Figures obtained from the National Institute for Health Research by the ICR show that the number of patients recruited to clinical trials for almost every type of cancer analysed in England fell by 59% from an average of 67,057 across 2017-2020 to 27,734 in 2020-21. COVID-19 is said to have exacerbated longstanding issues of trial funding, regulation, and access.
Nick James, professor of prostate and bladder cancer research at the ICR, said: “Given at present Covid deaths are running way below cancer deaths, we just have to make sure we don’t focus on the wrong things to the detriment of a much wider group of people […] We need urgent investment in the COVID-19 recovery of clinical trials.”
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A draft of the Government’s levelling up white paper seen by The Independent suggests plans to radically alter local government in England by replacing it with a single-tier mayoral-style system. The document says that the Government is planning a “new devolution framework for England” based on directly elected leaders “over a well-defined economic geography”.
The plans would see local government in England become like that in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales, where there is already a single-tier system. It would replace the two tier county and district council system with a model like that in London and other metropolitan areas where one single structure has responsibility for all services. The plans would need to be underway by 2023 to coincide with changes in funding for regions. The draft paper states that a new Local Growth Funding Roadmap detailing how this will work will be released in 2022 and then enforced in 2023.
The draft also says that the Government will define levelling up with 13 end-of-decade “missions” to “anchor” the agenda, including on crime, health, and living standards. Boris Johnson has described these missions, due by 2030, as the central purpose of his administration. Their targets include reducing gaps in life expectancy and the number of people renting “non-decent homes”. However, one senior official says the Government is set for a backlash on the plans. The plans are likely to be a focus for opposition parties' criticism amidst delays to the white paper, concerns over living standards, a rise in national insurance, and the unequal impact of social care reforms.
Source: The Independent, 9 December 2021
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With New Zealand’s new Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan including plans to ban anyone born after 2008 from buying tobacco products, The i newspaper investigates how the idea would work.
The ban would come into place in 2023 and would start with anyone who is currently aged 14 and under. This age has been chosen as fewer than 1% of this age group currently smoke, whilst that figure rises to 11.6% of all young people over 15 in New Zealand. The idea is that the legal smoking age in New Zealand would increase every year to help create a smokefree generation.
As part of the ban, the number of retailers authorised to sell tobacco would be reduced and providers would also have to reduce nicotine levels in their products to make them less addictive. The government has proposed cutting the number of tobacco suppliers from 800 to 500. There are penalties expected for those who break the rules, but penalties will be for the seller rather than the buyer. The government has not yet outlined the specific details of enforcement activity.
Source: The i, 9 December 2021
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Reports suggest that a bill will be submitted to the Icelandic parliament next March proposing a ban on the sale of menthol and flavoured cigarettes and new warning labels for cigarette packs to refresh older ones. An EU directive has already banned menthol cigarettes in the EU and Viðar Jensson, project manager for tobacco control at Iceland’s Directorate of Health, says that Iceland is overdue in implementing the directive, which aims to make cigarettes less appealing for teenagers.
Source: The Reykjavik Grapevine, 9 December 2021
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Atlantic City casino workers are angry that the New Jersey Legislature has not acted on a bill to ban smoking in its casinos, just as it moves to pass a ball giving tax breaks to gambling halls. A bill ending a narrow exemption in New Jersey's public health law banning smoking in virtually all indoor places except casinos has been stuck in committees with no action in over a year.
New Jersey did ban smoking in Atlantic City casinos in early 2020 after COVID-19 began, on public health grounds, but lifted the ban in July 2021 and casinos have reverted to the norm of allowing smoking on 20% of the casino floor. Governor Phil Murphy says he will sign the Bill into law once the Legislature passes it but on Monday 6 December outgoing state Senate President Steve Sweeney said that the bill still needed discussion. He cited the oft-mentioned concern of the Casino Association of New Jersey, the casinos' trade group, that a smoking ban would affect business.
Continuing a nearly yearlong campaign, about 14 casino workers travelled to the state capitol on Thursday to protest. “The one blessing in that pandemic is we got a break from the smoke and the cancer,” said Nicole Vitola, a dealer in a casino. “There's no reason a pregnant woman should be subjected to secondhand smoke like I was in order to support my family.” The workers point out that Atlantic City casinos actually did better under the temporary smoking ban than before.
Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer, 9 December 2021
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New Zealand's Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan
On Thursday 9 December the New Zealand Government announced its new tobacco control plan to run until 2025. Amongst a range of measures, particularly noteworthy actions in the plan are:
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To ban the sale from 2023 of tobacco products to all those born after 2008, meaning that current 14-year-olds will never be able to legally buy tobacco.
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To reduce the legal amount of nicotine in tobacco products to very low levels.
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To reduce the number of shops where cigarettes can be legally sold.
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To increase funding for stop smoking services and for health promotion and community activities to promote the smokefree 2025 goal.
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To prioritise tackling health inequalities amongst Māori people with a bespoke taskforce headed by Māori leaders to address the issue.
See ASH’s comment on New Zealand’s plans here.
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In this blog post, Sean Semple, Kate Hunt, and Martine Stead from the University of Stirling discuss how the successes of public health in tackling tobacco might inform approaches in the climate context to tackling our use of fossil fuels. The blog considers actions such as introducing a global treaty with targets for government and guidelines for consumers, introducing health warnings and banning advertising and sponsorship, and denormalising fossil fuel consumption.
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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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