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** 16 December 2021
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** UK
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** Somerset smokers to be invited for NHS lung checks (#1)
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** Covid pandemic sees life expectancy in County Durham fall (#2)
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** Can Scotland banish smoking without a New Zealand-style ban? (#3)
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** Wales: Tobacco detection dogs uncover £300,000 of illegal tobacco (#4)
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Parliamentary question (#5)
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** UK
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**
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** Smokers and past smokers in several primary care networks across Somerset will be invited to an NHS lung health check next year in a drive to improve lung health, detect and treat lung cancers earlier, and save lives. The SWAG Cancer Alliance, which covers Somerset, Wiltshire, Avon and Gloucestershire, has been selected as a site for NHS England and Improvement’s Targeted Lung Health Check programme and aims to start inviting participants from April 2022.
Part of the NHS Long-Term Plan, the programme is one of several initiatives introduced to help the NHS achieve their goal of diagnosing three in four cancers, 75%, at an early stage by 2028. Since the start of the Lung Health Check programme in 2019, 87% of lung cancers found have been at stage one or two.
The initiative means that a targeted 27,000 individuals living across Somerset, Wiltshire, Avon and Gloucestershire who are aged 55 to 74 and smoke or have smoked in the past, will be invited to a lung health check. Those invited will have an initial phone assessment with a specially trained health care professional.
Based on this assessment, some people will be offered a low dose CT scan of the lungs, whilst others will receive personalised health advice and support around improving their lung health. The scans are aiming to pick up small lung tumours that people may be unaware of having. Small, early-stage lung cancers are more treatable and carry a much better life expectancy than cancers that are only detected when they start to cause symptoms.
Source: Somerset County Gazette, 15 December 2021
See also: Targeted Lung Health Check programme ([link removed])
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** Life expectancy has fallen in County Durham in the North East, along with rises in smoking, suicides and child obesity in the wake of COVID-19, figures reveal.
The figures were part of a performance report presented to a Durham County Council cabinet meeting. The report revealed significant disparities in life expectancy across the county and an increase in the suicide rate, which remains higher than the national average. Smoking prevalence increased from 15% to 17%, with 15% of mothers smoking at the time of delivery compared to the national average of around 9%. Poverty and child obesity are also on the rise.
Councillor Amanda Hopgood, leader of the council, said: “Once again the health inequalities and challenges we face in our county are highlighted with a worrying deterioration in health life expectancy flagged for both men and women, alongside an increase in the prevalence of smoking and an increase in childhood obesity being of particular concern. These are system-wide challenges and can only be addressed by a multi-agency and partnership response focusing our efforts on to improving wellbeing and tackling the wider detriments of public health.”
Source: The Northern Echo, 16 December 2021
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** New Zealand has set out far-reaching plans so anyone born there in 2008 or later will not be able to buy cigarettes. When the Scottish government was asked if it would follow New Zealand’s lead, the government replied, “there are currently no plans for an outright ban on the sale of tobacco or cigarettes in Scotland.”
Across Scotland, around 19% of all adults smoke cigarettes, and the government does have a target to make sure all children born since 2013 do not smoke when they turn 21 in 2034 – the target for a smoke-free future. The government set out how to achieve this in their ‘Raising Scotland’s tobacco-free generation’ plan, which was drawn up in 2018 by the then public health minister Aileen Campbell. This includes marketing campaigns on television, radio and social media, discouraging smoking in school grounds and play parks as well as in communal stairwells, and placing stop-smoking posters in pharmacy windows. However, these actions are mainly marketing campaigns rather than legislating for change. Scots will still be able to readily buy cigarettes, making it unlikely smoking will be completely eradicated by 2034.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish government said: “Our 2034 target aims to protect children born since 2013 so that when they turn 21, they will be tobacco-free and come of age in a Scotland that will remain tobacco-free for generations to come. The programme for government reaffirmed our commitment to developing a renewed tobacco control action plan. Our action plan contains a raft of measures which will collectively work towards this goal.”
Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP, health spokesperson for the Scottish Conservatives, says he will be watching closely to see if it is possible to replicate this here in Scotland. He said: “It is a very interesting proposal, and I am very keen to look at what happens in New Zealand. Someone had to do it first, and New Zealand has taken that step, so I will be watching to see how it progresses and to see if it is something we are able to do here. There is a lot of opposition to it as being undemocratic and invading freedoms, but the concept of having no people smoking is something we can all agree with.”
Source: The Courier, 16 December 2021
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** Two detection dogs from Pembrokeshire, Wales, have sniffed out more than £300,000 illegal tobacco. Cooper and Yoyo have recently helped track down more than 216,000 illegal cigarettes and 350 kilograms of hand-rolling tobacco.
They were working as part of Operation CeCe, a national campaign which focuses on joint working between trading standards and HM Revenue and Customs. The dogs led officers to a self-storage unit on Wednesday, December 1.
The seized products will now be fully assessed as part of an inquiry to determine the exact offences committed. Anyone prosecuted and convicted of being involved in selling or supplying illegal tobacco can face penalties, including up to 10 years in prison and an unlimited fine.
Source: South Wales Argus, 15 December 2021
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** Parliamentary Activity
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**
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** Oral Tobacco: Health Hazards
Asked by Martyn Day, Linlithgow and East Falkirk
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2021 to Question 72543, on Oral Tobacco, what the serious adverse health outcomes caused by snus are; and how those risks compare with the risks associated with smoking.
Answered by Maggie Throup, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
Oral tobacco, including snus, is banned in the United Kingdom under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. There is evidence that oral tobacco products can contain carcinogenic substances which increases the risk of adverse health effects. This includes an increased risk of oesophageal and pancreatic cancer, high blood pressure, increased mortality in the aftermath of a heart attack or stroke and type 2 diabetes. While the risks of adverse health outcomes caused by snus are far lower than smoking, it remains the Government's policy to help people to quit all forms of tobacco use.
Source: Hansard, 21 December 2021
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