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Sajid Javid launches equality reviews targeting smoking and potential racial bias in medical equipment
A major review into why ethnic minority patients suffer worse health outcomes due to the design of medical equipment has been launched by Sajid Javid. The 18-month study will examine why devices such as oximeters, which measure oxygen levels in the blood using sensors on fingertips, can give inaccurate readings for people from ethnic minorities – potentially putting their lives at risk.
A second review, into vast differences in life expectancy and good physical health due to smoking rates in different areas of England, was also launched by the Health Secretary. In Manchester, more than 20 per cent of the adult population smoke, while in Richmond-upon-Thames the rate is 6 per cent.
Dame Margaret Whitehead, professor of public health at the University of Liverpool, will lead the review into ethnic inequalities for medical devices. Javed Khan, the former chief executive of Barnardo’s, will investigate smoking disparities and whether the Government is on track to make England smoke-free by 2030.
Smoking rates are at their lowest-ever level but there are still an estimated six million smokers in England. The habit remains one of the largest drivers of health disparities. Tobacco is still the single largest cause of preventable mortality, with 64,000 smokers dying as a result in 2019.
Mr Khan said: “I am very pleased to be leading this review into such an important area of public health. My independent findings will help highlight key interventions which can help the Government achieve its ambitions to be smoke-free by 2030 and tackle health disparities.”
Source: iNews, 4 February 2022
Editorial note:
• The independent review into the government’s tobacco policies will report back in April 2022.
• The ‘Smokefree 2030’ target is defined as 5% smoking prevalence or less in England.
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Johnson in retreat on junk food deals to woo back MPs
Boris Johnson became a convert to anti-obesity measures in 2020 after he fell seriously ill with Covid-19. In July 2020, launching the new drive, he suggested he had been “too fat” when he caught the virus. However, during a meeting Johnson held with Conservative MPs this week, a majority signalled that policies such as banning “BOGOFs” were a bad idea. “It was like a vacuous Conservative MP jury on how we should do policy,” said one person present. The prime minister left the meeting promising to reappraise the strategy. And according to Government officials Johnson is planning to drop plans to ban ‘buy one get one free’ (BOGOF) deals on junk food and other anti-obesity measures.
Johnson is also rethinking the case for scrapping plans to ban junk food adverts before the 9pm watershed by the end of this year and restrict online advertising, the officials said. He has been inspired to reconsider the policies to fend off an uprising by MPs from several wings of his party angry after the revelations about parties during Covid-19 lockdowns in Downing Street.
The move would be part of “Operation Red Meat”, aimed at rallying wavering Tory MPs behind the PM and featuring right-wing and free market policies designed to appeal to grassroots members. One government figure said the watershed on junk food advertising had been an “unloved policy” in Downing Street for some time. “I always got the impression Boris swung behind it and then changed his mind a while ago,” she added.
An aide said, “There have been a lot of conversations happening on this,” he added. “The direction of travel is becoming increasingly clear, which is an easing off on some of these measures, and I think industry will be happy with that.”
Regulations to limit promotions of unhealthy food in stores, brought in using a statutory instrument, are due to take effect in April. But those to curb advertising are included in the health and social care bill currently in the House of Lords, where amendments have already been tabled to enable delays to the measures. But health and medical groups have warned the government not to drop the “bold and vital evidence-based public policy”.
Prof Rachel Batterham, the Royal College of Physicians’ special adviser on obesity, said the government’s potential change of heart was “incredibly concerning”. With about one in five children in the UK living with obesity, this could have “significant negative consequences, particularly for children and young people”, she said.
Dr David Strain, the British Medical Association’s board of science chair, said: “For the prime minister to row back on his commitments now would be unacceptable and suggests that the government are more interested in putting profit before the health of the nation as it is the junk food advertisers who triumph in this scenario.”
Source: FT, 4 February 2022
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UK government review of gambling laws now not expected until May
Long-awaited government proposals to reform gambling laws are now unlikely to be published until May, in a fresh delay that prompted a Labour MP to urge that turmoil within the Tory party must not disrupt the process. The department for digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) launched a review of gambling laws in December 2020, amid mounting concern over addiction and children’s exposure through advertising and football sponsorship. A white paper was originally due to be published before the end of 2021 but was postponed until early 2022 after a cabinet reshuffle that saw John Whittingdale replaced as gambling minister by Chris Philp.
The proposals are now not expected until May, three sources with knowledge of the process told the Guardian, fuelling renewed concern among gambling addiction campaigners demanding urgent reform. Carolyn Harris, who chairs a cross-party group of MPs examining gambling-related harm, voiced fears that the uncertainty surrounding the future of Boris Johnson, who is understood to be supportive of gambling reform, could disrupt the review.
Ministers and officials at DCMS have been working closely with the industry regulator, the Gambling Commission, on potential reforms to improve protection for addicts and other vulnerable people. But the regulator is under-resourced, according to reports by the Public Accounts Committee and the National Audit Office, while it is also overseeing the decision on which company will win the next 10-year licence to operate the National Lottery.
The government’s review of gambling laws has prompted a flurry of lobbying activity. Campaigners for reform, helped by funding from the former casino and poker industry veteran Derek Webb, highlighted stories of addiction and transgressions by major industry operators. The gambling industry’s links to MPs have come under scrutiny, including lucrative second jobs and hospitality lavished on politicians, some of whom were members of a group that wrote a controversial report criticising the Gambling Commission for trying to reduce gambling addiction.
Source: The Guardian, 6 February 2022
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Spain and Portugal: The maps that could hold the secret to curing cancer
A map showing stark differences in the incidence of 10 types of cancer between Spain and Portugal has sparked a race to pinpoint causes and risk factors people should avoid. It shows huge differences for people living only a short distance apart, sometimes across the border between Spain and Portugal, and others occurring within the same country.
The lung cancer map tells a clear story of far higher levels of smoking tobacco in Spain than in Portugal, with the latter country showing a consistent hue of dark blue for a lower risk of mortality, while Spain has large areas lit up in red, at least on the map representing men. 20% of Spanish adults are daily smokers, compared with just over 11% in Portugal.
But the data from cancer of the larynx, also linked to smoking, tells a vastly different story, with a high mortality risk for men shown straddling the border in southern Portugal and southwestern Spain, as well as patches in the north of both countries. In the case of larynx cancer, Spanish epidemiologist Pablo Fernández-Navarro says the map confirms that smoking is not the only risk factor, and that other elements must also be at work, from alcohol intake to levels of pollutants such as asbestos or petrochemicals in the environment.
A UK cancer map with granular data showing differences between boroughs could be a vital tool in bringing down cancer mortality rates by helping to pinpoint risk factors and identifying possible weaknesses in detection and treatment in any given area.
Source: Telegraph, 6 February 2022
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USA: Florida jury orders R.J. Reynolds to pay $9.75 million to family of woman who died from respiratory disease caused by smoking
A Florida jury has awarded the family of a woman $9.75 million after she died from respiratory disease caused by smoking cigarettes. Carolyn Long was a regular smoker for decades, before quitting in 2002. In the late 1990s, however, she was diagnosed with COPD, which ultimately led to her death in 2020 at age 80.
The lawyers representing Long's husband, John, told Insider that Long had an extremely difficult time trying to quit smoking over the years. Long's husband said that her illness and subsequent death were caused by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company's conspiracy to conceal the truth about the dangers of smoking.
Lawyers told the outlet that Long smoked about half a pack a day for decades, before switching to a different brand selling an "ultra-light" variation to be healthier. In a statement to Insider, Newlands said the "light" cigarettes were marked as safer in the 70s and 80s. "We now know that was a lie," he said.
The switch led to Long smoking more than a pack of cigarettes a day. "That is the point of what the industry wanted. [They] don't want people to quit," lawyer Lee Clark, who is also representing Long's husband said. Jurors apportioned 60% of responsibility to Reynolds and 30% to Long. Philip Morris, a cigarette company, was apportioned 10% of the responsibility, although it was not a party at trial.
Source: Business Insider, 6 February 2022
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Australia: E-cigarettes distributed by ride-share drivers
Ride-share drivers in Australia have been using Uber to sell e-cigarettes, after the Australian federal government announced that it was banning the importation and sale of nicotine-based vaporisers in October 2021.
Photographs taken from inside vehicles in Sydney and Brisbane show advertisements for e-cigarettes openly displayed in the back of vehicles. Instagram and TikTok accounts have also been set up calling themselves 'UberVapes', offering customers 'free delivery' for the purchase of the devices.
Since October 1st, a prescription from a GP has been required to legally import and purchase e-cigarettes in Australia.
Source: Daily Mail Australia, 6 February 2022
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