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** 8 February 2022
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** UK
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** Public health funding boost branded an 'effective cut' (#1)
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** New performance body will measure happiness and life satisfaction (#2)
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** International
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** US: Almost all kids exposed to thirdhand tobacco, even in non-smoking homes (#3)
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** Study claims e-cigarettes less effective than gum and other nicotine replacement aids in US (#4)
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** US: Portland council approves ban on sale of flavoured tobacco products (#5)
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Health and Care Bill amendments debated by Peers (#6)
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** UK
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Directors of public health have responded to the Government’s public health grant allocations by branding them “effectively a cut to … funding”. President of the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) Jim McManus said that the allocations would not be enough “given the ongoing pandemic pressures, service backlogs, and increasing need” whilst the Local Government Association (LGA) also expressed disappointment with the scale of the funding increase.

The Department of Health and Social Care yesterday (7 February 2022) published the public health funding allocations for councils, with total funding worth £3.42bn in 2022-23, up by £93m or 2.81% on 2021-22 allocations. Maggie Throup, Public Health minister, said in a statement that the public health grant was being maintained in real terms for the period announced by the spending review. However, inflation is now significantly larger than it was then, 5.4% versus 2.9%.

Throup also said that the public health grant was part of a wider set of investments to improve public health, including £300m to tackle obesity, £170m to improve start for life for families, and £560m to support improvements in drug and alcohol treatment. However, this funding is yet to be allocated and the LGC understands that not every council will receive a share of it.

McManus said that the funding allocation was evidence of the “increasing dissonance between the government’s warm words on levelling up health and the investment it is willing to make.” David Fothergill, chair of the LGA's community wellbeing board, similarly noted that the funding allocation contravened the Government’s ambition to tackle inequalities: "This […] runs contrary to our shared ambition with government to address the stark health inequalities exposed by COVID-19." Fothergill also called for a longer-term plan which recognised the public health challenges ahead.

Source: LGC, 7 February 2022
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Leading figures in the local government sector have said that the Government’s proposed new performance body, which will use a suite of metrics including happiness, life satisfaction, and life expectancy to measure performance against the Government’s 12 levelling up missions, must be developed alongside local government and must be truly independent of Government ministers.

The planned “independent body” was announced in the Government’s recent levelling up white paper in response to concerns that data collected by local government often varied from place to place making an appraisal across different services difficult. The Government has said the new metrics to be used are “preliminary”, were “selected based on relevance, availability, frequency of updates, [and] geographical coverage” and would be added to after consultation.

Rob Whiteman, former head of the Audit Commission, which used to monitor local government performance, and current chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy, said that the body was “a good thing” but hoped it would be “truly independent” by not requiring ministerial approval to sign off releases. Kingston RBC chief executive Ian Thomas, a former director of children’s services, told LGC that any accountability framework must avoid the “unintended consequence” of diverting time away from service delivery to collecting data.
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Source: LGC, 7 February 2022
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** International
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A new study has found that the vast majority of children in both smoking and non-smoking homes are exposed to thirdhand smoke. The study, published in JAMA Network Review and conducted by researchers from San Diego State University and the University of Cincinnati, found that more than 97% of the 504 children under 11 tested had some level of nicotine on their hands, including more than 95% of children in non-smoking homes and homes with smoking bans.

However, the research did find that efforts to protect children from tobacco exposure was effective. Actions such as home and care smoking bans significantly reduced the amount of nicotine detected on the children’s hands. The research also found that the amount of nicotine on children’s hands varied by income and race. Children from lower-income families had significantly more nicotine on their hands than children from higher-income families whilst children of black parents had higher amounts of nicotine on their hands than children of white or multiracial parents.

The researchers plan to continue investigate the health outcomes of thirdhand smoking exposure. They hope their research will further support stricter smoking bans, remediation practices, and policies requiring real estate agents and landlords to disclose thirdhand smoke levels in homes.
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Source: Scienmag, 7 February 2022

See also: JAMA Network - Prevalence and Income-Related Disparities in Thirdhand Smoke Exposure to Children ([link removed])
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** A new study has claimed that people using e-cigarettes may find them to be less helpful than traditional smoking cessation aids. The study, published in the journal BMJ, analysed the latest 2017 to 2019 data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health study on tobacco use amongst Americans, and found that e-cigarettes were associated with less successful quitting in that period than other quitting aids such as medications or the use of patches, gum, or lozenges.

The study found that nearly 60% of recent former smokers who were daily e-cigarette users had resumed smoking by 2019. However, proponents of the use of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool say that higher-nicotine versions help cigarette smokers to quit as they can take fewer puffs than when smoking an entire cigarette. The study could not test for this effect as very few smokers were found to be using these high-nicotine e-cigarettes during most of the two-year period.

The research found that the use of e-cigarettes as a cessation aid in the US had dropped by 25% over the two-year period and were less popular than other pharmaceutical aids. In late 2021 the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updated its guidance recommending that smokers consider using e-cigarettes to help them quit, but e-cigarettes are not currently recommended as a quitting aid in the US.

Source: CNN, 7 February 2022
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** Editorial note: Hajek et al’s 2019 study ([link removed]) into the effectiveness of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation found they were almost twice as effective as nicotine replacement therapies for smoking cessation, when combined with behavioural support. Hajek et al’s research used a randomised control trial design, considered to be the gold standard for establishing causal relationships, whilst this study used a cohort design. Hajek et al’s findings are supported by the recent Cochrane Review of E-cigarettes for Smoking Cessation ([link removed]) , which found nicotine containing e-cigarettes to likely be more effective than nicotine replacement therapies in supporting people to quit. Cochrane Reviews are recognised internationally as representing a gold standard for high-quality, trusted information.
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Portland City Council voted unanimously on Monday 7 February to approve a ban on the sale of flavoured tobacco products. The ordinance will take effect on June 1 2022 and makes Portland the latest of more than 330 communities across the US to have passed restrictions on the sale of flavoured tobacco products. The American Lung Association has applauded the decision and urged other communities in the rest of the state of Maine to follow suit.

The ban defines flavoured tobacco products as “any tobacco product that imparts a taste or smell, other than the taste or smell of tobacco, either prior to, or during the consumption of, a tobacco product, including, but not limited to, any taste or smell relating to fruit, menthol, mint, wintergreen, chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, honey, or any candy, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb, or spice” and applies to natural or synthetic tobacco or nicotine products.

The penalty for violating the ordinance has been set at a fine of $100 - $500 (£74 - £369) per offence. A similar ban is now being considered by other communities across the state, with the Brunswick Town Council holding a public hearing in late February on a ban and Maine lawmakers considering a state-wide ban with a bill expected to come up for a House vote this spring.

Source: Press Herald, 7 February 2022
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** Parliamentary Activity
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** Last Friday 4th Feb, Peers debated amendments 270 - 279 ([link removed]) to the Health and Care Bill during Committee stage in the House of Lords. These amendments would require the Government to consult on introducing a ‘polluter pays’ levy to pay for tobacco control, consult on raising the age of sale for tobacco to 21, strengthen regulation of tobacco and related products; and remove loopholes in existing regulations. Please see links to the key contributions below.
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** Lord Faulkner of Worcester ([link removed])
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** Baroness Masham of Ilton ([link removed])
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** Lord Young of Cookham ([link removed])
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** Baroness Northover ([link removed])
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** Baroness Finlay of Llandlaff ([link removed])
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** Lord Rennard ([link removed])
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** Lord Crisp ([link removed])
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** Baroness Merron ([link removed])
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** Response from Earl Howe, Deputy Leader of the House of Lords ([link removed])
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** Concluding points from Lord Faulkner of Worcester ([link removed])
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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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