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** 23 March 2022
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** UK
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** Steve Brine MP: The Treasury can't bail everyone out – let’s impose a levy on the tobacco industry instead (#1)
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** Gambling addiction could be nine times higher than industry claims (#2)
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** International
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** Expert reaction to research letter about US adolescents attempting to quit smoking or vaping (#3)
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** New study quantifies economic burden of second-hand smoking in India (#4)
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** UK
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** Steve Brine MP: The Treasury can't bail everyone out – let’s impose a levy on the tobacco industry instead
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**
Brine states that the “polluter pays” principle has been “accepted by Conservative governments for over 30 years; starting with the Landfill Levy, running through the Soft Drinks Industry Levy.” He argues that the tobacco industry, rather than the public, should pay for the damage caused by smoking.

Brine calls for the adoption of a levy on tobacco manufacturers to pay for “tobacco control, including behaviour change campaigns, smoking cessation services, retailer compliance and policy work.”

Brine also highlights modelling by Cancer Research UK which suggests that the government’s goal of a Smokefree 2030 will be missed by at least 7 years nationally, and by more than a decade among the most deprived groups. “Let us be clear on what this means: those who are poorer and smoke will continue to be sicker and die younger than their wealthier counterparts.”

Brine argues that "“Prevention is better than a cure” … will need to be the mantra of a sustainable, well-run healthcare system fit for the 21st century.” He highlights today’s Spring Statement, the Health Disparities White Paper, Autumn Budget and Tobacco Control Plan for England as key opportunities for the Government to act to improve public health.

Writing in Politics Home, former Public Health Minister and Conservative MP Steve Brine, calls for the introduction of a “polluter pays” levy on tobacco manufacturers to raise vital funds for tobacco control.
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**
Source: Politics Home, 23 March 2022
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** See also: APPG on Smoking and Health - Recommendations for the Tobacco Control Plan 2021 ([link removed])
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Read Article ([link removed] )


** Gambling addiction could be nine times higher than industry claims
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** GambleAware said this was likely due to methodology, as people taking part in online surveys may be disproportionately likely to be experiencing difficulty with gambling. However, it said that while YouGov’s figures were likely to be at the “upper bounds” of the true addiction rate, the survey had been carefully controlled to prevent the data being skewed. The charity suggested other surveys may be underestimating the true figure.

YouGov’s estimate that 2.8% of people are suffering gambling-related harm is nine times higher than the 0.3% rate found by the Gambling Commission’s telephone survey, a measure that has been frequently cited by gambling industry lobbyists to indicate that addiction is on the decline.
However, despite the high rates found by the survey, just 8,490 people received treatment from the National Gambling Treatment Service (NGTS) last year, GambleAware said, suggesting that for every one person receiving help, 160 who could benefit from it did not.

The rate rises significantly among men, with 3.7% deemed to have a problem and 7.5% at risk, indicating that more than a 10th of men are either struggling with gambling or in danger of doing so. Among women, addiction rates were 2%, with 4% in the at-risk category.

The online survey of more than 18,000 adults conducted in 2021 found that up to 2.8% of the population scored eight or higher on the problem gambling severity index.

Published with the government weeks away from unveiling plans for a once-in-a-generation reform of gambling laws, the survey is part of a push by leading charity GambleAware to encourage more people to seek treatment.

Gambling addiction rates may be nine times higher than the betting industry claims, according to a landmark study that found 1.4 million people are being harmed by their own gambling, while a further 1.5 million are at risk.

Source: The Guardian, 23 March 2022
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** International
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** Expert reaction to research letter about US adolescents attempting to quit smoking or vaping
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**
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** Prof Lion Shahab, Professor of Health Psychology and Co-Director of the UCL Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, has responded to a research letter entitled, ‘Failed Attempts to Quit Combustible Cigarettes and e-Cigarettes Among US Adolescents’, written by Miech et al. (2022) and published in the journal JAMA on 22 March 2022.

Shahab states that the “study is seriously flawed and tells us very little” and that it “does not provide any good evidence that e-cigarettes make quitting smoking harder.” He argues that there is high-quality population-level evidence to show that “smoking rates in youth in the US has plummeted to unprecedented low levels in recent years, despite increasing e-cigarette use.”

Shahab states that the study sample is “much smaller and likely quite [a] different sample from previous years” due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which makes comparison with previous years “clearly problematic.”

He concludes by saying: “e-cigarettes have a clear role to play as part of a comprehensive smoking cessation strategy to achieve a smokefree goal.”

Source: Science Media Centre, 22 March 2022
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See also: JAMA Network - Failed Attempts to Quit Combustible Cigarettes and e-Cigarettes Among US Adolescents ([link removed])
Read Article ([link removed] )


** New study quantifies economic burden of second-hand smoking in India
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** A new study has quantified the economic burden of second-hand smoke exposure for persons aged 15 years and above in India.

The study, published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, calculated the annual direct economic costs attributable to Second-Hand Smoking (SHS) in India amounted to Rs 567 billion. This amounted to Rs 705 per adult non-smoker. The second-hand smoking-attributable costs were higher among the 20-24 age group, and women bear 71 per cent of the direct medical costs attributable to SHS. In India, 38.7 per cent of adults are exposed to second-hand smoking (SHS) at home and 30.2 per cent at work, the findings reveal.

Lead research, Dr. Rijo John from the Rajagiri College of Social Sciences stated, "India needs to take strong measures to reduce its large number of smokers and the economic burden of treating tobacco-related diseases. Increasing tobacco taxes is one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking, yet India has not had any significant tax increase on any tobacco products for the past four years. The current tobacco tax collected in India from all tobacco products combined is less than the INR 567 billion in health care costs caused by exposure to second-hand smoke”.

Source: The Indian Express, 23 March 2022
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See also: Nicotine & Tobacco Research - Healthcare costs attributable to secondhand smoke exposure among Indian adults ([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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