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** 19 April 2022
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** UK
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** NHS urges people to attend vital lung cancer check-ups in England (#1)
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** Keighley shop had a secret chute where employees could pass down illicit cigarettes (#2)
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** International
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** Opinion: Is it better to vape than smoke? Definitely, but it’s still worse than quitting entirely (#3)
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** Opinion: ‘Total ban’: could this be the last generation of smokers? (#4)
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** USA: Smoking reduces wealth’s tendency to increase life expectancy (#5)
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** UK
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** NHS urges people to attend vital lung cancer check-ups in England
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** NHS leaders are urging people to attend vital lung cancer check-ups as figures reveal almost two-thirds of those invited are not attending.

The NHS targeted lung health check service offered in some parts of England aims to help diagnose cancer at an earlier stage when treatment may be more successful. Current and former smokers aged between 55 and 74 are invited to speak to a healthcare professional and, if they have a higher chance of developing lung cancer, are offered a scan of their lungs.

Doctors are keen to reach those who may not have sought help for symptoms during the pandemic and could be living with undiagnosed lung cancer.

The NHS has already diagnosed 600 people in travelling trucks, which visit community sites across the UK, aiming to make it easier for people to access check-ups. But figures show only a third (35%) of patients go to their lung health check when invited by the NHS.

The mobile trucks are targeting areas with some of the highest lung cancer death rates. NHS teams have also identified thousands of people with other undiagnosed conditions via the trucks, including respiratory and cardiovascular disease, enabling them to access the treatment they need earlier.

Source: The Guardian , 19 April 2022
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** Keighley shop had a secret chute where employees could pass down illicit cigarettes
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** A Keighley store was found to have a hidden chute used to move contraband cigarettes to the shop floor from a flat above.

The business’ owner claimed the work to create the chute was carried out by “rogue employees” while he was away but an officer for West Yorkshire Police this week told a panel of councillors that this excuse was difficult to believe.

Wisla International Foods was subject to a number of test purchases by West Yorkshire Trading Standards earlier this year. On January 20 a plain clothes officer was sold a packet of cigarettes that did not include any health warnings for £4.50. The normal price is £10.50. Trading Standards found the cigarettes to be counterfeit.

On January 20 Trading Standards inspected the store. They found five packs of illicit tobacco in one of the draws in the shop, and two open packs of cigarettes under the counter.

In a flat above the shop, they found over 4,800 20-packs of counterfeit cigarettes and 560 bags of illicit hand rolling tobacco.

Police and Trading Standards called for the shop’s licence to be reviewed, and at a meeting of Bradford Council’s licensing panel last month, the business’ licence was revoked.

Source: Yorkshire Live, 19 April 2022
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** International
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** Opinion: Is it better to vape than smoke? Definitely, but it’s still worse than quitting entirely
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**
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** Epidemiologist, Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, reflects on the pros and cons of e-cigarettes in light of a recent review published by the Australian National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, which has resulted in calls to ban vaping entirely for younger Australians.

Meyerowitz-Katz highlights the level of uncertainty and range of opinion in the international debate around vaping. He addresses some of the key arguments for and against e-cigarettes, noting that whilst e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful than tobacco cigarettes they are not risk free.

Meyerowitz-Katz highlights the “variability in vaping products and devices” in different countries, the term ‘vape’ being used to describe a large number of products. The author also argues that smokers who take up vaping become dual users who supplement their smoking with vaping, rather than quitting smoking entirely. It is difficult to measure any health benefits of dual use because it “covers everything from people who rarely smoke and predominantly vape to those who basically add vaping to their current smoking regime.”

Meyerowitz-Katz observes that while evidence from Australia suggests that people are taking up vaping at “ever-increasing” rates, in the UK e-cigarette use has stabilised at around 6-7% of the population, even in younger people. He concludes that although vaping is likely to be much safer than smoking, there is still uncertainty in the evidence.

Source: The Guardian, 17 April 2022

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** See also: National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health - Electronic cigarettes and health outcomes: systematic review of global evidence ([link removed])
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** Opinion: ‘Total ban’: could this be the last generation of smokers?
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**
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** Science writer for the Guardian, Donna Lu, discusses ‘tobacco-free generation’ (TFG) policy proposals around the world and calls for their implementation in Australia:

Lu highlights that in 2020, Brookline, Massachusetts, became the first town in the US to implement a law banning the sale of tobacco products and e-cigarettes to anyone born after the year 2000. New Zealand is set to introduce a similar law this year which would prevent anyone aged 14 and younger from ever legally buying smoking products. Unlike Brookline, however, New Zealand’s policy will not include a ban on e-cigarette sales. In addition, lawmakers in Denmark are considering a similar proposal for anyone born after 2010, and, in recent months, Malaysian and Singaporean health ministries have shown a desire to follow New Zealand’s lead.

Lu cites Professor Jon Berrick in stating that smoking kills more people in Australia every year than alcohol, car accidents, murder, suicide and Covid-19 in support of a TFG policy in Australia. Berrick argues, “if you have [a smoking ban] on a birth cohort basis … you’re sending out the message: there is no safe age for smoking”, in comparison to policies which prohibit the sale of tobacco products to anyone below a certain age.

In response to claims that TFG policies will result in black market sales of tobacco products, Lu also highlights arguments from Berrick and Professor Marita Hefler, of the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin. They cite historical evidence for the success of TFG-like policies in other countries, and the general anti-smoking sentiment already present in Australia. Hefler states: “After 30-plus years of policies to reduce smoking, the Australian public overwhelmingly have negative attitudes towards cigarettes and the tobacco industry. A majority of smokers want to quit and wish they’d never started. Most smokers don’t want the young people in their lives to ever smoke.”

Finally, Lu highlights that whilst TFG policies have the disadvantage of being slow to see any effect, some experts advise implementing TFG policies alongside other faster-acting policies, as seen in New Zealand.

Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2022
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** USA: Smoking reduces wealth’s tendency to increase life expectancy
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** According to a recent study by researchers at Georgetown University and the University of California, Riverside, benefits to life expectancy derived from increased wealth are offset by smoking.

“Our results suggest that even if wealth has a causal effect on mortality, it cannot compete with the impact of smoking. If you want to live longer, you better avoid the cancer sticks,” said corresponding author Dana Glei, a senior researcher at Georgetown University’s Centre for Population and Health.

The new study finds that the percentage of Americans surviving from age 65 to 85 was 19% higher for someone with at least $300,000 in wealth than for those with no financial assets (wealth was measured in 1995 US dollars, equivalent to $558,000 today). But there was a 37% difference between those who never smoked and current smokers.

The wealth-related disparity in mortality was larger than the disparities by education, occupation, income, or childhood socioeconomic status. But smoking made the greatest difference amongst all factors.

Source: Science Magazine, 15 April 2022

See also: JAMA Network - Assessment of Mortality Disparities by Wealth Relative to Other Measures of Socioeconomic Status Among US 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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