View this email in your browser ([link removed])
** 25 April 2022
------------------------------------------------------------
** UK
------------------------------------------------------------
** Government considers polluter pays levy to support 2030 anti-smoking target (#1)
------------------------------------------------------------
** Smokefree 2030: Big Tobacco sense their chance (#2)
------------------------------------------------------------
** BAT one of Britain's biggest companies facing revolts over 'excessive' pay packages handed to bosses (#3)
------------------------------------------------------------
** International
------------------------------------------------------------
** US: Plan to ban menthol cigarettes prompts late lobbying blitz (#4)
------------------------------------------------------------
** UK
------------------------------------------------------------
**
Tobacco companies will be slapped with an extra annual levy of up to £700m under radical “polluter-pays” proposals put forward by the Government’s anti-smoking tsar. Javed Khan, the former chief executive of children’s charity Barnardo's, said some of the world’s biggest companies must pay for anti-smoking reforms instead of the NHS.
Mr Khan has been asked by Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, to conduct an independent review on how England will meet its target of reducing smoking prevalence to below 5% by 2030. He will report his findings in mid-May.
Mr Khan is examining whether to advise ministers to increase the minimum age for smoking to 21, 25, or go for a more radical “New Zealand” approach that outlaws smoking for anyone born after 2008. E-cigarettes may also become available on NHS prescription.
“The public is often led to believe that smoking is a personal choice. When really smoking is an addiction, which is promoted by an industry that has very little concern for life or for health,” added Mr Khan.
“The recommendations that I'm going to be making which are still being developed and finalised -- there is going to be a cost attached. I'm going to be saying to the Government that they need to invest money to deliver a comprehensive response to get us to a smoke-free 2030.
“The big question I'm also asking is, should taxpayers actually have to pay the consequences? Why not make the polluter pay? Why not introduce a polluter levy on increasing corporation tax to the tobacco industry?”
Conservative MP Bob Blackman, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health, said: “A potential levy on the profits of the big tobacco companies could raise £700m-a-year, which could then be put towards smoking cessation services -- and reduce the cost to the National Health Service from people that smoke.”
Source: Telegraph, 23 April 2022
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])
**
In 2019, Britain set a lofty ambition of becoming “smoke-free” by 2030 - defined as 5% or less of the adult population counted as smokers. Javed Khan, the former head of children’s charity Barnardo's, has been charged with pulling together an independent review on smoking for the Health Secretary. The world’s largest tobacco companies - Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, and JTI - insist they can play a pivotal role in weaning the country off cigarettes. Any involvement by them, however, to help the Government achieve its target is sparking anger among anti-tobacco campaigners, who also argue progress is too slow.
“We were delighted when the Government announced the smokefree 2030 target,” says Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH. “But nearly three years have passed and there’s still no plan, no investment and, on current trends, no chance of success.”
Arnott says it is imperative that the ‘carrot’ element of Khan’s reforms are fully-funded. “The tobacco control budget has been cut by a third since 2015. It doesn’t make any sense. To achieve a smokefree 2030 requires a massive increase in the rate of decline,” she says.
Whitehall insiders say Khan’s proposals and the Government policy will be a combination of ‘carrot’ and ‘stick’.
“The phrase that's been bandied about a bit internally - and obviously it won't exactly be like this - is one-in, one-out. So there will be a tougher measure on smoking, but we will look at a carrot to liberalise the means of exit,” says a Government source.
They say a “vaping revolution” will likely culminate with e-cigarettes being made available on NHS prescriptions, adding: “There's quite a lot of false information suggesting that vaping is actually more dangerous than it is.”
Much to the chagrin of the tobacco control field, the world’s big four tobacco companies sense their chance. How successful Big Tobacco will be in influencing the agenda remains to be seen. Anti-smoking campaigners are unequivocal, however.
“Tobacco companies are part of the problem, not the solution,'' says Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of Asthma and Lung UK. “They should not be allowed to have any say when it comes to the health of the nation.”
Source: Telegraph, 24 April 2022
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])
**
A slew of Britain's biggest companies face revolts this week over 'excessive' pay packages handed to bosses. Gambling giant Flutter, house builders Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon, insurer Admiral Group and British American Tobacco (BAT) are all in investors' crosshairs ahead of annual general meetings (AGM).
Large pay increases have drawn criticism as Britain struggles with the cost-of-living crisis.
BAT was criticised for proposing bonuses and incentives to its boss Jack Bowles of up to 750% of his salary – a deal which would be worth £11.8m if BAT hit all its targets.
Source: Daily Mail, 24 April 2022
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])
** International
------------------------------------------------------------
**
As federal officials finalise a long-awaited plan to ban menthol cigarettes, dozens of interest groups have met with White House staffers to try to influence the process, which has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives while wiping out billions in tobacco sales.
Biden administration officials have heard from tobacco lobbyists, anti-smoking advocates, civil rights groups, small business owners and conservative think tanks. The lobbying push underscores the far-reaching impacts of banning menthol, which accounts for over one-third of the US cigarette market.
Meeting materials posted online show nearly all the groups opposing the ban have financial ties to tobacco companies, including businesses that sell cigarettes and nonprofit groups that receive charitable contributions.
Menthol is the only cigarette flavour that wasn't banned under the 2009 law that gave the FDA authority over tobacco products. Several efforts to eliminate menthol since then have been derailed by industry pushback or competing political priorities. The health consequences of tobacco addiction have disproportionately fallen on Black smokers, 85% of whom use menthols. FDA officials estimate that a menthol ban could prevent 630,000 smoking deaths over 40 years, more than a third among Black people.
Anti-tobacco groups are closely tracking the review by the White House’s budget arm, after watching earlier FDA tobacco proposals get shelved or diluted under prior administrations. More than 100 US cities and counties have already restricted menthol products, with few indications of a burgeoning illicit market.
Source: Associated Press, 22 April 2022
------------------------------------------------------------
Read Article ([link removed])
Have you been forwarded this email? Subscribe to ASH Daily News here. ([link removed])
For more information email
[email protected] (mailto:
[email protected]) or visit www.ash.org.uk
@ASHorguk ([link removed])
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.
============================================================
Our mailing address is:
Action on Smoking and Health
Unit 2.9, The Foundry
17 Oval Way
London
SE11 5RR
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
