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As UK inflation climbs to 9.1%, with economists expecting a further rise to 11% by the end of the year, the cost of living crisis continues to squeeze household finances. The Mirror outlines 20 ‘hacks’ to allow budgets to stretch further.
One of the listed hacks is stamping out bad habits and addictions such as smoking and drinking to save money and improve health.
The article highlights figures from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) which show that the average smoker would save £162 a month on tobacco by quitting smoking.
Source: The Mirror, 9 July 2022
See also: ASH Ready Reckoner tool
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Caroline Molloy, openDemocracy's UK health and social affairs correspondent and journalist, reflects on Jeremy Hunt’s policy decisions in his time as the longest-serving UK Secretary of State for Health, as he now vies for Conservative leadership.
Writing in openDemocracy, Molloy states that “Hunt’s pitch to the Tory faithful is that he’s the ‘serious’ one: the earnest ex-head boy with a grasp of detail and the ability to get things done.” However, Molloy challenges this idea and argues that Jeremy Hunt presided over “missed targets, lengthening waits, crumbling hospitals, missed opportunities, false solutions, funding boosts that vanished under scrutiny, and blaming everyone but himself.”
She states that Hunt oversaw years of historically low funding increases of around 1%, compared with an average of 6% in the years between 1997 and 2010, and the 4.3% minimum recommended by the Office of Budget Responsibility, the Kings Fund, Health Foundation and Nuffield Trust to keep up with health inflation and increasing demand. Molloy states that Hunt “oversaw a significant cut to the amount that hospitals were paid per procedure (payments which make up three quarters of their income)”.
Molloy highlights declining numbers of community matrons, district nurses and school nurses during Hunt’s time in office and argues that he was “ideologically wedded to continued competition and privatisation (in various guises)”. She criticises the cuts to public health funding which coincided with attempts to “ban smokers and obese people from all routine operations” in some CCGs under Hunt’s watch.
Source: Open Democracy, 8 July 2022
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“Wellness vapes”, offered in slim cartridges with bright packaging and eye-catching names like Inhale Health and NutriAir, mostly marketed towards young people, have increased in popularity in the US. These vapes don’t contain nicotine but instead allow users to inhale ingredients such as vitamin B12, caffeine, melatonin or essential oils. They are claimed to boost energy, increased immunity and provide a better night’s sleep, or even to fight ADHD, or treat anxiety or depression. Wellness vaping companies often say their products are “safe to use” but cite no evidence of safety testing.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not authorised any vaping products to treat or prevent health conditions or diseases, and warned consumers late last year that wellness vapes are unproven, ineffective and could be harmful if used. However, the vapes don’t need FDA approval to be on the market because they don’t contain nicotine. Non-nicotine vape products are considered supplements – a largely unregulated world – and customers have no guarantee that the ingredients listed are actually in the vape. A recent study of dietary supplements found that nearly 800 of them contained prescription medications and other substances.
A recent Stanford University study of 6,000 people found that 4% of younger teens and 24% of young adults have used non-nicotine vape products – and about a quarter of them were unaware of what was in the products.
Source: Guardian, 8 July 2022
Editorial note: As in the US, only e-cigarettes containing nicotine are regulated here in the UK, under The Tobacco and Related Product Regulations 2016. However, vitamins or other additives creating the impression of a health benefit, caffeine and other additives associated with energy, and additives that contain carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic (CMR) chemicals are all prohibited in nicotine-containing products.
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The New Zealand Government has expressed "extreme concern" at a new cigarette brand that undercuts three years of excise hikes, by exploiting a tax loophole.
The world's biggest tobacco multinational, Philip Morris International (PMI) has begun selling Philippines-made cigarettes in brown paper, seemingly representing tobacco leaf, that it imports into New Zealand as "cigarillos". Through a historic anomaly, these incur a lower excise duty, at least $5.24 less for a pack of 20, enabling the company to sell them for 10% less than the next cheapest cigarette brand and pocket the difference.
Traditionally, cigarillos are high-end, high-priced products; they are usually halfway between cigarettes and cigars in size, with no filters. The harsh-tasting Chesterfield Leaf, however, is exactly the same size and shape as a cigarette and has a filter, with packaging and branding indistinguishable from other 20-packs of cigarettes. A pack of 20 typically sells for $26.90 – which is less than the next cheapest cigarette, the Chesterfield Red or Chesterfield Blue at $29.90.
The Cancer Society expressed dismay at the introduction of a new smoking product targeted at low-income smokers who struggle to quit smoking, with Dr Rachel Nicholls, national advisor for health promotion and policy, stating “We believe this is yet another cynical attempt by tobacco companies to hook new users and encourage people to continue to smoke […] The Cancer Society condemns the underhand tactics that are used by the tobacco industry to increase their profits at the expense of people's suffering.”
Otago University Professor Janet Hoek, the co-director of tobacco control research partnership Aspire2025 expressed that PMI’s behaviour does not come as a surprise to most people working in public health, saying: “Unfortunately, I think we may have seen yet another example of how tobacco companies’ public statements do not match their corporate practices.”
Source: Newsroom, 6 July 2022
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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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