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** 2 August 2022
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** UK
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** NHS help 15,000 pregnant women quit smoking as national rates plummet (#1)
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** York and North Yorkshire to get mayor under £540m devolution deal (#2)
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** Vapes confiscated from pupils in Scotland’s schools (#3)
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** Illegal vapes seized in Kensington and Chelsea (#4)
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** World Lung Cancer Day: NHS launches awareness campaign (#6)
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** Letter to the Scotsman: falling quitting rates (#6)
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** International
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** US study: Fewer people tried to quit smoking during COVID-19 pandemic (#7)
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** UK
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** NHS help 15,000 pregnant women quit smoking as national rates plummet
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The latest statistics show that midwives and other NHS staff have helped almost 15,000 expectant mothers quit smoking in the last three years. The smoking rate for pregnant women at the time of birth has dropped from 10.6% from when the NHS rolled out its Long Term Plan in 2019, to 9.1% in 2021/22.

Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, Chief Midwifery Officer for England, said: “NHS maternity staff across England are working tirelessly to help mothers to give up smoking ensuring their babies get the very best start in life. Smoking can have devastating health implications for a mum and her baby, including increasing the risks of going into labour early, as well as an increased chance of miscarriage and stillbirth. This is why the support which thousands of mothers have already taken up to become smoke free is so vitally important [...] From classes to help you stop to nicotine replacement therapy, the NHS Long Term Plan is rolling out action to help pregnant smokers quit, helping families lead healthier lives and crucially, cutting the risk of stillbirth, saving babies lives.”

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, which coordinates the Smoking in Pregnancy Challenge Group said: “Pregnant smokers don’t want to harm their babies, but smoking is an addiction, usually started in childhood, and once started very difficult to quit. Getting help and support can triple smokers’ chances of quitting successfully. The NHS stepping up to provide mums to be with the support they need is a vital step towards improving the health and wellbeing not just of babies, but their families too.”

The NHS spends around £2.5bn on treating health issues caused by smoking every single year. The NHS has already pledged an additional £127m for maternity services across England over the course of the next year, with the aim of providing safer and more tailored care for women and their babies. All women are now offered electronic checks to test their exposure to carbon monoxide, following the launch of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle. The NHS is also accelerating action to reduce stillbirth, maternal mortality, neonatal mortality, and serious brain injury by half, by 2025.

Source: National Health Executive, 1 August 2022
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Read Article ([link removed])


** York and North Yorkshire to get mayor under £540m devolution deal
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York and North Yorkshire are to elect a mayor and receive £540m of government investment over 30 years in a landmark devolution deal to be signed on Monday. Residents will elect a mayor in May 2024 if the proposed deal becomes reality. The agreement will create a new combined authority across the region led by a directly elected mayor, who will have the power to spend the money on local priorities such as transport, education and housing.

It is the first city and rural region to see devolution on the scale enjoyed by city regions such as South and West Yorkshire, according to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The unveiling of the plan coincides with Yorkshire Day.

The levelling up secretary, Greg Clark, who will sign the deal with the leaders of North Yorkshire county council and the City of York, said: “Yorkshire Day 2022 is an historic one. It marks the return of powers and resources from London to much of the historic[al] North Riding [..] Levelling up – driving prosperity and opportunity in all parts of Britain – is done best when people locally can forge the future of their area. This deal is a big step in that direction.” The plans aim to tackle regional inequalities by not only reducing the national north-south divide, but also helping to address economic differences between urban and rural areas.

The chief secretary to the Treasury, Simon Clarke, said: “Local leaders are best placed to know what their communities need so I’m delighted that the people of York and North Yorkshire will be able to directly elect a mayor to deliver on their priorities.”

North Yorkshire county council’s leader, Carl Les, said: “The chance to secure a host of decision-making powers as well as bringing in millions of pounds of investment for North Yorkshire is a huge opportunity to shape the future of the county for many years to come.

The deal is the first of 13 devolution negotiations named in February’s Levelling Up white paper, which detailed plans for creating better opportunities outside the south-east of England.

Source: Guardian, 1 August 2022
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Read Article ([link removed] )


** Vapes confiscated from pupils in Scotland’s schools
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An STV investigation found that 121 vape products were taken off pupils at schools in Fife in 2021/22, a rise from no recorded incidents in 2018/19. It has prompted further calls for a crackdown on adverts which make them more attractive to teenagers. The report also found similar incidents at schools in Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde, East Dunbartonshire and West Dunbartonshire.

New survey data published by ASH last month showed social media platforms were a common source for online e-cigarette promotions. For young people who reported seeing e-cigarettes promote online, the most common place was on Tiktok (45%) followed by Instagram (31%).

Gillian Golden, Chief Executive of Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) told STV News: “Social media platforms supposedly have policies to prevent promotion of vapes to children, but they do little to enforce them [...] We monitor and report infringements to social media platforms, but they rarely take any action, with TikTok being the worst offender."

The Scottish Government recently launched a consultation to look at whether new rules should be brought in to limit the advertisement of vape products, with the report expected this summer.

Sheila Duffy, chief executive of ASH Scotland told STV News: "We are particularly concerned that vape sweet flavours, vibrant colouring and packaging are attractive to young people, and their use is often influenced by advertising portraying vaping products in a positive light, which is noticed more by youths than adults [...] The influence of vape promotions on social media platforms accessed by teenagers is also troubling."

Source: The Sun, 1 August, 2022

See also: ASH/YouGov Survey 2022 - Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain ([link removed])
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Read Article ([link removed])


** Illegal vapes seized in Kensington and Chelsea
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Around 3,000 illegal vapes have been seized in Kensington and Chelsea, worth approximately £24,000. Retailers are reportedly using food brand names such as Fanta or Skittles to promote the vapes.

The illegal vapes are being sold throughout the borough, but most products have been seized from premises in the Portobello and Earls Court areas. Additionally, warning letters have been issued to six traders. Many of the products confiscated carry the US health warning and are believed to have been smuggled into the UK.

Lead member for Local Economy & Employment Councillor Josh Rendall said: “These vapes are being designed and marketed to purposefully mislead people. They have no place in our borough. I am particularly worried about these products being sold to young people [...] Our trading standards team will continue to work hard to protect people from products that are non-compliant or misleading.”

London Trading Standards have listed signs to be aware of:
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* Genuine products will have the following health warning ‘This product contains nicotine which is a highly addictive substance’ covering 30% of the front and back of the packet.
* Vapes should have a maximum tank size of 2ml. A vape pen should provide no more than 600-800 puffs. The highest nicotine strength for vapes is 2%. The nicotine liquid should not contain any additives or any ingredients such as caffeine or taurine.
* Retailers should note that selling e-cigarettes or vapes to anyone under 18 is illegal in the UK, and every vaping product sold containing nicotine must be registered by the medicines and healthcare products regulator, the MHRA.


Source: SW Londer, 29 July 2022

See also: London Trading Standards - Illegal vapes seized ([link removed] )
Read Article ([link removed] )


** World Lung Cancer Day: NHS launches awareness campaign
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The NHS is encouraging people with symptoms such as a long-standing persistent cough to visit their GP for potentially lifesaving checks in its latest campaign. The campaign aims to catch lung cancer cases earlier when they are easier to treat.

The launch of the latest Help Us Help You campaign, on World Lung Cancer Day (1 August), comes after figures suggest that, despite lung cancer being the biggest cause of cancer deaths in England, lung cancer referrals have lagged behind most other cancer referral rates, and only returned to pre-pandemic levels in May 2022. Around 40,000 cases of lung cancer are diagnosed every year, with the NHS expanding its targeted lung health check programme to ensure it reaches out and screens those most at risk of the cancer.

The NHS Long Term Plan committed to increasing the proportion of cancers caught early, when they are easier to treat, from half to three in four. Thanks to national awareness campaigns and early diagnosis initiatives, one in every four GP referrals are now for suspected cancer. The NHS has now seen record numbers of people getting checked for cancer over the last year, with over 5.3 million people referred between June 2021 and May 2022, and over 670,000 since March 2020 starting treatment.

The NHS Help Us Help You campaign will run across TV, video-on-demand services such as ITV Hub, radio, and social media over the next few months. The campaign will target groups of people most at risk including over 60s, as well as people from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Source: Eastern Eye, 1 August 2022
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Read Article ([link removed] )


** Letter to the Scotsman: falling quitting rates
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Sheila Duffy, Chief Executive, ASH Scotland has written to The Scotsman in response to the “slump in number of Scots quitting smoking” (Scotsman, 30 July), expressing concern that fewer people are making attempts to quit smoking and highlighting the lack of progress Scotland is making to achieve the Scottish Government’s goal of a generation free from tobacco by 2034.

Duffy writes: “Smoking continues to be the biggest cause of preventable ill-health and an estimated 9,000 deaths in Scotland each year, and we are particularly troubled about the health inequality experienced by people in our most deprived communities, where smoking rates remain high at 32%. Research shows that two-thirds of smokers say they would like to quit, and we want the government and health boards to do more to ensure Quit Your Way services are resourced to enable more people, especially in our poorest areas, to get easily accessible one-to-one support to help them to give up smoking.”

She encourages anyone aiming to give up smoking to contact their local stop smoking service, GP, community pharmacy, or the Quit Your Way Scotland call line or website.

Source: The Scotsman Letters, 1 August 2022
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Read Article ([link removed] )


** International
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** US study: Fewer people tried to quit smoking during COVID-19 pandemic
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A new study led by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS), shows serious smoking cessation activity declined among US adults after the onset of COVID-19 and persisted for over a year. Declines in attempts to quit smoking were largest among persons experiencing disproportionately negative outcomes during COVID-19, including Black and middle-aged population, those with comorbidities, and lower educational attainment. The data was published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open.

Researchers conducted this cross-sectional study using 2011 to 2020 data on close to 800,000 individuals who had smoked in the past year, in addition to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) saes data. The results showed the annual prevalence of past-year quit attempts among U.S. smokers decreased for the first time since 2011, from 65.2% in 2019 to 63.2% in 2020. Declines began in the first quarter of 2020 and quit attempts remained lower through the year. Observed sales of NRT products = also declined by between 1% and 13% compared to expected sales. Declines began immediately after COVID-19 onset (April 2020) and persisted through the first quarter of 2021.

Remarking on the findings, Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer at the American Cancer Society said: “These results remind us how critical it is for clinicians and healthcare systems to support persons who smoke with evidence-based quitting strategies [...] Such efforts must be particularly targeted to persons disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including Black persons, middle-aged persons, those with comorbidities and lower educated persons.”

Source: ScienMag, 1 August 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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