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Cold homes will cost children’s lives and cause long-term damage, warn experts
Unless the next prime minister curbs soaring fuel bills, children face a wave of respiratory illness with long-term consequences, according to a new review by the Institute of Health Equity, headed by Sir Michael Marmot.
One of the review’s authors, Prof Ian Sinha, respiratory consultant at Liverpool’s Alder Hey children’s hospital, said he had “no doubt” that cold homes would cost children’s lives this winter, although they could not predict how many, with damage done to young lungs leading to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema and bronchitis for others in adulthood.
It comes as the Resolution Foundation thinktank predicts Britain is facing the deepest living standards downturn in a century, with a typical household losing £3,000 in real-terms income over two years, inflation hitting 15% for the poorest households, and the cost-of-living crisis lasting into 2024. It forecasts 3 million more people will be living in absolute poverty, and relative child poverty will hit its highest level since the peaks of the 1990s, in a “frankly terrifying” outlook for living standards.
In the UK, 45 million people are forecast to face fuel poverty by January 2023, and Marmot and Sinha said “millions of children’s development will be blighted” with lung damage, “toxic stress” that will affect brain development, and deepening educational inequalities as children struggle to keep up with school work in freezing homes. Across all age groups, the cold crisis will cost thousands of lives, they warned.
“It’s simply insupportable in Britain in the 21st century to have so many people that are fuel insecure,” said Marmot, one of the world’s leading experts on public health inequalities. “The government needs to act, and act right now. It’s clear we are facing a significant humanitarian crisis with thousands losing their lives and millions of children’s development blighted, leading to inequalities that will last a lifetime.”
Source: The Guardian, 1 September 2022
See also: Institute of Health Equity - Fuel Poverty, Cold Homes and Health Inequalities in the UK
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Bucks illegal tobacco traders caught out by sniffer dog
A professional sniffer dog and her team cracked down on criminal activity in two Buckinghamshire towns. Together with Buckinghamshire Council’s public health team, Bucks and Surrey Trading Standards, and the health advocacy group Live Well Stay Well Bucks, Pippa the dog took to the streets of Aylesbury and High Wycombe to educate residents about the dangers of illegal tobacco.
With the help of Pippa, a rescue dog turned sniffer dog, the public learnt how to spot the signs of the criminal health hazard, including the risks and dangers, and how to report illegal sales. Pippa’s handler Brad said: "Pippa is a 6-year-old rescue dog and has detected hundreds of thousands of cigarettes, significant amounts of tobacco and tens of thousands of pounds in cash.”
“Stashes are often hidden behind fake walls or in unusual locations secured by electro-magnets and operated by remote control devices. Pippa was an unwanted dog, so it’s very rewarding for us to be able to use her natural abilities and train her into a ‘crime-fighting’ sniffer dog."
In addition to the health risks caused by smoking, illegal tobacco harms children and communities, councillor Angela Macpherson, Bucks Council Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing said.
Macpherson added: "Far from being a victimless crime, the illegal tobacco trade makes it easier for children to start smoking, takes advantage of cash-strapped families, and helps fund low-level and large-scale organised crime. People selling cheap, illegal tobacco at pocket-money prices are likely to be selling other things illegally (drugs, fake branded goods and alcohol), exposing Buckinghamshire’s children to more dangers. Not only does smoking remain one of the UK’s biggest causes of premature death but we also know that the availability of cheap, illegal tobacco helps recruit the next generation of smokers and undermines initiatives to help adults quit smoking."
Source: Bucks Free Press, 31 August 2022
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US ban on smoking in public housing is upheld
A US appeals court on Friday 26 August upheld a ban on smoking in federally subsidised public housing.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) properly enacted a 2016 rule requiring state and local public housing agencies to ban cigarettes, cigars and pipes inside housing units and indoor common areas, and outside within 25 feet of those spaces.
Six tenants and a smokers' rights group, the New York City Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment ("NYC Clash"), challenged the ban, known as the Smoke Free Rule.
But in Friday's 2-0 decision, Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan said HUD provided "considerable" evidence that the rule helped protect residents against the health risks of secondhand smoke, prevent fires and reduce property maintenance costs.
"The department adequately substantiated its rationales for the rule and did not act arbitrarily and capriciously in promulgating it," the judge wrote.
Srinivasan also rejected a claim that the ban improperly restricted how the government spends money, violating a provision of the U.S. Constitution governing federal spending.
Source: Reuters, 26 August 2022
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