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Truss plan to axe sugar tax runs into legal and parliamentary hitches
Liz Truss has faced difficulties in attempting to scrap the sugar tax amid growing backlash, which health experts have said is “dangerous” and “nonsensical” while senior officials in the government’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) are reportedly similarly alarmed.
Whitehall sources say there is “a question mark” over how the prime minister can overcome a number of legal and parliamentary procedural obstacles to abandoning the soft drinks industry levy which won wide support among MPs. It is unclear what mechanism Truss could use to repeal the sugar tax, which was introduced in 2018 as a result of its inclusion in the Finance Act 2017.
The tax raises £300m a year for the Treasury and has led to a cut of up to 30% in the sugar content of many soft drinks, which have been linked to tooth decay, obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. In the year after the levy came into force it led to a 10% fall in the amount of sugar households consumed through soft drinks, according to Medical Research Council (MRC)-funded research last year.
Katherine Jenner, the director of the Obesity Health Alliance, pointed to the breakfast programmes, sport and equipment to promote physical activity in schools, especially in poor areas, that the levy helps fund: “Removing the levy would mean those on lower incomes would have to actually pay more to access programmes like this, in a cost of living crisis. It is nonsensical.”
Dr Dolly Theis, an expert in obesity policy in the MRC’s epidemiology unit and centre for diet and activity research at Cambridge University, said independent evaluations have demonstrated the tax has not only improved people’s health, provided more healthy product options for consumers and helped fund food provision programmes for the most deprived children, but also helped businesses too, with in an increase in the sale of healthier products.
The DHSC was approached for a response. It has described the Treasury-ordered obesity review as “an internal summary of obesity policy”. Ministers in the department believe it is right to monitor the impact of restrictions on the promotion of foods high in fat, salt and sugar because of families’ difficulties in coping with soaring inflation.
Source: Guardian, 19 September 2022
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‘Candy’ vapes marketed towards children
Experts have warned that colourful, sweet-like branding around vapes may play a role in their appeal to young people. Small disposable vape pens, which come in flavours ranging from Cotton Candy Ice to Blue Razz Lemonade and Blueberry Sour Raspberry, can cost as little as £4, and because they do not need to be charged or refilled, can be more easily used and disposed.
One in five 15-year-old girls in England use e-cigarettes, according to stats from NHS Digital. While a survey from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) found vaping has almost doubled among 11 to 17-year-olds in Great Britain in two years, rising from 4% in 2020 to 7% in 2022, withthe proportion of young people reporting having tried e-cigarettes also having risen, from 14% to 16%.
Research has suggested that young people who had never smoked or vaped noticed e-cigarette marketing at a consistently higher rate than adults who smoked. Dr Mike McKean, vice-president of policy from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: “Tighter restrictions on advertising of vaping products are also needed to ensure these products are only advertised as a smoking-reduction aid rather than a fun and colourful lifestyle product.”
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of charity Action on Smoking and Health, says: “If you’re worried your teen may be vaping regularly, they may also be smoking, which is much more harmful. Tell them vaping is not for children and while it can help people quit smoking, if you don’t smoke, don’t vape.”
Source: The Sun, 19 September 2022
See also:
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Smoking and physical inactivity associated with early death of people with type 2 diabetes and certain cancers
Individuals with type 2 diabetes who develop cancer are more likely to die in the following seven years if they are smokers or physically inactive, according to a new study of more than half a million people being presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Stockholm, Sweden.
In recent years, cancer has overtaken cardiovascular disease as the main cause of death in individuals with diabetes. Researchers eager to better understand the factors that affect survival of individuals with type 2 diabetes collected data on modifiable diabetes-related risk factors, such as HbA1c (average blood sugar level), cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, hypertension, BMI, smoking and physical activity. The longitudinal study included 655,344 individuals with type 2 diabetes listed in the Swedish National Diabetes Register between 1998–2019. The participants were followed up for an average of seven years.
Analysis showed smokers were more than twice as likely to die during the course of the study as non-smokers. Low levels of physical activity (less than 3–5 days/week) were associated with a 1.6 increase in the risk of death. Smoking and lack of exercise also had the strongest associations with premature death in those with diabetes but without cancer.
The researchers concluded that smoking and physical activity not only contribute to the occurrence of these two diseases but may be the two most important risk factors for mortality in people with type 2 diabetes, whether or not they have cancer.
Dr. Laurberg adds: "It is important that clinicians and public health practitioners continue to focus on smoking cessation and an active lifestyle at all stages of life. The results of this study suggest this to be the case after a diabetes diagnosis; regardless of the presence of cancer."
Source: Medical Xpress, 20 September 2022
This paper has not yet been published.
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US: Community pharmacies partner to help Appalachia residents quit smoking
Fourteen independent community pharmacies will team with UVA Health to help residents of rural Appalachia quit smoking and test the effectiveness of multiple smoking cessation programs, including one based on text messaging. The project ultimately aims to lower the region’s cancer rates, which at 20.9% are among the highest in the country, compared with a statewide smoking rate of 13.3%.
Backed by more than $5 million in funding from the National Cancer Institute, 14 pharmacies selected for the program in Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia and Tennessee will participate in the study.
Residents of rural Appalachia have historically been less likely to take advantage of commonly available resources to quit smoking due to the shortage of healthcare providers in the region.
Melissa Little, PhD, MPH, a researcher in the UVA School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences and the leader of this initiative believes local community pharmacists are ideally positioned to engage and help residents quit smoking who otherwise may not have.
The program will evaluate the effectiveness of different combinations of smoking cessation programs. Participants will be randomly selected to participate in one of three programs: QuitAid, Tobacco Quitline or SmokefreeTXT. All 768 participants will receive nicotine replacement therapy through gum, a patch or both.
Source: Scien Mag, 19 September 2022
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Australia: NHMRC grant to help pregnant women quit smoking
Professor Emerita Robyn Richmond from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Medicine & Health has been awarded $1.2 million under the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Partnership Project Scheme, for the BUBs Quit study that will help pregnant women quit smoking.
Through the Partnership Project Scheme, Professor Richmond will partner with midwives, obstetricians, policymakers, public health practitioners, governments and others to help reduce smoking rates among pregnant women that have remained stubbornly high in recent years.
As part of the BUBs Quit study, midwife specialists will assist pregnant women to quit smoking using counselling, nicotine replacement and digital technology such as apps and text messages.
The project team will evaluate the effectiveness, implementation and economic costs of the BUBs Quit program in maternity services across NSW and Queensland. The long-term objective is to use the research findings to scale up and translate the intervention into other jurisdictions.
Source: UNSW Sydney, 19 September 2022
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