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Report suggests local retailers support mandatory tobacco licence
A new report commissioned by charity ASH finds that the majority of local retailers support existing tobacco regulations and want government to go further to reduce the harm caused by tobacco, with 81% of local retailers in England support the introduction of a mandatory retail licence in order to sell tobacco. ASH is calling on the government to listen to retailers who want to see more, not less, regulation.
There is currently no licensing scheme in place for tobacco and no mandatory age verification, both of which are supported by over 8 in 10 local retailers of tobacco surveyed. Retailers are used to complying with alcohol licensing schemes and are already required to have an economic operator ID before they can trade in tobacco as part of tobacco pack tracking regulations. ASH believes mandatory age verification for anyone looking under 25, as has been the case in Scotland since 2017, would make enforcement in England easier both for tobacco and alcohol. The charity said a requirement for tobacco retailers to be licenced could help prevent sales to children and illicit tobacco by giving local authorities greater powers to take effective action against those who do not adhere to the regulations.
The findings of the new report also show that retailers support a range of other measures to tackle smoking including:
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54% support raising the age of sale for cigarettes from 18 to 21 years
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73% support a requirement for tobacco manufacturers to pay a fee to government for measures to help smokers quit and prevent young people from taking up smoking
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Nearly three quarters (71%) support larger fines for breaking the law
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81% support more regular checks by trading standards staff
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84% support quicker action when offences take place
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79% support closure orders for repeated breaches of tobacco laws
Bob Blackman MP, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Smoking and Health, said: “The main argument used by tobacco manufacturers’ against tobacco laws with politicians like me is that they harm small shops. What this survey of nearly 1,000 shopkeepers published today shows is that shopkeepers don’t think that’s true. The majority support existing regulations and want government to go further including by raising the age of sale for tobacco to 21. I’ll be urging the government to listen to retailers who want government to implement tougher regulations, that’s what they think will be good for business, not de-regulation.”
John McClurey, a retired local retailer in Gateshead, said: “I’m not the exception, this survey proves what I have always believed, that the majority of retailers support tobacco regulations and want them to go further. We know that smoking is bad for smokers, and it’s bad for business too as it kills our customers. Tougher regulation would help stop underage sales and sales of cheap and illicit tobacco and is the only way to bring about the end of smoking. The Government should listen to shopkeepers like me and take the tough action needed to deliver a Smokefree 2030.”
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH, said: “To achieve a smokefree 2030, the government needs to ratchet up regulations to support smokers to quit and to prevent young people starting to smoke. Just like the public, the majority of retailers support key measures needed to bring smoking to an end, such as increasing the age of sale, introducing a tobacco licence and making tobacco manufacturers pay to help smokers quit. Retailers aren’t anti-regulation, they know that good regulation can make their lives easier by ensuring there’s a level playing field. That’s why they want to see the gaping hole in retail regulation closed through the introduction of a mandatory tobacco licence backed up by stronger penalties for breaking the law.”
Source: Talking Retail, 2 November 2022
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Illicit tobacco found in Poole convenience store
A shop owner has been spared an immediate prison term for selling illicit cigarettes at his convenience store in Poole and being caught in possession of a further £103,000 of illicit tobacco products.
Having already been cautioned by Trading Standards multiple times, the owner appeared in court and initially pleaded not guilty following a test purchase by three 15 year old volunteers where counterfeit products were passed off as genuine.
After a vehicle search the court heard 7,000 packets of counterfeit Richmond Blue 20 packs, which had no health warnings on. They had a value of £103,000.
Judge Keith Cutler told the owner that his offending posed a potential risk of putting lives at risk of significant harm because of the dangerous products he sold. In interview, he made no comment, before entering guilty pleas to four charges of possessing goods with a false trade mark for sale and two counts of being a distributor possessing a dangerous product for supply at Poole Magistrates’ Court.
Source: Bournemouth Echo, 3 November 2022
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US study: Reduced-nicotine cigarettes result in less smoking in anxious, depressed smokers
Lowering the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels may reduce smoking without worsening mental health in smokers with mood or anxiety disorders, according to research published in PLOS ONE. The study found patients in the lower nicotine level arm of the trial also smoked fewer cigarettes and reported lower levels of nicotine addiction by the end of the randomised phase of the trial.
Researchers aimed to assess whether policy proposals to limit the amount of nicotine permitted in cigarettes could worsen psychiatric symptoms in smokers with mental health conditions, and lead to heavier smoking and increased exposure to toxicants, or harmful chemicals.
188 smokers with a history of or who had a current mood or anxiety disorder and had no plans to quit were studied. Volunteer participants were randomly assigned to a group that received either research cigarettes containing the usual amount of nicotine (11.6 mg nicotine/cigarette) or a progressively reduced amount of nicotine for an additional 18-week period (the final amount was 0.2 mg nicotine/cigarette). The researchers observed no statistically significant differences in mental health measures between the two groups at the conclusion of the study.
Participants in both groups were also given the choice to "choose their treatment," after the 18-week period. They could go back to using their own cigarettes, continue smoking the research cigarettes or attempt to quit. Of the 188 participants in the study, those randomised to reduced nicotine content cigarettes were more likely to have quit smoking 12 weeks later (18.1%), compared to those in the control (usual nicotine content) group (4.3%).
Source: Medical Xpress, 2 November 2022
See also: Study - The effects of reduced nicotine content cigarettes on biomarkers of nicotine and toxicant exposure, smoking behaviour and psychiatric symptoms in smokers with mood or anxiety disorders
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The simple reason why planes still have ashtrays
Hugh Morris writes in the Telegraph that despite all planes becoming smokefree over 30 years ago, there remains on aircraft around the world a constant, and mandatory, reminder of those hazy days: the ashtray.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) list of “minimum equipment” for aircraft, an ashtray in the plane toilet is still a legal requirement. The US FAA says that toilet doors must still be fitted with ashtrays because if someone were to illegally have a cigarette, they still need to stub it out somewhere, and it’s best they have somewhere to do that rather than cause a fire by dropping it in the bin (as happened this week on a El Al flight from Tel Aviv to Bangkok).
If one of the aircraft’s ashtrays breaks, regulations say it must be fixed or replaced within 10 days (as long as 50 per cent of the plane’s ashtrays are operational, otherwise it must be fixed within three days).
In 2009 it was reported that a British Airways plane was delayed because staff were searching for a “vital” replacement ashtray.
Source: Telegraph, 2 November 2022
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Happening today: Backbench debate discussing Javed Khan’s independent review on smoking
Today, MPs will be holding a backbench debate on the recommendations from Javed Khan’s independent review of smokefree 2030 policies, published in June.
Led by Bob Blackman MP, Chairman of the APPG on Smoking and Health, the substantive motion put forward states: “That having considered the Khan review recommendations this House calls on the Government to publish a new Tobacco Control Plan by the end of 2022 to deliver the smokefree 2030 ambition.”
The debate is expected to begin at approximately 1pm and can be streamed via the parliament website.
See also: The Khan review – Making smoking obsolete
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Former minister to chair Commons health committee
Former junior health minister Steve Brine has been selected as the new chair of the Commons health and social care committee. Steve Brine was voted into the role by other MPs, after five politicians put themselves forward to head the committee following former chair Jeremy Hunt’s appointment as chancellor.
Brine, who has been the MP for Winchester since 2010, served as a junior health minister in the Department of Health and Social Care between June 2017 and March 2019. His responsibilities included public health and primary care. He resigned from his ministerial role over the government’s handling of Brexit.
Reacting to his appointment as committee chair, Brine said: “The ability of the health and social care sectors to continue to deliver for patients is a key priority for this committee, particularly how to deal with the backlog caused by the pandemic and the need to recruit a workforce now that’s capable of meeting future demand. Further pressures look unavoidable given the current economic climate […] Despite spending vast sums on health, we fail to reap the rewards in better outcomes. We need to understand why and to press the government about getting better value for our money.”
Brine said that he would expand upon former health secretary Therese Coffey’s ABCD mantra to include mental health on the list of issues, in addition to ambulances, backlog, care, and doctors and dentists. He stated his own priorities for health policy were prevention, cancer, and workforce.
Source: Health Services Journal, 2 November 2022
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New Health minister appointed
Neil O’Brien OBE MP has been appointed as the new minister for Primary Care and Public Health in the Department for Health & Social Care (DHSC).
Mr O’Brien has been the Conservative MP for Harborough since 2017 and was previously a Special Advisor to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne from 2012 to 2016, and Theresa May during her tenure as Prime Minister.
As former levelling up adviser, he told an Institute for Government event in the Spring that the government needs to “really floor it” when it comes to public health prevention measures, saying: “You've just got to be very imaginative and aggressive about what we do on some of these prevention efforts. It's central to levelling up.”
See also: LGC - O’Brien: Government must ‘floor it’ on public health prevention (March 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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