|
|
|
|
Sunak faces backlash over delay to junk food pre-watershed ads ban
Rishi Sunak faces a furious backlash from health experts after his government yet again delayed plans for a ban on pre-watershed TV advertising for junk food.
A ban on adverts for foods high in fat, salt and sugar before 9pm was due to come into force from January 2023, as well as a ban on “buy one get one free” deals on junk food. However, in May, it was delayed for a year by the then prime minister Boris Johnson. The policy’s implementation has now been delayed further until 2025, by which time a new parliament is likely to be sitting following the next general election.
With low income households most likely to be negatively affected amid the cost of living crisis, the latest delay has infuriated healthy food campaigners and industry experts, who are calling on Sunak to at least stick to Johnson’s 2024 target.
Cases of type 2 diabetes in children and young adults have risen faster in Britain than anywhere else in the world, according to a study published by the BMJ on Wednesday, representing a near four-fold increase in younger people being diagnosed with the condition since 1990, which Diabetes UK says is in part due to deprived families being “pushed towards unhealthy options”.
The charity’s chief executive Chris Askew said the delay to 2025 is “shameful” and “disgraceful”, adding: “Delaying action will disproportionately impact the lowest income households, who have less access to healthy food and are targeted by a greater amount of advertising of unhealthy food. The government’s shameful decision to delay these vital measures means that people living in the most deprived areas will continue to be pushed towards unhealthy options, further entrenching the health inequalities that exist in rates of type 2 diabetes and obesity in England.”
Source: The Guardian, 8 December 2022
See also: BMJ - Global burden of type 2 diabetes in adolescents and young adults, 1990-2019: systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
|
|
Labrador sniffs out thousands of illegal cigarettes in Bury shops
Black labrador Dixie, provided by Wagtail UK, joined teams from the council and Greater Manchester Police on a number of raids as part of Operation CeCe, a national trading standards scheme in partnership with HMRC to tackle illegal tobacco.
Together they sniffed out 3,260 illegal cigarettes, 3.8kg of illegal hand rolling tobacco and 2,232 illegal vapes at seven premises across the borough – some had been concealed in secret compartments.
All illegal items were confiscated, and criminal investigations are continuing – and enforcement officers say further action is planned.
Ben Thomson, the council’s head of public protection, said: “We visited these shops with Dixie after receiving intelligence that illegal tobacco was being sold ‘under the counter’. These detection dogs can find tobacco and cigarettes even when they are hidden in the most unlikely places. If you know where cheap tobacco is being sold, often as ‘duty free’, please get in touch. We will take action wherever and whenever we find illegal tobacco for sale.”
Source: Bury Times, 9 December 2022
|
|
British American Tobacco: Smokers looking for cheaper deals
The maker of Camel and Newport cigarettes has warned of a rise in smokers downtrading amid the economic slump, weakening its share price.
British American Tobacco, in a trading update for the second half of the year, said it was facing “early signs of accelerated downtrading in the industry” in the United States, and that sales volumes were under pressure in the industry.
BAT said to offset that it had “recently activated commercial plans across specific brands, channels and states”.
BAT is seeking to grow sales of its non-combustible tobacco products amid stricter regulation of the industry and awareness of health risks, while boosting profits from its core cigarettes business through price increases.
Source: The Times, 9 December 2022
|
|
House of Commons debate: Cancer services
Yesterday (8 December), MPs debated the Twelfth Report of the Health and Social Care Committee, Session 2021-22, Cancer services, HC 551, and the Government Response, HC 345.
Steve Brine (Conservative) (Winchester), chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee:
-
reiterated that the committee will be carrying out an inquiry into prevention next year
-
called on the Government to take up the prevention agenda and recommended that they return to the 2019 Prevention Green Paper
-
highlighted the impact of smoking on cancer and premature death
Maggie Throup (Conservative) (Erewash):
-
Said we must consider how we are going to achieve the Government’s targets to become smoke-free by 2030 and to halve childhood obesity by 2030
-
Asked when the health disparities White Paper will be published?
Taiwo Owatemi (Labour) (Coventry North West):
-
Highlighted Cancer Research UK modelling suggesting that England will miss its smoke-free 2030 target by seven years for the population as a whole and by almost double that for the most deprived communities, who will not meet this target until the mid-2040s.
-
Urged the Government to invest in the resources and services that encourage and support people to quit smoking for good
Source: Hansard, 8 December 2022
|
|
ONS: Adult smoking habits in the UK: 2021
This week, the Office for National Statistics released its most recent data for cigarette smoking habits among adults in the UK, including the proportion of people who smoke, demographic breakdowns, changes over time and use of e-cigarettes.
|
|
Have you been forwarded this email? Subscribe to ASH Daily News here.
For more information email [email protected] or visit www.ash.org.uk
@ASHorguk
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
