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Opinion: Junk food marketing restrictions: so near and yet so far
Cancer Research UK (CRUK) policy manager Malcom Clark writes in the CRUK blog on the government decision to further delay implementing legislation to restrict junk food advertising on TV. Since the obesity strategy was announced by the government in 2020, building on their commitment to halve childhood obesity by 2030, Clark writes that successive Prime Ministers have treated junk food marketing restrictions as a “political football, at the expense of the longer-term health and wellbeing of children”.
The UK Government chose to delay action at the very moment that sticks rather than carrots have been shown to have the most impact on industry behaviour, says Clark, citing the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities’ latest sugar reduction report, finding that a voluntary approach was not delivering the intended results. Further delaying advertising restrictions, which were expected to speed up reformulation progress, risks stalling moves to put healthier products in the spotlight.
Clark highlights positive progress on junk food advertising however, from measures introduced in October this year to prevent the display of junk food at checkouts and aisle ends to buy-one-get-one-free and other similar promotional offers on junk food set to end next Autumn.
Clark notes the strong and still growing support for these kinds of measures. The public are still very much in favour of implementing the TV and online High in Fat, Sugar or Salt (HFSS) advertising restrictions. The introduction of a ban on junk food advertising across the London transport network has also shown that advertising restrictions are workable and effective. And an increasing number of local and regional authorities are looking to follow London’s lead.
Concluding, Clark reminds readers that around 4 in 10 cases of cancer in the UK are preventable, and beyond obesity, smoking is still the biggest cause of cancer, pointing to their newest Smokefree campaign launch.
Source: Cancer Research News, 15 December 2022
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New online reporting system tracks worldwide efforts to cut down on tobacco-related deaths and disease
A new online tool to track global progress on tobacco control taps into the management principle that "what gets measured gets done." The Global Tobacco Control Progress Hub gives an instant visual picture of how 180 countries are performing on more than 300 tobacco control measures, from taxation to restrictions on smoking and product labelling.
All are evidence-based measures found in the World Health Organisation Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, a treaty first signed in 2003 that now covers 90% of the world's population. Despite that, tobacco use remains one of the top preventable causes of death and chronic disease in the world, leading to more than eight million deaths each year and rising.
The new global surveillance platform includes a series of dashboards based on different datasets. It was created by ASH Canada in collaboration with the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Les Hagen, adjunct professor in the University of Alberta's School of Public Health and executive director of the tobacco control charity ASH Canada said on the tool: "This makes it possible for anyone to easily navigate, investigate and report on treaty progress—a treaty which has been credited with preventing tens of millions of premature deaths globally. By benchmarking their current progress, countries will be better able to determine where they need to apply their resources [...] This platform is a very good application of global peer pressure."
The progress hub and Hagen's research show that countries with lower levels of income, human development and literacy, and higher corruption rates and autocratic regimes, struggle more to implement the tobacco control treaty. El Salvador and Senegal stand out as exceptions to the rule, he says.
ASH Canada plans to add more datasets and features to the hub, as well as helping public health organisations in lower-performing countries produce regular reports tracking progress.
Source: Medical Xpress, 15 December 2022
See also: Global Tobacco Control Progress Hub
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Public health experts urge US health officials to correct e-cigarette misinformation
Leading e-cigarette researchers from five major US universities along with the attorney general for Iowa are urging the US Centres for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) to correct misinformation overstating the dangers of e-cigarettes as part of its "Moving Forward" initiative.
In an editorial in the journal Addiction drew attention to how the CDC and US Surgeon General perpetuate misinformation on e-cigarettes. The authors identify the CDC's handling of the late-2019 outbreak of lung injuries attributed to vaping products as one problem. While these lung injuries are now known to be caused by Vitamin E Acetate added to illicit marijuana vapes, the CDC continues to use an outdated, inaccurate naming convention for this disease — "E-cigarette, or Vaping, Product Use-Associated Lung Injury" (EVALI).
Professor Michael Pesko of Georgia State University, lead author, warned: "Smokers are still twice as likely to incorrectly identify e-cigarettes as the cause of a serious lung disease outbreak in 2019 than to correctly identify marijuana vape products contaminated by Vitamin E Acetate as the cause. Because many smokers then falsely believe e-cigarettes to be as or more dangerous than cigarettes, the misinformation reduces smoking cessation that would otherwise occur. Population health suffers as a result."
The authors also urged the CDC to correct misinformation regarding the role of e-cigarettes in youth cigarette use, coined as the “gateway effect”. Co-author Cliff Douglas of the University of Michigan stated the “gateway effect” is not reflected in the evidence: "While youth e-cigarette use peaked in 2019, youth smoking recently dropped to historically low levels, below 2%."
Source: Medical Xpress, 14 December 2022
See also: Editorial - United States public health officials need to correct e-cigarette health misinformation
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Asthma + Lung UK guidance on keeping warm hubs safe
The cost-of-living crisis and growing fuel poverty mean that many people will be unable to heat their homes over the winter. In response to this, places like libraries, community halls and churches are establishing warm hubs where the public can go during the day to keep warm. People attending these are likely to be among the most vulnerable in society and many will have long term health conditions, which can be worsened by acute respiratory and other infections.
Working with experts in public health and lung disease, Asthma + Lung UK has produced guidance to help ensure that people running warm hubs can be confident that they are doing everything possible to make the environment safe.
This guidance should anticipate questions that will be asked and take advantage of lessons learned during the pandemic showing how simple measures can reduce the spread of infections including, flu, norovirus and COVID.
These include ventilation, mask-wearing, hand hygiene and staying home if you have symptoms of an acute infection.
Click here to read and download their full guidance for keeping Warm Hubs safe and healthy. Asthma + Lung UK also have a poster you can download and print to put up in the Hubs to remind people of the key points.
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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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