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Philip Morris boss calls for UK tobacco advertising rules to be relaxed
The ban on tobacco advertising in the UK should be relaxed so that firms can highlight the benefits of switching to new alternatives to cigarettes, the head of Philip Morris International (PMI) has said. Andrè Calantzopoulos claims that products such as PMI’s iQOS, which uses heated tobacco, are much less risky for traditional smokers but it is hard to persuade them to switch due to rules which heavily restrict marketing.
Cigarettes must be hidden from view at shops in Britain and sold in standardised packaging, while tobacco advertising is prohibited.
Mr Calantzopoulos also ruled out a revival of PMI's $200bn (£153bn) merger with rival Altria, but said the companies are working together on marketing iQOS.
The tobacco boss, who earned almost $16m last year, said: “iQOS has an opportunity now as vapour category regulation is going to accelerate."
Source: The Telegraph, 21 January 2020
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Jim McManus and Greg Fell: Councils can be trusted with public health
Writing in the Local Government Chronicle, the directors of public health at Hertfordshire County Council and Sheffield City Council, highlight four priorities that should be taken from new research into public health reforms.
“The King’s Fund’s independent assessment of the transfer of public health to local government flatly contradicts those who will never be happy until we send it all back to the NHS… There are some crucially important lessons from this report. For a start, the transfer of public health was about more than just shifting a bunch of services – it had a wider purpose for public health teams to influence wider council decisions that affect the public’s health.
So how do we get the best from this report? I suggest four priorities:
First, join the growing number of national leaders calling for government to recognise the good sense of investing in public health, and in local government services more widely, as essential to achieving a healthy population.
Second, while public health teams have integrated well into local government, there remains much opportunity to influence economic development, growth and planning. Being in local government is no easy ride given austerity. But if we want to influence wider determinants – and any public health professional who doesn’t needs to ask themselves why they are still in public health – then local government remains the primary place to be.
Third, improvement. Now the reforms are embedded more attention now needs to be paid to outcomes and tackling unjustifiable variation.
Finally, there remains an opportunity to rebalance effort across the system. There were some in previous reports who bemoaned the loss of public health from the heavy clinical focus it certainly had in several NHS roles I worked in. What the King’s Fund makes clear is that rebalancing to ensure we address place and wider determinants and reduce the dominance of the clinical focus we had within the NHS is right.”
Source: Local Government Chronicle, 21 January 2020
See also:
The Kings Fund. The English local government public health reforms: an independent assessment. January 2020
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Almost a third of local authorities no longer provide specialist stop smoking services, with funding cuts across England threatening the national ambition to become a smoke-free country by 2030, charities have warned.
A survey of local councils by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and Cancer Research UK found public health budget cuts in recent years meant 31% had stopped providing specialist smoking cessation support, although 98% still offer some form of face-to-face support to quit. Specialist programmes offering behavioural support and pharmacotherapy are more effective than other forms of help, offering broad advice on a range of health promotion topics.
Meanwhile, around three quarters of all local authorities cited funding pressures as posing a threat to their work in helping smokers to quit. According to official data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government year-on-year funding reductions saw total local authority spending on stop smoking services and tobacco control declined by 36% between 2014/15 and 2018/19, said the charities.
They called for the Government to reverse its cuts to the public health grants given to local councils.
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH, said the Government should impose a ‘polluter pays’ charge on the tobacco industry which could raise at least £265m annually to help fund stop smoking services and campaigns.
Kruti Shrotri, policy manager at Cancer Research UK, added: “Everyone should have access to stop smoking services, no matter where they live, as we know they give people the support they need to quit smoking for good. But because of cuts to the public health grant, not everyone has this opportunity.
“Smoking is the biggest preventable cause of cancer and every year smoking-related illness costs the NHS £2.5 billion.
“The tobacco industry makes over £1.5 billion of profits each year in the UK, and the Government should make it pay for the mess it’s made so smoking can be a thing of the past.”
Source: Pulse, 22 January 2020
See also:
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and Cancer Research UK (CRUK). Many Ways Forward: Stop smoking services and tobacco control work in English local authorities. 2020.
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Wales: Slice of white bread found inside £22 packet of tobacco
A man in Wales opened a brand new £22 packet of rolling tobacco to find it contained nothing more than a slice of white bread. Martyn, who lives in Merthyr, said the pouch was wrapped but didn't contain any tobacco - only a single slice of bread. He returned the package and its incorrect contents to supermarket customer services and it was replaced.
Martyn said: "I took it back to Tesco yesterday and the woman at customer services said she had never seen it before. When she came back the manager said a few have come back like that. He said it was a manufacturing error."
A Tesco spokesperson said: “We were surprised by the contents and were happy to exchange the product for the customer."
Source: Wales Online, 21 January 2020
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Republic of Ireland: Vaping mums' babies weigh same as non-smokers'
A new study has found that pregnant women in a Dublin maternity hospital who used e-cigarettes delivered babies who had the same average birthweight as those born to non-smokers, and found it was significantly greater than the birthweight of tobacco smokers.
The researchers looked at 240 women attending the hospital who only used e-cigarettes. They tended to be of a higher socio-economic status than smokers.
Infants born to e-cigarette users had a mean birthweight of 3,470g, which was similar to non-smokers. It was significantly greater than the birthweight of smokers' babies at 3,116g. Babies of tobacco smokers are on average 200g lighter than babies of non-smokers, which can cause problems during and after labour.
Source: Independent.ie, 22 January 2020
See also:
Smoking in Pregnancy Challenge Group. Use of electronic cigarettes before, during and after pregnancy: A guide for maternity and other healthcare professionals. 2019
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Illicit tobacco sold from nail salons involved in human trafficking
Following a series of police raids on five nail salons in South London, 13 people have been arrested on suspicion of modern slavery and human trafficking offences, and another seven are arrested on suspicion of immigration offences and possessing counterfeit goods, mostly counterfeit cigarettes.
Source: The Guardian, 21 January 2020
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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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