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Fake tobacco factory gang jailed  

A CRIMINAL gang who set up a factory capable of making up to 625 million counterfeit cigarettes and five million pouches of fake hand rolling tobacco have been jailed.

The plot, worth over £131m per annum in lost revenue, was foiled by criminal investigators who closed down the fully equipped cigarette factory in Chesterfield, before it went into production.

During the raid in September 2009, at the plant in Tapton Business Park, HM Revenue and Customs investigators seized packaging for 43 million cigarettes, cigarette paper, tipping paper, foil cellophane, glue and cardboard inners for packets of 20 cigarettes.

Officers discovered that the gang was also planning to expand into making counterfeit alcohol.

Gary Lampon, assistant director of criminal investigation for HMRC, said: “This was organised crime on an industrial scale.

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New York City plans to curb alcohol sales, bars 

First, Mayor Bloomberg went after smoking in public places. Then trans-fats, salt and sugary drinks.

Now Bloomberg -- known for sipping fine wine and downing a cold beer from time to time -- wants to crack down on alcohol sales to curb excessive drinking, according to a provocative planning document obtained by The Post.

The city Health Department's far-reaching Partnership for a Healthier New York City initiatives proposes to slash the number of establishments in the city that sell booze.

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Nanny Bloomberg backwashes plans to close New York liquor stores after bitter criticism by small businesses  

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's warning of last call on drinks was just a test his office said Wednesday, just hours after news of his health-motivated plan broke.

In a move to improve public health for New Yorkers a leaked document by Mr Bloomberg's office detailed plans to cut the number of drinking establishments as well as restrict alcohol advertising.

Audible worry from both patrons and local business owners throughout the city led Mr Bloomberg's spokesman Stu Loeser to clarify that the plan was not in fact backed by the mayor.

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NYC Mayor to close liquor stores in 'nanny state' attempt to clamp down on drinking  

Michael Bloomberg is set to unveil his latest attempt to improve public health - cutting down on New Yorkers' alcohol consumption.

The city's mayor is planning to close liquor stores and restrict alcohol advertising, according to a leaked strategy document.

Such a move would be the latest salvo in Mr Bloomberg's public health campaign, which has previously seen him take aim at smoking, trans fats and salty food.

While he claims his health drive has improved New Yorkers' quality of life, critics deride his approach as a 'nanny state' doctrine which infringes personal liberty.

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Amendments for stricter enforcement of Mathata Thitha  

Amendments to the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Act number 27 of 2006 are to be presented to Parliament by April, this year. Once amended, the Act will enable law enforcement officers to implement `Mathata Thitha’ (Full stop to tobacco and alcohol) policy in all public places especially roads and more vigorously, Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said.

According to Minister Sirisena once amended the Act will assist to implement President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s concept Mathata Thitha strictly. At the moment law enforcement officers are unable to take legal action against persons who use alcohol and smoke along public roads because public roads are not included in the list of public places listed in the Act.

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Noncommunicable diseases and post-conflict countries 

The most obvious area of concern relates to mental health, resulting from exposure to violent and traumatic events, forced displacement, impoverishment, uncertainty and isolation. Not surprisingly, surveys reveal very high levels of mental ill-health in countries emerging from conflicts.3

Rather less attention has been paid to the ways the post-conflict environment increases risks of other noncommunicable diseases. First, high levels of psychological distress contribute to harmful health behaviours, such as hazardous drinking and increased smoking, which in turn increase the future burden of noncommunicable diseases. Second, post-conflict countries commonly experience rapid urbanization, also associated with increased alcohol and tobacco use, as well as higher levels of obesity and reduced physical activity. Third, tobacco, alcohol and food companies often take advantage of weakened post-conflict trading systems.

This toxic combination of stress, harmful health behaviours and aggressive marketing by multinational companies in transitional settings4,5 requires an effective policy response,6 but often the state has limited capacity to do this. For example, Afghanistan has no national policy, strategy, targets or coordinating body for noncommunicable diseases.

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Joe Camel in a Bottle: Diageo, the Smirnoff Brand, and the Transformation of the Youth Alcohol Market 

I have documented the shift in youth alcoholic beverage preference from beer to distilled spirits between 2001 and 2009.

I have assessed the role of distilled spirits industry marketing strategies to promote this shift using the Smirnoff brand marketing campaign as a case example.

I conclude with a discussion of the similarities in corporate tactics across consumer products with adverse public health impacts, the importance of studying corporate marketing and public relations practices, and the implications of those practices for public health.

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Expert links tobacco use to cancers of the mouth 

Former Chief Medical Director (CMD), Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Professor Onatolu Odukoya, has urged Nigerians to be wary of tobacco use, irrespective of its form, due to its strong link with cancers of the mouth.

Professor Odukoya, who gave the charge at a valedictory lecture to mark the sent-forth of Professor Jonathan Lawoyin, at the College of Medicine, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, declared that evidences indicate that tobacco, whether in the form of snuff, cigar or cigarette, contained a cancer-causing substance called nitrosamine.

Unfortunately, he stated that a lot of nitrosamine was present in palm wine, thus the need for Nigerian researchers to verify whether drinking palm wine could lead to individuals having cancers of the mouth.

Professor Odukoya, who described cancers of the mouth as the sixth commonest type of cancer worldwide, stated “tobacco alone might not be linked with oral cancer in Nigeria, we should endeavour to do more studies that will establish a strong association between oral cancer and other causative factors of cancer.”

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Predictors of Smoking Severity in Patients with Schizophrenia and Alcohol Use Disorders  

The goal of the present study was to identify predictors of smoking severity in patients with schizophrenia and co-occurring alcohol use disorders (AUD). Our hypothesis was that negative symptoms of schizophrenia, severity of depression, male gender, drinking severity, and recreational drug use were associated with increased smoking. Clinical data, including demographic variables, alcohol and substance use severity, psychiatric medications, severity of depression, positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia were analyzed in a cohort of 90 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and AUD. Eighty-eight percent of participants were smokers, they smoked an average of 15 cigarettes/day. Zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression analyses demonstrated that alcohol use severity, gender, and severity of negative symptoms were not predictive of the number of cigarettes smoked. Smoking severity was positively related to Caucasian race, psychosis severity (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale [PANSS] general score), and medications (conventional antipsychotics). Subjects who used recreational drugs smoked less. In summary, severe, treatment resistant schizophrenia, and conventional antipsychotic treatment is associated with heavy smoking in patients with schizophrenia and AUD regardless of gender or alcohol use

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• Predictors of smoking severity identified in patients with schizophrenia, alcohol disorders 

Psychosis severity, conventional antipsychotics, and Caucasian race influence the severity of smoking in patients with schizophrenia and a co-occurring alcohol use disorder, say researchers.

"Cigarette smoking in schizophrenia has been a major challenge for treatment providers over the past decades," write Zsuzsa Szombathyne Meszaros (SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, USA) and colleagues.

"The prevalence of cigarette smoking is higher in patients with schizophrenia compared to the general population, and mentally ill patients worldwide," they say. However, the reason for this association is "not well understood."

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• Women drinking, smoking in pregnancy  

Australian women continue to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol during pregnancy, a new study reveals.

Research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies has found 18 per cent of women smoked and 38 per cent of women drank alcohol while pregnant, with younger mothers more likely to smoke and older mothers more likely to drink while pregnant.

The study, based on data from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, which has tracked the progress of more than 10,000 children since 2004, found nearly 37 per cent of mothers under 25 smoked cigarettes during their pregnancy, compared with just 10 per cent of mothers aged 30 and over. This includes women who smoked only occassionally.

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• Smoking and drinking in pregnancy 'harms 10,000 babies in UK each year'  

Britain's top children's doctor has said that more than 10,000 babies each year suffer serious harm, including death, because their mothers drank alcohol, smoked, over-ate, or took drugs during pregnancy.

Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said newborns are suffering permanent harm including brain damage, disability or physical deformity. Others die because of miscarriage or stillbirth caused by their mother's smoking.

What he called "avoidable [and] self-inflicted" harm to unborn children represented a major public health problem, an ongoing human tragedy and a high cost to the NHS, he said.

"There's going to be tens of thousands of babies being harmed from the effects of women smoking or drinking in pregnancy and if we're talking permanent damage it's going to be over 10,000", said Stephenson, who is also an expert at the Institute of Child Health in London. . . .

One third of women smoke in pregnancy, which increases the risk of miscarriage, complications in pregnancy such as bleeding or a detached placenta, birth defects and cot death. Babies born to mothers who smoke in pregnancy are also a third more likely to be stillborn or die within a week of birth, research shows. Some 17,000 babies a year receive hospital treatment because of passive smoking.

"These are difficult things to give up, and we still see worryingly large numbers of women in pregnancy exposing their children to harmful substances. Some are choosing to indulge in these behaviours – recreational drugs, alcohol and smoking – that are not essential things for life", he added.

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Are Changes in Financial Strain Associated With Changes in Alcohol Use and Smoking Among Older Adults? [OPEN ACCESS]  

Objective: This study aimed to assess whether changes in levels of financial strain are associated with changes in alcohol use and smoking among older adults. Method: Multilevel analyses were conducted using longitudinal data from a randomly selected national sample of older adults (N = 2,352; 60% female). The data were collected in six waves during the period of 1992-2006. We estimated associations between within-person changes in levels of financial strain and the odds of engaging in heavy drinking and smoking, while also testing for the moderating effects of gender, education, and age. Results: A direct association was observed between changes in levels of financial strain and the odds of heavy drinking, particularly among elderly men (odds ratio [OR] = 1.31) and those with low levels of education (OR = 1.27). A direct association between changes in levels of financial strain and the odds of smoking was also evident, particularly among the young-old (i.e., age 65 at baseline; OR = 1.44). Conclusions: Exposure to financial strain places some groups of older adults at increased risk for unhealthy drinking and smoking. If the current global financial crisis leads to increases in experiences of financial strain among older adults, alcohol and smoking problems can also be expected to increase in this population. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 72, 917-925, 2011)

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Heavy alcohol consumption linked to lung cancer 

Heavy alcohol consumption may be linked to a greater risk of developing lung cancer, while higher BMI and increased consumption of black tea and fruit are associated with lower risk of the deadly disease. In three separate studies presented at CHEST 2011, the 77th annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), heavy alcohol consumption was related to increased risk of lung cancer, while specific ethnic groups, including African American men and Asian women, had slightly higher risks for lung cancer. Conversely, black tea consumption was shown to reduce lung cancer risk in nonsmoking women, while higher BMI and increased fruit consumption were associated with a lower risk of lung cancer in both men and women.

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• Heavy alcohol consumption linked to lung cancer 

Heavy alcohol consumption may be linked to a greater risk of developing lung cancer, while higher BMI and increased consumption of black tea and fruit are associated with lower risk of the deadly disease. In three separate studies presented at CHEST 2011, the 77th annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), heavy alcohol consumption was related to increased risk of lung cancer, while specific ethnic groups, including African American men and Asian women, had slightly higher risks for lung cancer. Conversely, black tea consumption was shown to reduce lung cancer risk in nonsmoking women, while higher BMI and increased fruit consumption were associated with a lower risk of lung cancer in both men and women.

Lung Cancer Risk Factors

"Heavy drinking has multiple harmful effects, including cardiovascular complications and increased risk for lung cancer, said Stanton Siu, MD, FCCP, Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, California. "We did not see a relationship between moderate drinking and lung cancer development. So it appears probable that most middle-aged and older moderate drinkers have coronary artery protection and no increased risk of lung cancer risk."

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