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Why Macmillan refused to tell us smoking was harmful | Mail Online 

Harold Macmillan claimed smoking was no more dangerous than 'crossing a street' and argued against issuing a Government health warning, Cabinet papers released yesterday reveal.

The then Chancellor, a keen pipe and cigar smoker, had another reason for ignoring evidence of a link between cigarettes and lung cancer - he was afraid of losing tax revenue.

There was already growing concern that smoking caused the disease when in 1956 the Cabinet was given a scientific report showing clear statistical evidence of a connection.

It prompted panic among ministers over whether they should 'expose' the facts and condemn smoking as a health risk. . . .

He added: 'The Treasury think revenue interest outweighs this. (It is) negligible compared with risk of crossing a street.' Notes from the meeting on April 17, 1956, were released at the National Archives in Kew, South West London. . . .

Despite repeated warnings from medical experts about the link between smoking and cancer, ministers took no action until 1965 when they banned cigarette advertising on television.

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Atlantic youth heads anti-smoking group 

While some in the community mock the state's new Smokefree Air Act, Iowa's youth anti-tobacco movement, Just Eliminate Lies, has a virtual memorial wall filled with notes to loved ones who have died from smoking or are still alive and smoking.

One note reads, "Mom, you think I don't know you smoke, but I do. Please, please, please stop. Dad, thank you for stopping."

JEL is an organized group of Iowa teens united to counter Big Tobacco's efforts to addict people to their deadly product and a movement determined to bring to light the true health and economic effects of tobacco as well as the countless lies and cover-ups of the tobacco industry.

"We are not taking the rights away from smokers, it's protecting the health of the public," said C.J. Petersen, founder of the Atlantic chapter and newly elected president of JEL. . . .

For more information and/or to join JEL, go online to www.jeliowa.org.

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HARKNESS: Take smoking legislation further  

The removal of the power walls and the ban on smoking in cars with minors are great first steps when combined with previous changes under the smoke free Ontario Act.

It’s time now though to take the debate further. It’s time to start talking about an outright ban on smoking. . . .

Rather than an immediate outright ban, which would cause legitimate problems for those already hooked on the vile weed, it could be introduced gradually. Maybe make it effective for those under 18 on the date the legislation is enacted or something like that.

I won’t be holding my breath (pun intended) waiting for it to happen though. It just makes far too much sense.

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CHAPMAN: Licensing smokers a healthy option 

YOU need a licence to drive. A licence to buy a gun. You can't legally go fishing without a licence, or own a dog. But smoking?

Provided you are over 18 you can buy as many cigarettes as you like - no questions asked. Why not license smokers?

After all, doctors issue tens of thousands of temporary licences every day in the form of prescriptions . . .

And, just as for a driving licence, smokers would need to renew their commitment to smoking every five years. Or, if a smoker successfully quit they could permanently surrender their licence and be offered a full refund of their licensing fee, another incentive to quit.

Most smokers want to quit. . . .

Even tobacco companies should love the idea because no one could sue, saying they didn't know the risks they were taking: they would have passed the test.

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EDITORIAL: No butts about it 

New York seems to be making some very significant progress in getting kids to stop smoking or, better still, never take up such a potentially deadly habit in the first place. . . .

Remember, too, that New York spends a lot of money, some $87 million, on anti-smoking efforts. That's especially notable in that just a decade ago, anti-smoking advocates were making a rather persuasive case that the state wasn't doing nearly enough to discourage smoking. Now, with such a steep tax on cigarettes, New York's anti-smoking efforts are the second toughest in the country, according to the American Lung Association.

Keep kicking the habit, New Yorkers. Follow the example of the kids.

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Graphic ad joins the quit campaign  

At the launch of the new advertising campaign in Sydney on Saturday, NSW Assistant Health Minister Verity Firth said tobacco tax was a federal government issue and not something the state could control.

However, she said, higher taxes on cigarettes was something she would gladly discuss with her federal counterparts and, when pressed, said a tax hike would have positive outcomes.

"I don't want to put words into the federal government's mouth, but we do believe that the more expensive cigarettes are, the more difficult it is to smoke," Ms Firth told reporters in Sydney when asked her thoughts of the impact of higher taxes on smokers.

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Watch out, Big Sister is looking 

DRAWING on the weirdest British concept since Rick Astley, Health Minister Nicola Roxon has mooted "innovative options" to curb smoking.

The answer, she says, may rest in permits for smokers.

Under the British blueprint, which newspaper columnists there lambasted for being daft and paternalistic, permits would demand a mug shot and annual fees.

The application process would be deliberately painful, causing some smokers to give up trying to get a permit, thereby giving up cigarettes - and, presumably, any desire to exert free will except within government guidelines. . . .

But why stop with smoking? Imagine the intrigues of a Saturday afternoon trip to the shops if similar approaches were adopted for other vices.

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Incentives to sell more cigarettes  

The Ministry of Health is investigating whether tobacco companies are breaking the law by offering special payments and rebates to retailers.

Some retail outlets say they have been offered rebates and expensive overseas trips if they sell large quantities of tobacco.

Most retailers would not comment about the incentives to sell cigarettes because they were worried that they would lose them. But one said that before the cash rebates started he used to be offered things like free holidays to the Olympic games, Americas Cup races and even new TVs.

ONE News has obtained the incentive criteria of one tobacco company.

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Civil servants told to quit smoking 

Public servants were urged to quit smoking and help reduce the smoking habit during the Tobacco Order 2005 course held yesterday at the Banquet Hall of the Legislative Council building.

The Ministry of Health has organised promotions, roadshows, briefings and dialogue sessions many times on the Tobacco Order 2005 with the aim of reducing the smoking habit among the people and citizens of the country, said Dato Paduka Haji Mustappa bin Hj Sirat, Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office.

He urged all permanent secretaries, deputy permanent secretaries, and head of departments to support the aspiration of the Ministry of Health to stop the habit of smoking among the civil servant community in Brunei Darussalam.

This includes tightening the prohibition of smoking in government premises and buildings like sport and recreational complex, canteen, schools, hospitals and others under the management of each ministry and department.

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Raising Awareness about Secondhand Smoke 

The La Crosse County Health Department is using the results of a recent air quality study to highlight the dangers of second hand smoke.

During late February, health officials monitored the air quality at 19 establishments in the county that allow smoking. They took air quality measurements over 30 minutes and then compared those results to the state and federal standards used to measure air pollution outside.

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• Impact of graphic anti-smoking photos burning out 

Graphic health warnings on cigarette packages are failing to move the majority of smokers to quit, a new government survey has found.

Over the last five years, the percentage of smokers who say the warnings are ineffective at getting them to try to kick the habit has increased, according to the newly released Health Canada poll.

More than half - 57 per cent - say they are unmoved by these graphic warnings, up five points from five years earlier. Among potential quitters - smokers who are seriously thinking of quitting - the percentage who characterize the campaign as not very effective or not at all effective in getting them to try to quit has also increased in this period, to 43 per cent from 40 per cent.

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MOSSIE: Blowing smoke in all directions  

Making smoking not only socially unacceptable, but downright inconvenient and uncomfortable had accomplished what years of relentless health campaigns on the effects of smoking had not: I quit cold turkey the next week. I got to thinking about the social stigma attached to smoking in the wake of a seemingly unrelated incident.

Last week, Philadelphia police arrested 44-year-old security guard Andre Moore for making a video of himself encouraging, among other obscenities, that the public should “continue killing cops in the 18th District.” . . .

Things have come to a sorry pass when it is far more socially acceptable to kill a cop than it is to smoke a cigarette.

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Concern at Maori women smoking during pregnancy 

A call was made today for Maori women to quit smoking during pregnancy.

The Public Health Association's conference in Waitangi was told 50 per cent of Maori women still smoke and 80 per cent of this group continued to smoke during pregnancy.

Te Hotu Manawa Maori manager Irene Walker said the rate of Maori smoking during pregnancy must reduce.

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DTI reminds tobacco, ad firms on strict compliance with ban 

The Department of Trade and Industry will routinely inspect the compliance of every locality on the prohibition of tobacco advertisements nationwide, Secretary Peter Favila warned tobacco and advertising firms yesterday.

Section 22 of Republic Act (RA) 9211, or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003, bans all forms of tobacco advertising in mass media starting July 01, except in the premises of point-of-sale retail establishments.

In January 2007, the law mandated a total ban on tobacco advertising on television, cable TV and radio, and in July of the same year, prohibited all cinema and outdoor advertising of cigarettes including billboards, distribution or posting of leaflets and posters, among others.

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• Stakeholders to conduct tobacco situational analysis in Nigeria 

The Nigerian Heart Foundation (NHF) and the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) are to conduct a Nigerian Tobacco Situational Analysis. This was disclosed at a National Stakeholders Meeting on the Nigerian Tobacco Situational Analysis (NTSA) organised recently in Lagos. The meeting was sequel to the approval by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

The stakeholders recommended: Commissioning of a community based National Study using the household as the study unit; and International agencies should be involved in funding the countrywide studies that would generate adequate baseline data.

Executive Director of NHF, Dr. Kingsley Akinroye, said the meeting was a landmark event and a very important step in the move to make Nigeria a tobacco free Nation. . . .

An African Tobacco Situational Analysis (ATSA) consultant, Anne-Maria Schryer-Roy, said that her role at the meeting was to observe and participate as well as identify areas where the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) can be of assistance in the near future; and provide guidance where required.

She said the ATSA initiative; a partnership between IDRC and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has a central aim of trying to understand the critical determinants of success for tobacco control in Sub-Saharan Africa, which will be used to inform the development and implementation of tobacco control strategies in the region.

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