Tobacco.org

• Ban on sweet hookah tobacco imminent 

The message from Health Minister Jakob Axel Nielsen is clear: young people are hitting the hookahs too much and the addictive tobacco used in the water pipes should be banned.

A parliamentary majority supports a ban on the sweet-flavoured tobacco used in water pipes, and Nielsen agreed measures needed to be introduced to protect the young.

‘It’s a really bad idea to have sweet addictive tobacco in water pipes and worrying that it’s become so popular among young people, which is why I’m investigating whether we can introduce a ban in Denmark,’ Nielsen said to DR News.

The move comes on the heels of a study carried out by the National Cancer Society and Maastricht University, which found young people who use water pipes are three times as likely to smoke regular cigarettes.

About 800 Danish students aged 15-16 were monitored for a year as part of the study.

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• Ban on hookah tobacco in the works  

Young people in Denmark smoke hookah more than young people anywhere else in Europe, but that is about to come to an end. A parliamentary majority want to ban the addictive, sweet tobacco, according to free daily newspaper 24timer.

- If I was to be optimistic, I would say that we will have a ban before the arrival of spring. In any circumstance, one will be in place before the end of the parliamentary year in the beginning of June, says head of the parliamentary health committee, Preben Rudiengaard (Venstre) to the free daily.

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• Smoking ban outside schools mooted 

A proposal to reduce the number of school smoking areas in the hope of curbing the number of young smokers has been snuffed out (Photo: Kyle Wheeler)

Local Government Denmark seeks extension on smoking ban as part of 500 million kroner health investment

Smoking anywhere near educational institutions could be a thing of the past if Local Government Denmark (LGD) has its way.

The umbrella organisation for local councils nationwide has developed a preventative proposal, based on National Board of Health recommendations, to improve policies on smoking, drinking and health. . . .

The Danish Union of Teachers is backing the smoking ban extension.

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Smoking ban outside schools mooted 

Smoking anywhere near educational institutions could be a thing of the past if Local Government Denmark (LGD) has its way.

The umbrella organisation for local councils nationwide has developed a preventative proposal, based on National Board of Health recommendations, to improve policies on smoking, drinking and health.

The national smoking ban presently has exceptions that allow for smoking inside single-person offices, dedicated smoking rooms and bars smaller in size than 40sqm.

LGD wants to see the complete ban on smoking in public council buildings extended to include outdoor areas of schools, nurseries and other areas where employees work with children.

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Smoking and venous thromboembolism: a Danish follow-up study 

Conclusions: Smoking was an independent risk factor for VTE among middle-aged men and women. Former smokers have the same risk of VTE as never smokers, indicating acute effects of smoking, and underscoring the potential benefits of smoking cessation.

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Smoking is an independent risk factor for VTE 

Smoking is an independent risk factor for venous thromboembolism (VTE) among middle-aged men and women, show results of a large prospective study.

However, “former smokers have the same risk for VTE as never smokers, indicating acute effects of smoking, and underscoring the potential benefits of smoking cessation,” write Marianne Severinsen (Aarhus University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark) and colleagues in the journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

To assess whether smoking is associated with VTE independently of established risk factors, Severinsen and team followed up 27,178 men and 29,875 women, aged 50 to 64 years, who were participating in the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health study.

During a median follow-up of 10.2 years, there were 617 verified VTE events in the Danish National Patient Registry. Of these, 58% were deep vein thrombosis and 42% were pulmonary embolism (PE). A further 24 PE events were identified by autopsy. . . .

“Our findings suggest a direct effect of heavy smoking on the risk for VTE,” remark Severinsen and co-authors. “These findings are biologically plausible because smoking increases the level of coagulation factors in the blood and it also promotes activation of the inflammatory system, both of which are found to be associated with venous thrombosis.”

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• Smoke-free flats considered 

An increasing number of complaints by tenants over cigarette smoke from adjoining flats have resulted in housing companies considering how they can establish smoke-free complexes.

KAB, the country’s largest administrator of non-profit housing, already presented the idea back in December, and now Fredensborg Housing Association has put forth a fully completed plan for several non-smoking housing blocks.

However, implementing the no-smoking policy could face many obstacles – not least that associations may not discriminate against smokers.

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Government pushing for higher EU cigarette prices 

Cigarette packet prices in Denmark could rise to at least 50 kroner if other EU countries hike their prices as well

If the Liberal-Conservative government has its way the price for a packet of cigarettes will be at least 50 kroner, if not higher.

Although it ignored the same recommendation to increase cigarette prices from the Prevention Commission earlier this year, the government is now prepared to follow the commission’s advice with a considerable price hike.

Jakob Axel Nielsen, the health minister, travels to Luxembourg today to meet with other European Union countries’ health representatives to discuss the issue. He will try and convince those countries to raise their cigarette prices prior to raising the cost at home in Denmark.

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Improving education may cut smoking in youth 

Although low socio-economic status is associated with an increased liability to smoke, performing well at school can mitigate this effect. A new study, published in BioMed Central's open access International Journal for Equity in Health, has shown that high-achieving schoolchildren, even those from poor backgrounds, are less likely to smoke.

Christina Schnohr led a team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen's Institute of Public Health who surveyed 20,399 schoolchildren from the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. She said, "Above average academic achievement was associated with lower risk of smoking. Teachers and politicians may find this information useful, and allocate resources to give higher priority to a supportive environment in schools especially for children and adolescents in lower social groups. This might contribute to reducing smoking in this group".

The researchers' study confirmed that children from less well-off families are more likely to smoke, and are less likely to perform well at school - although this latter effect was least pronounced in the UK. However, those poorer children who did perform well in class were also less likely to be smokers. Schnohr said, "This mediating role of academic achievement emphasizes the role of teachers in supporting students from deprived families. If they can focus on students from lower socio-economic positions, it might help reduce the social inequality in smoking prevalence".

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Improving education may cut smoking in youth 

Although low socio-economic status is associated with an increased liability to smoke, performing well at school can mitigate this effect. A new study, published in BioMed Central's open access International Journal for Equity in Health, has shown that high-achieving schoolchildren, even those from poor backgrounds, are less likely to smoke.

Christina Schnohr led a team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen's Institute of Public Health who surveyed 20,399 schoolchildren from the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. She said, "Above average academic achievement was associated with lower risk of smoking. Teachers and politicians may find this information useful, and allocate resources to give higher priority to a supportive environment in schools especially for children and adolescents in lower social groups. This might contribute to reducing smoking in this group".

The researchers' study confirmed that children from less well-off families are more likely to smoke, and are less likely to perform well at school

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School-related mediators in social inequalities in smoking: a comparative cross-sectional study of 20,399 adolescents. 

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between social inequalities and daily smoking among 13 and 15 year olds, and to determine the role of students' academic achievement and school satisfaction in these associations.

Conclusions

The study found social inequality in daily smoking in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and United Kingdom, as well as inequalities in students' academic achievement and school satisfaction. The analyses also showed that above average academic achievement was associated with lower OR of smoking. Teachers and politicians may find this information useful, and allocate resources to give higher priority to a supportive environment in schools especially for children and adolescents in lower social groups. Subsequently this prioritisation might contribute to reducing smoking in this group.

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Bars charged with smoking violations 

As the result of checking 55,000 businesses to see if the smoking ban is being upheld, 861 were given warnings by the Working Environment Authority for violating the law, reports public broadcaster DR.

Of those, 232 were bars, 23 of which have been reported to police for not following the warning they had previously been given

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Veggie price increases triple that of smokes 

The state has allowed the cost of cigarettes to stagnate while vegetable prices have soared

Over the past 30 years the price of vegetables has risen three times as much as that of a pack of cigarettes, according to figures from Statistics Denmark.

Cigarettes cost 136.4 percent more now than they did in 1979, while prices on vegetables on average have jumped 383 percent since then.

If cigarette prices had risen at the same pace as veggies, a pack would now cost around 90 kroner. But the government, under new prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, recently indicated it would not implement a proposal to raise the price of fags to 50 kroner a pack.

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Smoking allowed in drop-in centres 

To ensure drop-in centre residents get the help they need the government has chosen to avoid forcing them to go smoke-free

So many of those who seek help from the city’s drop-in centres are nicotine-dependent that the government has set aside 13 million kroner to renovate the centres to accommodate both smokers and non-smokers.

Workers at the centres have long criticised the government’s anti-smoking policies.� They argue that taking away cigarettes from the socially disadvantaged makes it more difficult to treat their more serious problems or, worse, will keep them from visiting the centres at all. . . .

Drop-in centres typically offer help, food and shelter to drug addicts and alcoholics, but also assist others who are socially marginalised.

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Denmark to use pictures on cigarette packs  

The Danish Health Ministry plans to add pictures of the effects of smoking to cigarette packs, including images of smoke-blackened lungs and bodies in morgues.

Health Minister Jakob Axel Neilsen told the Metro Xpress newspaper he expects the photographic warnings to be added as part of a national health plan based on prevention to be put into effect next fall.

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