Tobacco.org

Pot smoking blows executive meeting  

The conference rooms on the 14th floor of the Hotel Grand Chancellor are high enough for most executives, but teenagers smoking marijuana in a nearby fire escape may have unknowingly elevated proceedings.

The teenagers regularly gathered on a fire escape between the hotel and the Wilson Parking building on Cashel Street to smoke marijuana, but the distinctive fumes floated up the stairs and seeped into a room where as many as 600 executives were gathered for conferences.

Hotel Grand Chancellor general manager Tim Stonhill said the smell had led to complaints.

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Dairy owners choke the smoke  

The owners of Kaitaia's VIP Dairy boast theirs is the first dairy in the area to go smokefree - now all they have to do is kick the habit themselves.

Sheryl Stankovich and Ham Petera have lost money since banning tobacco, filters, lighters, matches and papers from their shelves. But they don't care. "We decided that we didn't want to be responsible for putting smoke into the lungs of our community," said Stankovich. "We are trying to be socially responsible."

The couple hated dealing with underage youngsters trying to buy tobacco for themselves or their parents and felt bad about contributing to Northland's problems with smoking-related diseases.

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• Electronic cigarette substitute set for trials 

Christchurch smokers may get the chance to try the Ruyan e-cigarette, a Chinese smoking substitute that delivers nicotine in a harmless mist through a cigarette-like device, this year.

Christchurch doctor and anti-smoking campaigner Murray Laugesen has been testing the device for its Chinese manufacturers in preparation for a launch in this part of the world.

He is planning clinical trials on the device that would involve "hundreds of people".

Activated when the smoker sucks on the end, the electronic cigarette glows at the tip, produces harmless theatrical smoke and conveys nicotine from a reloadable cartridge to the smoker's lungs.

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• Why is there higher cancer mortality in indigenous Polynesian peoples? 

Native residents of Hawaii and New Zealand have much higher mortality rates for many cancers than the European peoples who live there. Education on screening programmes, diet, and smoking could help tackle this. The issues are discussed in the first of a series of Reviews on worldwide cancer disparities in the May issue of The Lancet Oncology. . . .

In terms of risk factors, Māori people are more than twice as likely to be smokers than European New Zealanders, 50% more likely to be obese, and almost three-times as likely to be obese smokers. Native Hawaiians have only a slightly higher smoking incidence than European Hawaiians, but a significantly higher risk of cancer for the same smoking history, suggesting they are more susceptible to the carcinogenic properties of cigarette smoke. Limited tobacco legislation in developing countries means that many Pacific islands are among tobacco companies’ new targets . . .

The authors conclude: "The extent of the differences in outcome due to different extrinsic risk factors, biological factors, or health behaviours is unclear….Advances such as adjuvant chemotherapy for breast, bowel, and lung cancer have improved survival, but data on treatment by ethnicity are lacking, and such treatment might be unequally applied between ethnicities. Evidence exists for a benefit of culturally appropriate education on screening programmes, diet, and smoking, all of which could lower the cancer burden in Polynesian communities."

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Marae campaigns to cut smoking 

Four marae in Canterbury are now smokefree as health campaigners battle to cut the number of Maori who smoke.

Several other marae in the region have also introduced designated smoking areas.

Hauora Matauraka health promoter Ted Te Hae said that in June 2006, he was given three years to persuade four marae to become smokefree.

After achieving his goal in less than half that time, he set his sights on other marae and Maori institutions such as Te Wananga Aotearoa in Manchester Street. It became smokefree last August.

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Everyone wins if smokers give up 

A new competition called Sponsor to Win aims to reward kids for helping whanau and community members to quit smoking.

Students at Weymouth and Manurewa intermediate schools need to find a "sponsor" willing to give up smoking by World Smokefree Day on May 31.

Smokers keen to quit can also find kids to support by contacting the competition organisers.

If their sponsor manages to kick the habit, the child will go into the draw to win a home computer, DVD player or smokefree sports gear.

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Man found not guilty over LPG lighter death  

A young man accused of killing his friend by flicking a cigarette lighter after huffing LPG gas in a car in Blenheim has been found not guilty of manslaughter.

Thomas Kelson Hillman, 18, died of heat-related internal injuries after an explosion in the car on October 30, 2006.

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Teenagers joked about dying before gas blast 

A High Court trial has heard how a teenager inhaling from an LPG cylinder inside a car died in an explosion after a friend flicked a lighter.

Thomas Hillman, 18, died of respiratory failure. Tristan Ceciel Beckett, 20, is charged with his manslaughter.

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Income helps Indigenous Aussies Quit Smoking 

As Indigenous household income and other socio-economic factors improve, so does their likelihood of not smoking.

This was a finding of a study published in the April issue of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, led by Dr David Thomas from the Menzies School of Health Research.

“The poorest and the most socially disadvantaged are the least likely to be non-smokers,” Dr Thomas said.

Higher income, better education, employment, owning a house and having access to a motor vehicle and a computer were all strongly associated with being a non-smoker.

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New Website Aims To Stop Maori Smoking 

A new website and 0800 number have been launched to help Mäori women and their whänau get more information about and link into Aukati Kaipaipa – a free smoking cessation service.

The website, www.aukati.org.nz, and the 0800 number (0800 4 AKP00 / 0800 4 25700) were launched this week.

The website includes details about the service and information about each of the Cessation Practitioners.

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Shop tobacco ban sought 

The Health Ministry is seeking the first store ban on cigarette sales.

Carterton dairy owner Ishmar Dayha is facing his second charge in less than seven months of selling cigarettes to a minor.

He initially indicated in Masterton District Court this week that he would admit to the latest offence, but changed his plea to not guilty when he realised that a three-month ban on tobacco sales was being sought.

The ministry, which has brought the prosecution after a sting operation on September 22 last year, said it had the ability under the Smokefree Environments Act to ask for a temporary suspension.

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Anger at latest smoking cover-up  

An appalled Health Ministry is fuming about the sale of covers designed to shield smokers from gruesome new images on cigarette packets.

Called Kuverz, they are already used in Australia, where the images of mouth tumours and gangrenous toes caused by cancer have been emblazoned across cigarette packets for several years.

The covers are also available in Canada.

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• Tobacco displays on the way out 

As international momentum builds, the Cancer Society is calling on all political parties to put people ahead of corporate interests and get tobacco out of sight in retail outlets.

“Tobacco displays are on their way out in an increasing number of countries and New Zealand is falling behind,” said the Cancer Society’s Tobacco Control Adviser Belinda Hughes.

“In addition to bans on tobacco displays in Iceland and Thailand we are seeing them introduced in a growing number of Provinces in Canada and beginning to be introduced in Australian states led by Tasmania. The UK government is also looking into getting tobacco out of sight."

The Australian state of Tasmania is the latest jurisdiction to announce that it is phasing out retail displays of tobacco products. It will be the first Australian state to ban the display of tobacco products but others are racing to catch up.

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• Cigarettes 'laced with killer flavour' 

CIGARETTES are becoming even more dangerous as tobacco companies secretly change their recipes to improve the taste and deceive the medical profession, a leading expert claims.

Australian adviser to the World Health Organisation Dr Nigel Gray claims manufacturers have increased the carcinogen content of smokes to boost flavour, creating a flood of new cancers despite tighter restrictions on smoking in public places and tobacco advertising.

Dr Gray yesterday told the annual meeting of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand in Melbourne that the recipe changes meant doctors were now treating more adenocarcinoma lung cancers, while rates of squamous cell carcinomas were falling.

Tests had shown that US tobacco firms had increased nitrosamine levels by up to 900 per cent in some products over recent years to boost the flavour.

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• Smokefree suspects tobacco industry involvement 

The Smokefree Coalition is challenging the Stay Displays Coalition of Retailers to reveal its funding sources. Stay Displays is challenging moves by health groups such as the Cancer Society to have the display of tobacco packets in shops banned. The Ministry of Health is currently reviewing the tobacco display provisions of the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990.

Smokefree Coalition Director Mark Peck says he strongly suspects the tobacco industry is providing support to the Stay Displays Coalition.

"I have asked the Stay Displays Coalition several times point blank whether they are being assisted by funding from a particular tobacco company. Twice they did not reply and the third time their reply did not answer the question.

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