Tobacco.org

• Edinburgh University students stub out plan to ban cigarettes sales on campus 

STUDENTS at Edinburgh University have voted to keep cigarettes on sale on campus.

A motion was put before the annual general meeting of Edinburgh University Students Association which would have stopped EUSA shops from selling cigarettes and remove all cigarette machines on campus.

The motion, put forward by a fourth year medical student, argued that EUSA should not profit from, promote or help facilitate smoking. It would also have required the students association to promote services which provide support and advice to students who wished to give up smoking.

More than 700 students turned out for the AGM – the largest number for several years – filling the university's George Square lecture theatre and forcing organisers to set up a video link to another venue.

Jump to full article »

• Around One In Five Pregnant Smokers Go Undetected Each Year 

Self-reported smoking during pregnancy underestimates the true number of pregnant smokers in Scotland by 17%, and results in a failure to detect 2400 pregnant smokers each year, finds new research published on bmj.com today.

This results in thousands of smokers not being identified or offered smoking cessation services, say the authors.

It is well known that self reported smoking during pregnancy is an inaccurate way to identify smokers. Yet it is still used widely by antenatal clinics to determine the smoking status of pregnant women and to refer them to smoking cessation services. The Scottish Government also relies on self-reported smoking figures to set targets and measure the success of smoking cessation services. . . .

The authors estimate that the true smoking prevalence for pregnant women in Scotland, after adjusting for area deprivation, maternal age and self-reported smoking is 28%, higher than the 23% based on self report data.

They conclude by calling for more accurate methods of identifying pregnant smokers, so that accurate data is used to inform policy and provide appropriate

Source British Medical Journal

Jump to full article »

• Tobacco traders fired up over ban  

There is a long list of people who are barred from entering the shop of Edinburgh tobacconist Alan Myerthall. Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling, the chancellor, and former first minister Jack McConnell are all at the top, due to their support for the smoking ban, which tobacco retailers claim has been a nail in the coffin of their industry.

Now, ministers in the new Scottish government will also be turned away from the Leith Walk establishment if the proposed point-of-sale ban on the display of cigarettes and tobacco goes ahead.

The smoking ban has seen the demise of a number of Myerthall's peers, including the 100-year-old Glasgow institution Herbert Love, but the shelves in The Pipe Shop, Myerthall's store, are a tobacco lover's heaven. They are stacked with thousands of products, all related to cigarette, pipe and cigar smoking.

If the legislation goes ahead, retailers such as Myerthall, whose wife's family founded the tobacconist store more than 50 years ago, will be forced to keep cigarettes, rolling tobacco and cigarette papers out of sight under the counter, or behind a screen.

"Everyone in the trade is against it," said Myerthall

Jump to full article »

• Stillbirths And Infant Deaths Related To Smoking During Pregnancy And Socioeconomic Inequalities 

New research published on bmj.com today reports that addressing the problem of smoking during pregnancy may help to reduce the socioeconomic inequalities in stillbirths and infant deaths by as much as 30 to 40 percent.

Without a doubt smoking during pregnancy has been associated with stillbirth. In addition, infant deaths and smoking rates during pregnancy vary strikingly with socioeconomic position. In order to find out more, a team of researchers began the task of measuring the effects of smoking during pregnancy and on the social inequalities gap in stillbirths and infant deaths.

They assessed the records of 529,317 live singleton births and 2,699 stillbirths delivered at 24 to 44 weeks' gestation in Scotland from 1994 to 2003.

Information on smoking during the pregnancy was gathered. A deprivation score was designated using postcode data from the 2001 population census.

Jump to full article »

• Tobacco warning from 17th Century 

Doctors in the 17th Century were worried about the dangers of young people smoking, a recently unearthed letter has revealed.

The letter, written in 1606 by Dr Eleazar Duncon, said tobacco was "hurtful" to the nation's youth.

It was found by library staff at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE).

The Scottish Parliament will this week debate new proposals to curb tobacco and cigarette sales to youngsters.

Dr Duncon's letter reveals medical professionals were similarly concerned about the issue four centuries ago.

Jump to full article »

[Tobacco] is so hurtful and dangerous to youth that it might have the pernicious nature expressed in the name, and that it were as well known by the name of Youths-bane as by the name of tobacco.
Recently-found letter by Dr Eleazar Duncon which was published in Scotland in 1606.

• LETTER: Tobacco displays  

Further to the comments of Japan Tobacco International's Daniel Torras (Letters, 17 September), the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has had seven years' experience with a retail display ban.

A government survey shows our youth smoking rate has decreased from 29 per cent in 2002 to 20 per cent in 2008. All parties supported this and other measures, and the law has had good public support. Ex-smokers also say it is easier to resist the temptation to resume smoking when not faced with tobacco displays.

The negative economic impact claimed by the tobacco industry and others has not happened. Neither has there been an increase in smuggling.

We commend the Scottish Government for putting the interests of Scotland's children first. Please ignore the fear-mongering of an industry that is only interested in garnering new customers. It will fight to keep its product in front of the next generation of smokers – the children and youth of Scotland.

Jump to full article »

• Holyrood health committee backs ban on cigarette displays in shops  

Corner shops were dealt a devastating blow today when an influential Holyrood committee backed a proposed ban on tobacco displays.

MSPs have concluded that the display of cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products by shop cash registers is the same as advertising.

In a report out today, the Scottish Parliament's health and sport committee says a ban on displays would help the fight against the physical harm done by smoking.

Its inquiry into the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Bill also backs banning cigarette vending machines.

In addition, the committee has called for the purchase of tobacco on behalf of anyone under the legal age of 18 to be made a criminal offence.

Shopkeepers have been up in arms over the government's proposals to put a stop to point-of-sale displays.

Jump to full article »

• Heart attacks plummet after smoking ban 

THE ban on public smoking has caused a fall in heart attack rates of about 10%, a study has found.

Researchers commissioned by the Department of Health have found a far sharper fall than they had expected in the number of heart attacks in England in the year after the ban was imposed in July 2007.

In Scotland, where the ban was introduced a year earlier, heart attack rates have fallen by about 14% because of the ban, separate research has shown. Similar results are expected in Wales where a third study is still under way.

The success of the smoking ban is emerging as one of the most significant improvements in public health that Britain has seen, even measured by heart attack rates alone. . . .

The early results of the study of England will increase calls for an extension of the ban. Ministers have already commissioned research into the possibility of banning smoking in cars, where children are at their most exposed. . . .

Gilmore's research is incomplete and she emphasises the final results for England will not be published for several months. However, the results for Scotland, where public smoking was banned earlier, have shown the benefits.

Jump to full article »

• Scotland is worst in UK for fire deaths and injuries  

SCOTLAND has the highest rate of fire deaths and injuries in the UK, it emerged yesterday, as figures showed a 13 per cent rise in fatalities.

There were 59 people killed in fires in 2007 – up from 52 the previous year, according to the official figures.

Roddy Robertson, of the Fire Brigades Union Scotland, said he believed socio-economic reasons were a major factor

Jump to full article »

• Banker abandons Hebridian exile after success in quitting smoking  

Howling winds, relentless rain and plagues of insects have persuaded a retired merchant banker to abandon his exile on an uninhabited island in the Hebrides, although he claims to have achieved his objective and finally given up his habit of smoking 30 cigarettes a day.

Geoff Spice, 57, from Ashstead, Surrey, began his "cold turkey" treatment on August 3 and planned to finish next Tuesday. Having smashed his personal record for non-smoking -- nine days is the longest he has gone without a cigarette in more than 43 years -- he said he had no further need to endure the privations of Sgarabhaigh in the Sound of Harris. . . .

“It was terrible. The wind sounded like the roar of a jet engine. There are ten guide ropes holding this tent up. Four of them broke in the wind. I was one rope away from the tent being blown away. My survival was literally hanging by one thread. It was pretty scary stuff.”

But Mr Spice claimed he had been vindicated by his adventure.

“I do feel I have cracked the smoking side. Staying any longer would have only proved a point about my survival on an island. I will feel pretty poignant about leaving but also will be glad to be going home. But I will not have any problems about sleeping in a bed again,” he said. ]

Jump to full article »

• Tobacco Industry Will Undermine Scotlands Attempts To Curb Sales  

The tobacco industry will try to "delay, dilute and damage" new measures in Scotland aimed at curbing sales to young people, anti-smoking campaigners warned today.

Leaders of ASH Scotland said it was "inevitable" that tobacco firms would continue to challenge proposed legislation from the Scottish Government, which includes a ban on tobacco displays in shops.

Sheila Duffy, ASH Scotland chief executive, spoke out as the organisation launched a new campaign to highlight public support for the measures.

Members of the public are being urged to write to local stores giving their backing for proposals in the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Bill.

Ms Duffy said the legislation - which is currently going through Holyrood - aimed to "prevent children from smoking by stopping the visibility and availability of cigarettes to young people including removing cigarette displays at the point of sale".

But Ms Duffy said: "Inevitably however, the tobacco industry will continue to challenge the measures outlined in the Bill and do all it can to delay, dilute and damage the legislation.

"By employing scaremongering and misinformation tactics they have made retailers afraid of this law rather than embracing it as an opportunity to remove a lethal product from display."

Jump to full article »

• Scottish teenagers smoke and drink less  

Contrary to their reputation, fewer Scottish teenagers are smoking, drinking and - amongst boys at least - taking cannabis than they were two years ago, official figures released yesterday show.

However, the 2008 Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey does show changes in habits which may worry health experts. While the use of drink and drugs continues to decline, those who do partake are highly likely to truant or be excluded from school.

There is also disappointment that despite the rise in the minimum purchase age for cigarettes from 16 to 18 in 2007, rates of smoking among 15-year-old boys have increased. . . .

Where cigarettes were concerned, the numbers of 13 and 15-year-old girls who are regular smokers continues to decline. The proportion of pupils who reported they never smoked has gone up from 69 to 75 per cent of 13-year-olds and 47 to 51 per cent of 15-year-olds.

However, although it is illegal to sell cigarettes to children under the age of 18, 42 per cent of 13-year-old regular smokers and 57 per cent of 15-year-old regular smokers reported buying cigarettes from a shop. A significant number also bought from vending machines.

Family and peer group pressure was evident: the majority of children who smoked had parents who did, and more than a third said all or almost all their friends smoked.

Jump to full article »

• Cigarette machines ban may be unlawful  

ONE of the Scottish Government's last remaining flagship bills is in trouble because of a lack of consultation and poor research, it has been claimed.

The Tobacco and Primary Services Bill aims to abolish cigarette vending machines in Scotland, but it is facing a fierce challenge from the industry, which could end up in the courts.

The National Association of Cigarette Machine Operators (Nacmo) has claimed that it was not consulted before the bill was brought forward.

In addition, its representatives have said that the Scottish Government has used incorrect data on the number of vending machines in Scotland and jobs affected.

The Scottish Government regulatory impact assessment claimed only 14 jobs were supported by cigarette machines in Scotland, yet there are actually 45 jobs.

Jump to full article »

• Scottish smokers are silent victims, claims campaigner  

Six times as many Scots die from smoking than from road and other accidents, murder, suicide, falls and poisoning combined, according to anti-smoking campaigners.

People who die from smoking-related diseases are the "silent victims" of a major epidemic, it was claimed, but if someone is killed in a crash or other violent incident it becomes newsworthy.

The claims were made as shopkeepers, often backed by the tobacco industry, and health campaigners square up over proposals to control the sale of tobacco.

The main issue is a proposal to ban tobacco displays beside cash registers which small newsagents and other corner shops claim will hit them in the pocket. . . .

Figures obtained by the anti-smoking group Ash Scotland show that in the period 2003-04, 13,473 people died from smoking-related illnesses, compared with just 2,082 from traffic accidents, murders, suicides, accidents, falls and poisonings.

There were revealed by Ash Scotland chief executive Sheila Duffy at the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland annual conference in Ayr. . . .

Ms Duffy warned of a David and Goliath fight against the giant tobacco companies.

She said tobacco companies still manage to advertise their product, the only known substance to kill half its long-term regular users, with marketing and displays in every corner shop, petrol station and supermarket.

She said that the tobacco industry was fighting "tooth and nail" at Holyrood to stop the government's plans.

Ms Duffy added: "After all, 15,000 Scots take up smoking every year, continuing to replace those who quit or die."

Jump to full article »

• Special vacuum cleaners set to smoke out cigarette ends  

Now council chiefs have declared war on fag ends with the help of a specialist new vacuum cleaner to sweep them up more effectively.

The 'Green Machines' are set to be deployed from today, alongside an increase in the number of regular brush-and-shovel "barrel beat" workers, at a cost of £900,000.

The machines cost around £12,000 each and are produced by Falkirk-based firm Applied Sweepers, which has supplied the street vacuums to more than 30 countries worldwide.

President Francis Galashan said his firm received a "noticeable increase" in orders from countries and cities shortly after they introduced smoking bans similar to the one introduced in Scotland in 2006.

Jump to full article »