http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/country/scotland.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7594469.stm http://tobacco.org/news/270676.html The Scottish Government has set out its plans for the next year, including scrapping the council tax in favour of a local income tax of 3p in the pound. First Minister Alex Salmond also outlined plans to ban under-21s from buying alcohol from off-licences and to restrict the shop display of tobacco. Mr Salmond said the government was responding to the many challenges Scotland faced. BBC Online UK-Scotland Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://news.scotsman.com/health/Poor-diet--and-tobacco.4451320.jp http://tobacco.org/news/270618.html THE number of Scots with sight problems is expected to double in the next 25 years, campaigners warned yesterday. The Royal National Institute of Blind People Scotland (RNIB) predicts the total number of people with some kind of visual impairment will rise to 400,000 in the coming decades. While this would be partly due to the ageing population, it also blamed high rates of diabetes, obesity, smoking and poor health, which can contribute to sight loss. The charity has launched a new drive – the Scottish Vision Strategy – to raise public awareness among those at risk of losing their sight because of poor health. While it said Scotland was leading the way in many eye-care services, such as free eye examinations, the charity warned that the country could still face a sight loss "time bomb". The Scotsman UK UK-Scotland Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?sectioncode=16&storycode=60900&c=2 http://tobacco.org/news/270297.html I've mentioned before that when I'm in need of a good belly laugh I go to the ASH News Bulletins. There's always some whitecoat in Timbuktu who has proven a link between passive smoking and ingrowing toenails. Or a brand new set of statistics even more farcical than the last. And I wasn't disappointed. ASH are running a report claiming Scotland officially now has more pubs than before the smoking ban. . . . You see the claimed figure of 5186 pubs refers only to the number of licences in force at the end of 2007. Because these licences are only renewed every three years those stats include many 'ghost' publicans who have gone bust owing to the ban while their licence technically remains in force. The Scottish Beer and Pub Association cites Industry research showing at least 450 pubs have closed since the smoking ban, almost 10 per cent of Scotland's entire pub stock. Once again it's the traditional locals, especially in rural areas, that are closing at an alarming rate. . . . Although ASH purports to be a 'charity' it's principle source of funding comes from the Tobacco Advisory Group (TAG) - a tiny, somewhat obscure organisation who's principal role is to dole out cash to proactive anti-smoking parties. But who funds TAG? You may (or perhaps not) be surprised to learn that TAG is a subsidiary of Cancer Research UK. . . . Should charities be meddling in politics, significantly in politically correct social engineering? Not when their relationship with government becomes so intertwined they are virtually allowed to dictate policies that override previous electoral promises already voted on by the public. It's undemocratic and it smacks of corruption. In short it stinks. The Publican info@thepublicanjobs.com (Pete Robinson) UK UK-Scotland Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.paisleydailyexpress.co.uk/renfrewshire-news/local-news-in-renfrewshire/paisley-news/2008/08/18/candy-cigarettes-for-kids-spark-anger-87085-21549975/ http://tobacco.org/news/270201.html A NEW sweet shop in Paisley town centre has been slammed for selling packets of chocolate cigarettes to young children. The cartons - which contain eight lookalike cigarettes - are selling for 40p a pack at Candy Kisses in the High Street. Yesterday angry mum Lydia Smyth, 32, fumed: "I couldn't believe it when I saw these packets of fake ciggies on the shelves. . . . However, Sammy Rostron, manager of the shop, played down the row over the confectionery. She said: "It really is just a fuss over nothing. They are just sweets. If people want to buy them, and they appear to, then we will sell them. "If they don't then they won't." And an anti-smoking campaigner has called on parents to stop their kids buying the Krakatoa and Coronation confectionery and others like them. Paisley Daily Express UK-Scotland Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2426919.0.Number_of_Scottish_pubs_rises_since_smoking_ban.php http://tobacco.org/news/270153.html Scotland officially now has more pubs than before the smoking ban. The Scottish Government yesterday reported the number of current public house licences had risen by nine in 2007, the first full year after the 2006 crackdown. There are now 5186 pubs in the country, roughly one for every 1000 people. Publicans, however, drew little or no comfort from the official figures yesterday and insisted they are still facing some of their toughest challenges in a generation, and not just from the ban. Glasgow Herald david.leask@theherald.co.uk (DAVID LEASK) UK-Scotland Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/359/5/482 http://tobacco.org/news/270079.html The number of admissions for acute coronary syndrome decreased after the implementation of smoke-free legislation. A total of 67% of the decrease involved nonsmokers. However, fewer admissions among smokers also contributed to the overall reduction. New England Journal of Medicine UK-Scotland Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Fifth-of-Scots-households-39living.4370822.jp http://tobacco.org/news/269881.html However, the statistics also showed that almost half the population of the most deprived areas of the country still smoke, while smokers account for only one in eight of those in Scotland's affluent areas. In the most deprived areas, 43 per cent of the population smoke, while in the least deprived areas that figure dropped to just 12 per cent. The number of smokers in Scotland has fallen consistently since devolution. In 1999, 30.4 per cent of Scots smoked. By 2007, this had dropped to 24.7 per cent. But while the effect of this fall has been most pronounced among the most affluent in the population, smoking rates have remained stubbornly high among the poor. The Scotsman UK-Scotland Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://news.scotsman.com/health/Calls-for-action-to-stub.4371548.jp http://tobacco.org/news/269783.html ANTI-smoking campaigners have called for more to be done to reduce the number of people who smoke in deprived areas. ASH Scotland was reacting to the 2007 Scottish Household Survey, which highlighted the greater percentage of people who smoke in poorer parts of the country. Chief executive Sheila Duffy said: "The publication of the 2007 Scottish Household Survey shows a slight decline in the number of people smoking in Scotland down from 25 per cent in 2006 to 24.7 per cent last year. "However, the relationship between smoking and deprivation is again highlighted, with 43 per cent of people in the most deprived areas lighting up, compared to just 12 per cent in the more affluent. The Scotsman UK-Scotland Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=617887 http://tobacco.org/news/269468.html After a ban on smoking in all enclosed public places was introduced in Scotland in March 2006, there was a 17 percent reduction in hospital admissions for acute coronary syndrome, says a new study that provides further proof that smoke-free laws provide health benefits. Researchers found the number of admissions in the 10 months after the ban was 2,684, compared with 3,235 in the 10 months before the ban. Nonsmokers accounted for 67 percent of the decrease. There was a 14 percent reduction in admissions among smokers, a 19 percent reduction among former smokers, and a 21 percent reduction among people who'd never smoked. The study also found that people who'd never smoked reported a decrease in their weekly amount of exposure to secondhand smoke. HealthDay [HealthScout] editors@healthday.com UK-Scotland Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.mtbeurope.info/news/2008/807042.htm http://tobacco.org/news/269454.html NHS Health Scotland, the national health improvement agency, has found a 17% fall in admissions for heart attacks just one year after a national smoking ban[1] came into force. Undertaken by the University of Glasgow, this study is one of the most robust of its kind, and was commissioned as part of a national evaluation of the impact of Scotland's smoke-free legislation. Published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, the results from a study of nine Scottish hospitals[2[ demonstrate the positive impact going smoke-free can have on the health of the population. MTB Europe UK-Scotland Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aH_QoRw7omt0 http://tobacco.org/news/269405.html Hospital admissions for heart attacks and chest pains fell 17 percent in Scotland after a 2006 ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. There were 2,684 emergency hospital stays for chest pains in the 10 months after the ban, compared with 3,235 in the same period before the law, the study said. England, which didn't have similar legislation until July 2007, had a 4 percent decline. Bloomberg News kcrowley1@bloomberg.net (Kevin Crowley) UK-Scotland Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080730/hl_nm/smoking_heart_dc_1 http://tobacco.org/news/269399.html Scotland's 2006 ban on smoking in public places cut the heart attack rate by 17 percent within one year, with non-smokers benefiting most, researchers reported on Wednesday. The study is the first real-time, large-scale look at how a ban on second-hand smoke might benefit smokers and nonsmokers. Earlier research looked at the effect of smoking bans in individual cities, or had other limitations. "A total of 67 percent of the decrease involved non-smokers," Dr. Jill Pell of the University of Glasgow and colleagues wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine. The number of people admitted to nine Scottish hospitals for a heart attack dropped 14 percent among smokers, 19 percent among former smokers and 21 percent for those who had never smoked. In contrast, the rate declined only by 4 percent in England during that period, before a ban went into effect there. Reuters UK-Scotland Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121745760276798609.html http://tobacco.org/news/269368.html A new study from Scotland provides what public-health experts in the U.S. say is the strongest evidence yet that public bans on smoking -- being debated in several locales -- improve health by reducing exposure to secondhand smoke. According to the study, which appears in Thursday's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, hospital admissions for heart attacks and acute coronary problems fell 17% overall, and even more for nonsmokers, in the year after Scotland banned smoking in public places. "There has long been a claim from smokers that they are affecting their own bodies, and why should the public care?" said David Cohen, director of cardiovascular research at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo., who wasn't involved in the study. "This shows that the public should absolutely care ... that is an incredibly powerful finding." The study found that nonsmokers accounted for 67% of the overall reduction in heart-disease hospitalizations The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition jeremy.singer-vine@wsj.com (JEREMY SINGER-VINE) UK-Scotland Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/Smoking-ban-real-reason-for.4336990.jp http://tobacco.org/news/269340.html Pubs are closing because smokers don't use them, and because the friends of smokers use them less because their friends aren't there. And in exactly which part of Morningside did Ian Brocklebank, technical director of Camra, grow up? "Traditional" pubs were smoke-filled holes full of unwashed men swilling vast quantities of beer and whisky. The Scotsman UK-Scotland Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://news.scotsman.com/health/Call-to-shelve-cigarette-displays.4279549.jp http://tobacco.org/news/268630.html ANTI-SMOKING campaigners have urged Scotland to follow Ireland’s lead in banning cigarettes from going on display in shops. ASH Scotland believes such a move would help people to quit or cut down and would ultimately save lives. Ireland will put cigarettes out of sight in all stores from July 1 next year. ASH Scotland is pushing for a similar licensing scheme to be introduced here, believing it protects young people from unscrupulous retailers and will curb the illegal tobacco trade, which in many cases is linked to organised crime. The Scotsman UK-Scotland Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT