29 May 2013
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HEADLINES |
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Irish government backs ban on cigarette pack branding |
| Ireland is to become the first country in the European Union to ban branding on cigarette packages by using plain packaging and uniform labeling, the government said.
All trademarks, logos, colors and graphics will be removed from tobacco products sold in Ireland under the new rules, the Health Ministry said, after the proposal secured backing from the government which plans to prepare legislation this autumn with a view to enact the new law next year. See also: |
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Plain cigarette packs not a problem for small shops |
| A new study by Cancer Research UK contradicts research from the tobacco industry which claimed it would take longer to serve standard packs of cigarettes, confuse shop keepers, cause queues and disrupt shops.
Directly after the introduction of the new standardised packaging in Australia, there was an average increase in the serving time of two to three seconds to around 12.5 seconds. Retailers quickly adapted to standard packaging and the transaction time returned to normal levels during the second week of implementation and remained there several months later. The average time to serve tobacco at the end of the study in February was 10.37 seconds. Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH said: “The tobacco industry says wait for the evidence from Australia. Well, here it is and it kills the industry argument that it will harm small retailers stone dead. Standardised packaging is popular with the public, with politicians and with the experts: there’s no excuse for putting it off. Every day the Government dithers the equivalent of over two jumbo jets full of children start smoking and many will go on to die as a result.” See also: |
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E-cigarette company survery on cigarette breaks |
| Four in ten smokers admit they deliberately skive from work by hanging around outside on cigarette breaks, a study by e-cigarette company E-Lites, has found.
Researchers found six in ten smokers take extra breaks throughout the day to have a cigarette, on top of their usual lunch and coffee breaks, without making the time up. And 42% admitted to ‘lingering’ outside almost five minutes longer than they need to so they can avoid going back to their desk. According to E-Lites, 83% of non-smokers simply see smoking breaks as an excuse for their smoking colleagues to catch up and chat outside of their lunch hour. |
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Cornwall: Smokers flout rules at hospital six years after smoking ban introduced |
| Smokers are ignoring attempts to ban tobacco use from the Royal Cornwall Hospital site in Truro.
The hospital said the problem was highlighted by smokers stubbing out their cigarette ends in a new floral display. The Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust (RCHT) sites should have been smoke-free since 2007 but hard-core smokers ignore the rules. |
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Winchester: Inquest told that Swanmore man died from smoking cigarettes, not asbestos exposure |
| A court heard that a man was exposed to asbestos during the time he worked in Portsmouth Dockyard, but Dr Adnan Al-Badri, consultant pathologist at the RHCH, told the hearing he did not believe this to be the cause of death.
He said that Mr Cutting’s small cell carcinoma was a particularly aggressive form of cancer, the result of smoking cigarettes when he was younger. He said there was a tumour on Mr Cutting’s lung that was in the wrong position to be the result of asbestos exposure. |
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French report calls for ban on e-cigarettes in public places |
| French medical experts are recommending that e-cigarettes should be subject to the same restrictions as tobacco smoking. |
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