Clear The Air News Tobacco Blog Rotating Header Image

January, 2017:

Litzman refused all my initiatives for smoking prevention, says chairman of NGO

Jan 10th, 2017
by Editor.
No comments yet

Litzman refused all my initiatives for smoking prevention, says chairman of NGO

http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Health-and-Science/Litzman-refused-all-my-initiatives-for-smoking-prevention-says-chairman-of-NGO-477949

Health minister under fire after Channel 2 investigation shows cash-for-meeting deal by aides.

A four-part investigation on Channel 2 that began Monday night and shows aides to Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman taking cash in exchange for meetings between him and a fictional importer of electronic cigarettes have elicited an angry denial from Litzman.

“This is a smokescreen without one sliver of truth,” Litzman’s office said before the broadcast. “This is a well-scheduled and organized campaign by opposition members and others aimed at bashing and hurting the most respected cabinet minister in Israel.”

In the reaction, Litzman’s office did not deny that he met with journalists posing as potential e-cigarette importers after they paid Moti Babchik, a Ger hassid who writes for the ultra-Orthodox daily Hamodia NIS 3,000 in cash.

Litzman said paying an intermediary to arrange for meetings with him and associate director-general Prof. Itamar Grotto was forbidden and that he would investigate it.

Litzman’s statement said he is always open to everyone who wants to meet him and has fought smoking for many years.

Hamodia regularly carries advertisements for tobacco products. In addition, Litzman’s wife has been a Hamodia employee, working in its archives for many years, according to Channel 2 journalist Haim Rivlin, who led the investigation that is being broadcast throughout this week.

Litzman, a Ger hassid,(Orthodox sect) took credit for the “decline” in smoking when he was an MK, deputy health minister and now health minister, even though the rate has remained steady at around 20% of all Israeli adults.

Amos Hausner, chairman of the Israel Council for the Prevention of Smoking and the country’s most prominent lawyer in legislation to prevent smoking, told The Jerusalem Post that seven months ago, Litzman in fact met with him for 25 minutes – several months after Hausner requested to talk to him about ways of reducing smoking.

“I thanked him for meeting me to discuss smoking prevention.

However, I was very disappointed, as Litzman refused all initiatives I raised in the meeting when Prof. Grotto was present, but the minister did not explain why,” Hausner said, referring to the bill for barring advertising in the press, which Litzman blocked as Knesset member after leaving the ministry.

However, Hausner said that in the Knesset discussion of the bill to bar newspaper ads for cigarettes, as shown in the official protocol, Litzman denied the dangers of smoking.

According to the Knesset protocol, the bill was promoted by then-ministry director-general Prof. Ronni Gamzu, whom Litzman had appointed, and “Litzman shouted at him” in the Knesset over his initiative, Hausner said.

The veteran lawyer charged that while the ministry under Litzman sponsors media ads against junk food and dealing with dementia, “he never made even one ad against smoking.”

Hausner added that Litzman even opposed barring smoking in playgrounds where children were liable to pick up used butts and smoke them.

The minister prevented legislation that would outlaw smoking in cars where children were passengers, Hausner said, even though closed windows expose them to massive amounts of toxins.

Litzman said a ministry team is working to update legislation to prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes, to which Hausner responded that “nothing has been done to stop e-cigs here.”

As for meeting with anyone in the health field, Litzman did not observe the guidelines of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that put strict limits on meeting with tobacco lobbyists and requires publication of such meetings.

During their meeting, Hausner said, Litzman did not accept barring smoking rooms in public places, even though they are being eliminated all over the world. He also said Litzman told him that he is against graphic images of health damage from smoking placed on cigarette packets, arguing that it was “not aesthetic,” and suggested, perhaps in jest, that a “picture of Jerusalem be used instead.”

Hausner said Litzman indeed supported raising tobacco taxes, which actually occurred after his term as deputy minister. But the health minister did not support a recent bill to dedicate 0.5% of the taxes on education on smoking prevention.

“Cigarettes are a business of billions of dollars, so Litzman, so any health minister who opposes basic measures owes the public an explanation why,” he said. “I am still waiting for his explanation, particularly when he claims that he…strongly opposes smoking.”

Graphic Pack Warnings in Hong Kong

Jan 10th, 2017
by Editor.
No comments yet

Download (PDF, 6.27MB)

CASHING IN ON 240 DAILY DEATHS: LAWYERING FOR BIG TOBACCO IN THE PHILIPPINES

Jan 10th, 2017
by Editor.
No comments yet

Download (PDF, 122KB)

Stubbing out tobacco usage

Jan 10th, 2017
by Editor.
No comments yet

Myanmar is experiencing tremendous economic growth. With a young, growing population and a liberalised economy, it has been slated as one of 20 “markets of the future” that will offer the most opportunities for consumer goods companies.

http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/opinion/24471-stubbing-out-tobacco-usage.html

Tobacco has been identified as one of Myanmar’s top 20 key industries. Its market size is worth an estimated US$450 million – up there with dairy products and dried processed foods. The compound annual growth rate from 2013-18 for tobacco is 16 percent, overtaking apparel (14pc) and consumer appliances and electronics (15pc).

With market liberalisation, British American Tobacco (BAT) re-entered Myanmar in 2013 a decade after it exited the country. When re-establishing itself in the country, it announced that it will invest $50 million in a tobacco manufacturing factory. BAT already has a significant 22pc market share in the growing cigarette market.

Myanmar currently has over six million smokers. Like other Asian countries, a high percentage – 44pc – of adult men smoke. This number is set to increase given the growing adolescent smoking population.

In 2010 cigarette sales in Myanmar were about 13 billion sticks, but these sales are projected to almost double to 25 billion sticks in 2018. Myanmar’s projection is the highest increase among all ASEAN countries. This is bad news for the public health system given that Myanmar already has more than 70,000 tobacco-related deaths annually. Myanmar also has the lowest Human Development Index among Asian countries with a global ranking of 148 out of 188 and public health expenditure is a low 1.8pc of GDP.

Myanmar is a typical developing country in that the bulk of smokers are from the lower-income category. Cigarettes are also extremely cheap in Myanmar and within easy reach for the poor. The most popular pack of cigarettes costs only $0.57. A survey on smoking indicates that about 40pc of Myanmar’s youths can purchase cigarettes from a store. Even more worrying is that 15pc of non-smoking youths have indicated that they intend to start smoking next year – again the highest percentage in the ASEAN region.

Myanmar has some basic tobacco control measures in place to address the problem. Since ratifying the global tobacco treaty in 2004 – the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) – the country has passed legislation banning all tobacco advertising and making public places smoke-free, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Myanmar needs to further increase taxes on tobacco products and put it out of reach for the poor and youths. While tobacco advertising and promotions are banned, there are loop holes that can be exploited. Myanmar faces sleek marketing tactics from transnational tobacco companies who take advantage of government officials’ inexperience.

For example, in 2016 Myanmar passed legislation requiring a pictorial health warning on tobacco packs. Japan Tobacco International placed an announcement in a newspaper in October on how it will be complying with the Health Ministry’s requirements. The announcement showed photos of all its packs with and without the pictorial health warnings – an outright advertisement for its brands.

Penalties for violations are miniscule for wealthy tobacco companies. Even if authorities act against a company for non-compliance of pictorial health warnings, the fine is a paltry $7.95 for the first offence.

This is where civil society groups come into play, they should play a more prominent role in exposing the unethical and exploitative practices of transnational tobacco companies operating in Myanmar.

It is important for Myanmar to keep abreast of ASEAN countries’ achievements on tobacco control measures. Most countries have already banned advertising at points of sale. Brunei, Thailand and Singapore have banned pack displays at retail outlets.

These are the next steps for tobacco control in Myanmar. But Myanmar lacks the resources needed for enforcement – particularly staff. It is the only country in the ASEAN region that has not committed national funds for tobacco control efforts. Strengthening tobacco control measures and allocating more resources to enforcement will send a strong message to the public and private sector that the government is serious about protecting public health from the ravages of tobacco.

Tobacco tax hike hits smokers hard

Jan 10th, 2017
by Editor.
No comments yet

http://times-age.co.nz/tobacco-tax-hike-hits-smokers-hard/

Making tobacco products more expensive to buy is a proven way to prod smokers into giving up the habit, Wairarapa list MP Marama Fox says.

The anti-smoking advocate said Quitline, the organisation that helps New Zealanders give up smoking tobacco products, received more calls when prices jumped up.

At the start of the year the cost of cigarettes rose 10 per cent, a move it will make annually until 2020.

It is a part of a bid to help New Zealand reach its 2025 target – to have fewer than 5 per cent of the population smoking.

“The ongoing impact on families with low income is the incentive to quit…” Ms Fox said.

“The cost to our families, through sicknesses and illness, exceeds the cost of cigarettes.

“If we can ensure our whanau have the right incentive and support to quit, then we can save our families the cost of the burden of illness and disease and the loss of our people through death.”

Ms Fox said she wants to see more voluntary smoke free communities in New Zealand.

She credited stores that refused to sell cigarettes as making “a brave move”.

“A number of vendors around the country have chosen not to go there, they see the benefits in the lives of their families, and they don’t want to be providing cigarettes for our whanau.”

Ms Fox believes we are on track to meet the 2025 goal, which she said has already been achieved in certain areas.

“We are already meeting that target in a number of communities, sadly, not Maori communities overall.

“The numbers of Maori smoking are coming down, it is slower than the rest of the population but it is continuing to decrease.”

Ms Fox said vaping and e-cigarettes should be used as reduced harm measures, encouraging people to ditch smoking cigarettes.

“We want to be careful when the introduction of this comes through… not to be enticing young people into something that looks cool,” she said.

Ms Fox said they should be a “cessation product first and foremost”.

Smoking costs global economy over US$1 trillion a year: study

Jan 10th, 2017
by Editor.
No comments yet

http://www.ejinsight.com/20170110-smoking-costs-global-economy-over-us1-trln-a-year-says-new-study/

Smoking costs the global economy more than US$1 trillion a year, and will kill one third more people by 2030 than it does now, according to a new report released on Tuesday.

The World Health Organization and the US National Cancer Institute said in a study that the costs from smoking far outweigh global revenues from tobacco taxes, Reuters reports.

“The number of tobacco-related deaths is projected to increase from about 6 million deaths annually to about 8 million annually by 2030, with more than 80 percent of these occurring in LMICs (low- and middle-income countries),” the study said.

Around 80 percent of smokers live in such countries, and although smoking prevalence was falling among the global population, the total number of smokers worldwide is rising, it said.

Health experts say tobacco use is the single biggest preventable cause of death globally.

“It is responsible for… likely over $1 trillion in health care costs and lost productivity each year,” said the study, peer-reviewed by more than 70 scientific experts.

The economic costs are expected to continue to rise. Although governments have the tools to reduce tobacco use and associated deaths, most have fallen far short of using those tools effectively, WHO said in the report.

“Government fears that tobacco control will have an adverse economic impact are not justified by the evidence. The science is clear; the time for action is now.”

Cheap and effective policies include hiking tobacco taxes and prices, comprehensive smoke-free policies, complete bans on tobacco company marketing, and prominent pictorial warning labels.

Tobacco taxes could also be used to fund more expensive interventions such as anti-tobacco mass media campaigns and support for cessation services and treatments, it said.

Governments spent less than US$1 billion on tobacco control in 2013-2014, according to a WHO estimate.

– Contact us at english@hkej.com

Tobacco control can save billions of dollars and millions of lives

Jan 10th, 2017
by Editor.
No comments yet

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2017/tobacco-control-lives/en/

Policies to control tobacco use, including tobacco tax and price increases, can generate significant government revenues for health and development work, according to a new landmark global report from WHO and the National Cancer Institute of the United States of America. Such measures can also greatly reduce tobacco use and protect people’s health from the world’s leading killers, such as cancers and heart disease.

But left unchecked, the tobacco industry and the deadly impact of its products cost the world’s economies more than US$ 1 trillion annually in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity, according to findings published in The economics of tobacco and tobacco control. Currently, around 6 million people die annually as a result of tobacco use, with most living in developing countries.

The almost 700-page monograph examines existing evidence on two broad areas:

• The economics of tobacco control, including tobacco use and growing, manufacturing and trade, taxes and prices, control policies and other interventions to reduce tobacco use and its consequences; and
• The economic implications of global tobacco control efforts.

“The economic impact of tobacco on countries, and the general public, is huge, as this new report shows,” says Dr Oleg Chestnov, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and mental health. “The tobacco industry produces and markets products that kill millions of people prematurely, rob households of finances that could have been used for food and education, and impose immense healthcare costs on families, communities and countries.”

Globally, there are 1.1 billion tobacco smokers aged 15 or older, with around 80% living in low- and middle-income countries. Approximately 226 million smokers live in poverty.

The monograph, citing a 2016 study, states that annual excise revenues from cigarettes globally could increase by 47%, or US$ 140 billion, if all countries raised excise taxes by about US$ 0.80 per pack. Additionally, this tax increase would raise cigarette retail prices on average by 42%, leading to a 9% decline in smoking rates and up to 66 million fewer adult smokers.

“The research summarized in this monograph confirms that evidence-based tobacco control interventions make sense from an economic as well as a public health standpoint,” says the monograph’s co-editor, Distinguished Professor Frank Chaloupka, of the Department of Economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The monograph’s major conclusions include:

• The global health and economic burden of tobacco use is enormous and is increasingly borne by low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Around 80% of the world’s smokers live in LMICs.

• Effective policy and programmatic interventions exist to reduce demand for tobacco products and the death, disease, and economic costs resulting from their use, but these interventions are underused. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) provides an evidence-based framework for government action to reduce tobacco use.

• Demand reduction policies and programmes for tobacco products are highly cost-effective. Such interventions include significant tobacco tax and price increases; bans on tobacco industry marketing activities; prominent pictorial health warning labels; smoke-free policies and population-wide tobacco cessation programmes to help people stop smoking. In 2013-2014, global tobacco excise taxes generated nearly US$ 269 billion in government revenues. Of this, less than US$ 1 billion was invested in tobacco control.

• Control of illicit trade in tobacco products is the key supply-side policy to reduce tobacco use and its health and economic consequences. In many countries, high levels of corruption, lack of commitment to addressing illicit trade, and ineffective customs and tax administration, have an equal or greater role in driving tax evasion than do product tax and pricing. The WHO FCTC Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products applies tools, like an international tracking and tracing system, to secure the tobacco supply chain. Experience from many countries shows illicit trade can be successfully addressed, even when tobacco taxes and prices are raised, resulting in increased tax revenues and reduced tobacco use.

• Tobacco control does not harm economies: The number of jobs dependent on tobacco has been falling in most countries, largely due to technological innovation and privatization of once state-owned manufacturing. Tobacco control measures will, therefore, have a modest impact on related employment, and not cause net job losses in the vast majority of countries. Programmes substituting tobacco for other crops offer growers alternative farming options.

• Tobacco control reduces the disproportionate health and economic burden that tobacco use imposes on the poor. Tobacco use is increasingly concentrated among the poor and other vulnerable groups.

• Progress is being made in controlling the global tobacco epidemic, but concerted efforts are needed to ensure progress is maintained or accelerated. In most regions, tobacco use prevalence is stagnant or falling. But increasing tobacco use in some regions, and the potential for increase in others, threatens to undermine global progress in tobacco control.

• The market power of tobacco companies has increased in recent years, creating new challenges for tobacco control efforts. As of 2014, 5 tobacco companies accounted for 85% of the global cigarette market. Policies aimed at limiting the market power of tobacco companies are largely untested but hold promise for reducing tobacco use.

Dr Douglas Bettcher, WHO Director for the Prevention of NCDs, says the new report gives governments a powerful tool to combat tobacco industry claims that controls on tobacco products adversely impact economies. “This report shows how lives can be saved and economies can prosper when governments implement cost-effective, proven measures, like significantly increasing taxes and prices on tobacco products, and banning tobacco marketing and smoking in public,” he adds.

Tobacco control is a key component of WHO’s global response to the epidemic of NCDs, primarily cardiovascular disease, cancers, chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and diabetes. NCDs account for the deaths of around 16 million people prematurely (before their 70th birthdays) every year. Reducing tobacco use plays a major role in global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of reducing premature deaths from NCDs by one-third by 2030.

Public support for combating black market cigarettes hits all-time high whilst public perception of its severity dips

Jan 9th, 2017
by Editor.
No comments yet

Clear the Air (CTA) says:

The China Ratified FCTC Treaty mandates increasing tobacco excise tax a) in excess of inflation rate and b) at regular yearly intervals to make tobacco unaffordable to youth.

Most youths start smoking and nicotine addiction before the age of 18. Hence it is important they do not start – that would be the death knell for Big Tobacco which callously addicts children in the pursuit of increased profits.

Preventative health measures include tobacco excise taxation, plain packaging of tobacco products to remove attractive colours from the Silent Salesman (pack containers),
placing the onus on premises owners and licensees to stop people smoking in workplaces such as restaurants and bars, COMPREHENSIVE instead of piecemeal public smoking bans and legislation, point of sale display bans and licensing of tobacco retailers, raising the tobacco use and buying age to 21 (frontal lobe development in youth thinking patterns starts to change at that age) and mandating large graphic health warnings printed on the retail packs – these should be rotated at regular intervals.

The FCTC Treaty also requires that any contact with the tobacco industry by Governments should be solely to regulate them and such meetings should be held in public.

Moreover on a regular basis the tobacco industry are supposed under the FCTC legal binding instrument to provide information on what organisations and front groups they have been funding and any forbidden CSR Projects they have entered into.

This heinous industry seeks to addict children as replacement addicted customers for their older customers that are literally dying off.

Two in every three smokers will be killed by their addiction to the nicotine in tobacco.

Recognition of their front groups and those seeking to further the interests of Big Tobacco should be rejected, and they should be publically shamed for fronting for the merchants of death.

Worldwide, Big Tobacco uses the same tactics: they blatantly lie in order to protect their market share: in fact they are the source of smuggling genuine products which they refer to as ‘Transit’ or ‘General Cargo’

RICO convicted Racketeers (Big T) state:

– Tobacco smuggling will increase if excise tax is increased
– Plain packaging does not work
– Graphic warnings do not work, hides their trademarks
– What they do not advertise is they are RICO convicted racketeers

Clear the Air:

CTA: this is a crime prevention matter and handled by HK Customs very well
CTA: Australia has proven the exact opposite and many countries are now following this path
CTA: hundreds of peer reviewed scientific reports prove otherwise. Australian and UK courts overturned their appeals
CTA: FACT ! the US judgment is attached in the file

————————————————

http://hkuait.org/public-support-for-combating-black-market-cigarettes-hits-all-time-high-whilst-public-perception-of-its-severity-dips/

A survey conducted by Ipsos Hong Kong Limited (Ipsos), an independent opinion research specialist, reveals that whilst public perception of the black market cigarette problem dipped, a record number of respondents believe that increased government action is necessary to combat the illicit cigarette trade.

“Black market cigarettes cannot be eliminated by simply implementing one measure” said Jeff Herbert, advisor to the Hong Kong United Against Illicit Trade (HKUAIT). “In addition to considering stricter penalties and other measures such as strong minimum sentences, and increasing public education, the Hong Kong Government needs to ensure that it does not implement legislation such as drastic tax increases or excessive health warnings as international experience shows that these regulations could possibly reverse the downward trend of illicit cigarettes in Hong Kong.”

According to the latest Oxford Economics “Asia Illicit Tobacco Indicator 2015″ report, illicit cigarettes contributed to 29.1% of total cigarette consumption. However, while still accounting for nearly 1 in 3 cigarettes consumed in Hong Kong, the illicit cigarette trend has seen a gradual decline since recording at 35.9% in 2012.

In an Ipsos survey released today, Ipsos Director Mick Gordon highlighted that “the findings clearly show that approximately 3 in 4 respondents believe drastic increases in tobacco duty, insufficient penalties and sophisticated criminal networks contribute to the problem of illicit cigarettes in Hong Kong”.

“Tobacco duty revision rates, while important, is not the only regulatory measure that should be approached cautiously”, Jeff warns. “As a matter of principle, HKUAIT agrees that tobacco duty needs to be revised periodically. However, any increase should take into account prevailing social and economic conditions, reflected in the Government’s annual Consumer Price Index report”.

In May last year, the Food and Health Bureau issued a letter notifying selected stakeholders that it plans on pushing ahead with a legislative proposal that increases the size of health warnings on tobacco products from 50% to 85%.

“This legislative proposal is particularly worrying because we can foresee the direct effect it has on the illicit tobacco trade”, adds Patrick Wong, Executive Director of HKUAIT. Several stakeholders, including HKUAIT, have argued that the illicit trade of cigarettes will further proliferate if the proposed 85% graphic health warning is implemented alongside a requirement to insert tar and nicotine levels on side panels. Viewed together, available space for tobacco manufacturers to print security and authentication features is further reduced, resulting in a less secure supply chain and an environment that facilitates illicit trade.

The 85% health warning debate continues at the Legislative Council’s Panel on Health Services (Panel). Members of the public are invited to submit their views online (up to 10 January 2017). A special meeting of the Panel to discuss this issue has been scheduled for 17 January 2017.

This survey was commissioned by HKUAIT and conducted by Ipsos in December 2016. More than a thousand Hong Kong adult citizens participated in this survey. Over the last 4 years, HKUAIT has commissioned similar surveys to gauge the public’s perception of the illicit cigarette problem and how it may affect the lives of Hong Kong citizens.

Why e-cigs are not a safer alternative to cigarettes

Jan 9th, 2017
by Editor.
No comments yet

Today’s guest blogger is Blair Thornley, PharmD, a certified specialist in poison information, at Poison Control Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthy_kids/Why-e-cigs-are-not-a-safer-alternative-to-cigarettes.html

Electronic cigarettes, or “e-cig” use among teens has increased tremendously in the last two years, from approximately 780,000 in 2013 to more than 3 million students in 2015. Similarly, between 2011 and 2013, exposure to e-cigarette TV ads increased by 256 percent among 12 to 17- year-olds and by 321 percent among young adults between the ages of 18 and 24.

Of those surveyed, 40 percent said that they used e-cigarettes because they tasted good; only 10 percent admitted to using them as a quitting aid for conventional cigarettes. These results seem to suggest that, not only are adolescents using e-cigarettes primarily for recreational purposes, but that their increase in popularity is due to the successful marketing techniques of e-cigarette manufacturers. Many of these efforts mimic the tactics that Big Tobacco used in the mid-1900s, and they’re working – again.

When you look at old tobacco ads next to newer, e-cigarette ads, the similarities are astounding. Until late this past summer, e-cigarettes were not considered tobacco products by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration so marketers did not have to adhere to the same standards and laws as the tobacco companies. They used celebrity spokespeople such as Jenny McCarthy and Courtney Love. Their ads portrayed rugged men and glamorous women sending the message that using e-cigarettes is masculine, sexy, or rebellious. They knew that sex sells, and therefore portrayed their products as something that will make the user more attractive to the opposite sex. Some e-cigarette companies even sponsored sporting events and music festivals because they knew it would help them reach large audiences, including young children and teens.

Many e-liquids come in sweet flavors, with names that are appealing to younger audiences, such as “I love donuts” or “Mama’s cookies”. They also used cartoons, reminiscent of Joe Camel, who successfully marketed cigarettes to kids in the 1990s. Still other ads send the message that they’re healthier than regular cigarettes by encouraging people to “switch, don’t quit”. With all of these tactics, it’s little wonder why e-cigarette use among youth is on the rise.

Another important factor fueling the rise in e-cigarette use is the commonly held belief among young people that they are less harmful than tobacco products. Some teens are unaware that the e-liquids they’re using contain nicotine, and nearly 20 percent of young people believe that they cause no harm at all! The majority of teens are using them out of sheer curiosity, they think it tastes good, and it’s a fun thing to do with their friends. They don’t realize that many of these products contain nicotine, which can lead to a powerful, life-long addiction, as well as a permanent lowering of impulse control among teens.

There is also evidence that the aerosol vapors from the e-cigarette are not as harmless as initially believed. Flavoring is added with a chemical known as diacetyl, which has been linked to serious lung disease. E-liquids may also contain heavy metals, such as nickel, lead or tin. Another risk that has been making headlines recently is the e-cigarette batteries that have exploded in users’ pockets, resulting in serious injuries. Because this trend is so new, scientists are still working to understand the long-term health effects, but all the preliminary evidence seems to indicate that e-cigarettes are no safer than conventional cigarettes, and should not be used recreationally.

With all of this new information, it’s important to establish an open dialogue with your teens and young adults, and make sure they’re aware of the risks associated with e-cigarettes. The more you know, the better equipped you will be to protect your children. If you have any questions about e-cigarettes, you can feel free to call the Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222, where a pharmacist or nurse is on staff 24 hours a day to answer your call.

The effect of pack warning labels on quitting

Jan 9th, 2017
by Editor.
No comments yet

The effect of pack warning labels on quitting and related thoughts and behaviours in a national cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers

Anna Nicholson, GDipPH, BPhty(Hons) PhD Ron Borland, PhD Pele Bennet, BHSc Maureen Davey, MB BS FAFPHM Jasmine Sarin, BHSci(Indig Hlth) Anke Van der Sterren, MPH MA BA Matthew Stevens, PhD David Thomas, MB BS PhD FAFPHM

https://academic.oup.com/ntr/article-abstract/doi/10.1093/ntr/ntw396/2871245/The-effect-of-pack-warning-labels-on-quitting-and

Abstract

Introduction:

The high prevalence of smoking among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia (39%) contributes substantially to health inequalities. This study assesses the impact of warning labels on quitting and related thoughts and behaviours for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers.

Methods:

Participants were recruited from communities served by 34 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services and communities in the Torres Strait, Australia, using quota sampling. A cohort of 642 daily/weekly smokers completed relevant questions at baseline (April 2012-October 2013) and follow up (August 2013-August 2014).

Results:

We considered three baseline predictor variables: noticing warning labels, forgoing cigarettes due to warning labels (‘forgoing’) and perceiving labels to be effective.

Forgoing increased significantly between surveys only for those first surveyed prior to the introduction of plain packs (19% vs. 34%), however there were no significant interactions between forgoing cigarettes and the introduction of new and enlarged graphic warning labels on plain packaging in any model. Forgoing cigarettes predicted attempting to quit (AOR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.02-2.06) and, among those who did not want to quit at baseline, wanting to quit at follow-up (AOR: 3.19, 95% CI: 1.06-9.63).

Among those less worried about future health effects, all three variables predicted being very worried at follow-up. Often noticing warning labels predicted correct responses to questions about health effects that had featured on warning labels (AOR: 1.84, 95% CI: 1.20-2.82) but not for those not featured.

Conclusions:

Graphic warning labels appear to have a positive impact on the understanding, concerns and motivations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers and, through these, their quit attempts.

IMPLICATIONS

Graphic warning labels are likely to be effective for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smokers as they are for the broader Australian population.

← Earlier Posts Newer Posts →