HEADLINES |
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Manchester: Police Commissioner backs plain cigarette pack plan |
Greater Manchester’s Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd is backing plans to standardise cigarette packaging in a bid to deter youngsters from smoking and reduce the financial burden on public health care services.
He has also dismissed claims by tobacco companies that standardised packaging will increase the sale of illicit tobacco. |
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Northern Ireland: Health Trust campaign to cut smoking in pregnancy |
A Northern Ireland campaign to help women to stop smoking during pregnancy has been launched by midwives in the South Eastern Health Trust.
The trust’s figures show that 15% of its maternity patients smoke during their pregnancy, despite the damage it does to their unborn children. |
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Smoking shisha is a not safe alternative to cigarettes, warn experts |
A study carried out by University of California San Francisco has found that whilst smoking shisha exposes users to different chemicals than cigarettes, they are still harmful.
Research chemist Peyton Jacob said: ‘People want to know if it is a lesser health risk if they switch from cigarettes to smoking a water-pipe on a daily basis. ‘We found that water-pipe smoking is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking, nor is it likely to be an effective harm-reduction strategy.’ See also: |
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USA: New York City proposes to raise the age at which tobacco can be purchased from 18 to 21 |
No one under 21 will be able to buy cigarettes in New York City, under a new proposal that marks the latest in a decade of moves to crack down on smoking in the nation’s largest city. |
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US supreme court rejects challenge to new cigarette labeling |
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a tobacco industry challenge to a controversial 2009 federal law that mandates graphic warning labels on cigarettes. The high court refused to hear the case, essentially upholding a lower court ruling in favour of the government’s labeling changes. |
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USA: California mulls $2 tax for cigarettes |
California’s anti-smoking advocates are asking their legislature to back a $2 state tax hike on cigarettes – double the increase voters rejected last year – on the heels of President Barack Obama’s urging a federal cigarette tax increase earlier this month.
The proposed increase in California would lift its excise tax on a pack of cigarettes to $2.87, steeply raising the cost of smoking in the most populous U.S. state to help fund health-care programs. |
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