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December 22nd, 2016:

Philippines: Department of Health backs Ecigs restrictions supported by WHO

Philippines are going towards one of the toughest tobacco control on Southeast Asia. The government back e-cigarette restrictions decided at the CoP7 and include vaping in smoking bans.

The presence of Alicia Bala, Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chairperson, rather than Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial at the head of the Philippine delegation in New Delhi to lead the negotiations with the Worldwide Health Organization (WHO) has been deemed beyond of their expertise.

The delegation clarified that the CSC lead initiatives on tobacco control within governmental agencies. Indeed, in 2009 and 2010, CSC tobacco control initiatives have been to issue an absolute ban on smoking in all government offices and to impose to all government officials and employees not to interact with the tobacco industry unless to supervise, regulate or control tobacco production.

Department of Health agrees with WHOs position on potential risks to the health

During the last CoP7, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) encouraged parties to “to prohibit or restrict the manufacture, importation, distribution, presentation, sale and use of ENDS,” in response to what the WHO describes as a “tobacco epidemic.” The global organization discourages the use of ENDS until it is deemed “safe and effective, and of accepted quality by a competent national regulatory body.”

As a signatory of the WHO’s treating since 2005, Philippines, the Southeast Asia’s second-most populous country, has committed to prioritise public health over other interests in relation to the manufacture, sale, and use of tobacco products.

To clarify the position of the Government with respect to the ecigarette, the Department of Health (DOH) declared it agrees with WHOs position on potential risks to the health of users, as these have not yet been clearly determined.

The determination of a president to have Philippines smoke-free

After his election on June 30, 2016, Rodrigo Dutertre’s government proposed increasing taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products. To confirm president Dutertre’s determination to enforce nationally an anti-smoking law that he experimented as a mayor for 22 years of a 1.5 million citizen city, Davao, the government spokesman Ernesto Abella declared “Certainly in Davao, the sentiment and business establishments support a smoke-free Davao. The president sees it as something that’s not ideal for health… and this is part of the public well-being”. DOH Secretary, Paulyn Jean Ubial, told Reuters she was supportive with the president to curb smoking in public places, including parks, bus stations, and even in public vehicles.

During his term as a mayor in Davao, Reuters reports that he once personally forced a man to stub out his cigarette and eat it after he refused to stop smoking in a restaurant. His nickname, “The Punisher”, was inherited from his governance ruled by harsh laws like a ban on late-night drinking and karaoke, and a 10 p.m. curfew for school children in addition to his smoke-free policy in Davao.

Tobacco industry, a powerful lobby

A Sin Tax Law signed by former president Benigno Aquino III in 2012 strengthened the lobby of cigarette manufacturers and kept the tax structure on alcohol and cigarettes complicated and weak. The system was believed to encourage corruption among state agents and to constitute a loss of earnings for the DOH to manage issues arising from abuse in the use of alcohol and cigarettes.

Cigarette packs to carry graphic health warnings

Starting Friday, graphic warnings about the harmful effects of smoking will be attached to cigarette packs sold in South Korea.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20161222000679

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, all cigarette packs sold here, including those sold at duty-free shops, must carry one of 10 designated full-color and disturbing photos with warnings on the adverse effects of smoking.

Some of the photos depict the body parts of smokers suffering from fatal diseases such as lung cancer, oral cancer, heart attack and strokes. Text warnings include those about the dangers of secondhand smoke, smoking while pregnant, as well as possible side effects such as sexual dysfunction, skin aging and premature death.

The graphic health warnings must be placed on the upper part of both sides of cigarette packets. The photos are required to cover more than 30 percent of both sides of each packet, the ministry said.

The ministry also plans to resume anti-smoking TV ads, introducing real cases of victims of smoking. It had stopped doing so 14 years ago.

It will take one month before the cigarette packs with the warnings will appear in the market due to production and distribution procedures. However, some of the cigarette packs with graphic warnings will be released at retail stores starting Friday for promotion purposes near crowded downtown areas such as Gwanghwanmun, Yeouido and Gangnam, the ministry added.

Anti-smoking campaigns that use such visual images were first introduced in Canada in 2001. Such practices are currently adopted by 101 countries around the world.

“After reviewing figures from 18 countries which adopted the graphic health warning labels, it was found that the smoking rate fell by 13.8 percent in Brazil, while the average for these countries was around 4 percent, after these labels were attached,” said the ministry official.

In June, the National Assembly approved a bill that makes it obligatory for tobacco-makers to display graphic warnings on cigarette packs to promote people’s health.

Under the law, the graphics will be replaced every 24 months and a notice about the next 10 photos will be announced six months ahead of the replacement. Violators of the law will face up to a year in jail or up to 10 million won ($12,000) in fines, or revocation of the company’s business license.

The smoking rate among South Koreans, aged 19 or older, dropped to 39.3 percent last year from 43.1 percent in 2014. It marked the first time that South Korea’s smoking rate fell below 40 percent.

The decrease came after sharp hikes in tobacco prices here. The government raised tobacco prices by 2,000 won per pack in January as part of an anti-smoking campaign.

The ministry announced last year that it aims to lower the smoking rate among South Korean men to 29 percent by 2020.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)

Kentucky leads nation in adult smoking

Once again, Kentucky ranks first for its adult smoking rates, barely inching ahead of West Virginia to take back the first place spot, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

http://www.richmondregister.com/news/kentucky-leads-nation-in-adult-smoking/article_6f814c88-c8a2-11e6-aa59-4320ad1ca961.html

Kentucky’s adult smoking rate in 2015, the latest period available, is 25.9 percent; West Virginia, which ranks second, is at 25.7 percent. That means that more than one-fourth of the adults in both of these states smoke. Arkansas closely follows at 24.9 percent.

States with the lowest smoking rates are Utah at 9.1 percent and California at 11.7 percent.

“Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the U.S., accounting for more than 480,000 deaths every year, or one of every five deaths,” says the CDC.

Nationwide, smoking rates have declined almost 28 percent since 2005, to 15.1 percent in 2015 from 20.9 percent in 2005, says the CDC report based on the 2015 National Health Interview Survey. Kentucky’s smoking rates declined 10 percent in the same time frame, from 28.7 percent to 25.9 percent respectively, according to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a constant national poll conducted by the CDC.

The report also notes that smoking is more prevalent among men, Native Americans, the poor, the less educated, Midwesterners and Southerners, people who on are Medicaid or are uninsured, and those who have a disability, are gay or bisexual, or have mental-health issues.

The CDC says we know how to reduce smoking: “Proven population-based interventions, including tobacco price increases, comprehensive smoke-free laws, anti-tobacco mass media campaigns and barrier-free access to tobacco cessation counseling and medications, are critical to reducing cigarette smoking and smoking related disease and death among U.S. adults; particularly among subpopulations with the highest smoking prevalence,” said the report.

Kentucky has room for improvement in all of these areas.

Kentucky ranks in the bottom 10 states (43rd) for its cigarette tax, at 60 cents per pack, and spends only 4.4 percent of what the CDC recommends for smoking cessation efforts ($2.5 million a year). The state’s high smoking rate also comes with a hefty price tag, as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids estimates Kentucky smoking-related health costs at $1.92 billion a year. The group ranks Kentucky 37th in protecting children from tobacco, and says 17 percent of its high-school students smoke.

And though Kentucky has tried to pass one in the past, Kentucky does not have a comprehensive statewide smoke-free law and isn’t likely to get one any time soon because Republican Gov. Matt Bevin does not support such a law, saying this should be a local decision. State Health Commissioner Hiram Polk said in October that he’s looking for away to get Bevin to alter his policy: “We’ve got to find some kind of landmark we can use there that would be acceptable to the governor and get through the legislature.”

About one-third of Kentuckians are protected by local comprehensive smoke-free workplace laws, according to the Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy.

In contrast, Utah, which has the lowest smoking rate (9.1 percent), does have a comprehensive statewide smoke-free law, has a cigarette tax of $1.70 per pack and spends $7.1 million on tobacco cessation initiatives, which is almost 37 percent of the CDC’s recommended spending. And Utah spends less on health cost caused by smoking at $542 million.

Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

Smoking while pregnant may compromise children’s kidney function

In a new study, young children showed signs of kidney damage if their mothers smoked while pregnant. The findings, which appear in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), add to the list of negative health effects that can result from maternal smoking during pregnancy.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-12-pregnant-compromise-children-kidney-function.html

Because smoking is a well-known risk factor for kidney failure in adults, a team led by Koji Kawakami, MD, PhD, Maki Shinzawa, MD, PhD, and Motoko Yanagita MD, PhD (Kyoto University, in Japan) wondered whether maternal smoking during pregnancy might affect children’s kidney health. The researchers conducted a population-based retrospective study using a database of health check-ups from pregnancy to 3 years of age in Japan. The investigators looked for the presence of proteinuria—or elevated protein the urine, which is a sign of reduced kidney function—in urinary tests from 44,595 children.

In the population examined, 4.4% of women smoked only before pregnancy and 16.7% continued smoking while pregnant. The frequencies of proteinuria in the child at age 3 were 1.7% when mothers continued to smoke during pregnancy, 1.6% when mothers stopped smoking during pregnancy, and 1.3% when mothers were nonsmokers, respectively. Maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with a 1.24-times increased risk of child proteinuria compared with no exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy.

“Maternal smoking during pregnancy is known to be associated with preterm birth, low birth weight, and neonatal asphyxia. The findings from this study suggest an additional adverse effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy,” said Dr. Kawakami. “Prevention of child proteinuria is important since child proteinuria can lead to development of chronic kidney disease in adulthood and ultimately end stage renal disease.”

 

Cigarette packs to carry graphic health warnings

Starting Friday, graphic warnings about the harmful effects of smoking will be attached to cigarette packs sold in South Korea.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20161222000679

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, all cigarette packs sold here, including those sold at duty-free shops, must carry one of 10 designated full-color and disturbing photos with warnings on the adverse effects of smoking.

Some of the photos depict the body parts of smokers suffering from fatal diseases such as lung cancer, oral cancer, heart attack and strokes. Text warnings include those about the dangers of secondhand smoke, smoking while pregnant, as well as possible side effects such as sexual dysfunction, skin aging and premature death.

The graphic health warnings must be placed on the upper part of both sides of cigarette packets. The photos are required to cover more than 30 percent of both sides of each packet, the ministry said.

The ministry also plans to resume anti-smoking TV ads, introducing real cases of victims of smoking. It had stopped doing so 14 years ago.

It will take one month before the cigarette packs with the warnings will appear in the market due to production and distribution procedures. However, some of the cigarette packs with graphic warnings will be released at retail stores starting Friday for promotion purposes near crowded downtown areas such as Gwanghwanmun, Yeouido and Gangnam, the ministry added.

Anti-smoking campaigns that use such visual images were first introduced in Canada in 2001. Such practices are currently adopted by 101 countries around the world.

“After reviewing figures from 18 countries which adopted the graphic health warning labels, it was found that the smoking rate fell by 13.8 percent in Brazil, while the average for these countries was around 4 percent, after these labels were attached,” said the ministry official.

In June, the National Assembly approved a bill that makes it obligatory for tobacco-makers to display graphic warnings on cigarette packs to promote people’s health.

Under the law, the graphics will be replaced every 24 months and a notice about the next 10 photos will be announced six months ahead of the replacement. Violators of the law will face up to a year in jail or up to 10 million won ($12,000) in fines, or revocation of the company’s business license.

The smoking rate among South Koreans, aged 19 or older, dropped to 39.3 percent last year from 43.1 percent in 2014. It marked the first time that South Korea’s smoking rate fell below 40 percent.

The decrease came after sharp hikes in tobacco prices here. The government raised tobacco prices by 2,000 won (USD 1.67) per pack in January as part of an anti-smoking campaign.

The ministry announced last year that it aims to lower the smoking rate among South Korean men to 29 percent by 2020.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)