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FROM THE DIRECTOR'S DESK
DAY SEMINAR: C'MON BABY, LIGHT MY LIARASH, the Cancer Society and the Smokefree Coalition are pleased to present the day seminar: C'mon Baby, Light my Liar. Tobacco industry deception over light and mild descriptors, and the Commerce Commission investigation. Thursday 23 November 2006, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Registration is free but bookings are essential. You can register online at www.sfc.org.nz/seminarbooking.html or by e-mailing ashnz@ash.org.nz (subject: Light and mild seminar). Bookings close 5pm Friday 17 November. The day programme is available here (PDF 58Kb). Lunch, morning tea, and afternoon tea will be provided. Speakers include:
We hope you will take advantage of this great opportunity and look forward to seeing you there! |
NEW TOBACCO WARNINGS ONLY THE FIRST STEP
The Smokefree Coalition is welcoming the announcement by Associate Minister of Health Damien O'Connor that
graphic warnings will appear on all cigarette packets from 2008, but says more needs to be done.
"It's a good start," says Coalition Director Mark Peck. "However, we're disappointed the warnings won't be bigger."
The Coalition is promising to keep the pressure on the Government to further regulate the appearance, sale and marketing of tobacco products.
"We look forward to the day when tobacco product display is prohibited in New Zealand, and all tobacco is sold in plain packaging containing only health warnings," Mark Peck said.
The new warnings will comprise graphic images of the kinds of damage smoking can cause, and must cover 30 percent of the front of every cigarette packet and 90 percent of the back.
Mr Peck says the Coalition wanted health warnings to cover 60 percent of the front and 100 percent of the back.
"We know from Canadian research that large pictorial health warnings are an important way of informing smokers about the health effects of smoking. If we want to reduce the annual 5,000 smoking-related deaths in New Zealand, the logical thing is to make warnings larger.
"We need to send the clearest message possible that smoking leads to disease, and early death."
The Smokefree Coalition believes the grace-period of 12 months for manufacturers is too long, giving the tobacco industry ample opportunity to stockpile packs without graphic warnings. These can still be sold for six months after the restrictions come into force on 27 February 2008.
Smokefree Coalition Media Release, 2 November 2006
NEXT WAVE OF AUSTRALIAN WARNINGS SET TO APPEAR
The image of this fragile newborn caught up in a tangle of tubes will soon be appearing on cigarette packs
across Australia. It is part of the next series of seven graphic images that will now appear on packs.
The new warnings cover show lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, blindness, the effect of smoking on unborn babies, the addictive nature of smoking and the toxicity of tobacco smoke.
From a gruesome image of an eye, warning of blindness; to the shot of a heart bypass operation; to the inside of a lung, the images are designed to shock smokers into giving up.
The images must cover 30 percent of the front and 90 percent of the back of packets, including explanatory information, as well as the Quitline logo and phone number.
The first wave of images, appearing on packs since March 2006, included images of gangrenous feet and a mouth rotted with cancer. The campaign reportedly triggered record numbers of smokers to quit.
Director of Health Strategies at The Cancer Council NSW Anita Tang welcomed the new images saying they needed to change in order to keep their shock value. But Ms Tang warned the tobacco industry was going to great lengths to avoid a negative impact.
For example, Dunhill recently introduced a double-sided fold-out section enabling manufacturers to avoid displaying the warnings.
"The Government requires that cigarette packs carry graphic warnings so smokers can be better informed of the health risks, and to motivate them to quit smoking," Ms Tang said.
"However, this intention is currently being deliberately undermined by the tobacco industry by developing new pack configurations such as the new split pack."
ASH Australia chief executive Anne Jones said research has shown the graphic warnings are effective at encouraging smokers to quit and deterring young people from smoking.
"But I am concerned we may see another huge round of stockpiling the other products that smokers are used to," Ms Jones said. "When the first round came on we didn't see them for five months because of stock-piling."
The Daily Telegraph, 1 November 2006
SMOKING IN CARS A DANGER TO PASSENGERS
The Government should consider banning smoking in cars where children are present, as it could damage the youngsters' lungs, researchers say.
A Wellington School of Medicine report found being in a car with a smoker was equivalent to sitting in a typical smoky bar, even with the smoker's window wound fully down. With all the windows wound up, the pollution was at least twice as bad as sitting in the smokiest bar, the researchers said.
The study measured the amount of particulates in a car while the front seat passenger smoked a cigarette. Particulates are tiny airborne particles which can enter the body, and have been associated with negative health effects in previous studies of air pollution.
Public health lecturer Richard Edwards said on a very smoggy day in Auckland, particulate levels were between 35-40 micrograms per cubic metre. In a car where someone was smoking with their window down the particulate level was 199 micrograms per cubic metre. With all the windows up, the level skyrocketed to 2926 micrograms per cubic metre.
Dr Edwards said the School of Medicine was calling on the Government to consider a law aimed at halting smoking in cars with children. The practice was already banned in some areas of the United States, and was being considered in New South Wales, he said.
"There's lots of evidence that second-hand smoke causes respiratory illnesses in children, so given that the levels are high, then you'd expect (parents) are exposing their children to health risks."
The particulates research follows another study released by the School of Medicine last month, which observed 16,000 cars in Wellington over a two-week period.
A smoker was present in four percent of the cars, and of those a quarter were also carrying other occupants. Researchers said that study was likely to have greatly underestimated the prevalence of smoking in cars.
Stuff, 27 October 2006
INCREASING NUMBERS TRY TO QUIT
A big jump in the number of people trying to quit smoking has been attributed to increased publicity surrounding health effects on the smoker and their family. The Quitline has registered a 32 percent increase in numbers calling their service.
Executive director Helen Glasgow said 8,453 people registered on the programme in April, May and June this year, compared to 6384 in the same three months last year.
"People are starting to realise that smoking affects their health, as well as the health of their children," Ms Glasgow said.
Māori Services adviser Jon Royal said the number of Māori callers to the Quitline increased by 57 percent, with 1904 registrations in April to June 2006 compared to 1210 in the same period last year.
He said Māori people who smoke should not be afraid to give quitting a go. "It's hard to quit but Māori need to take advantage of help on offer. There's Quitline, local health providers, whānau, friends and other quitters."
Stuff, 30 October 2006
SMOKEFREE POLICY IN PLAYGROUNDS URGED
All Queenstown Lakes District Council's swimming pools, parks and playgrounds could be made smokefree if the community services committee moves to recommend the proposal to the full council at its meeting this week.
In the report to the committee, council parks assistant Phillipa Tsukigawa said a recent Cancer Society survey found two thirds of all New Zealanders supported the expansion of smokefree policies to outdoor areas used by children.
The South Taranaki and Upper Hutt councils had already adopted a similar initiative and South Wairarapa had made its playgrounds smokefree. Surrey Park playground, in Invercargill, is also smokefree.
"Several councils in New South Wales, Australia, are passing regulations to ban smoking in parks, playgrounds, beaches, at entrances to buildings, sporting fields and venues, and al fresco dining areas to promote healthy communities," her report said. Several major sporting venues there had become smokefree.
If the policy was adopted signs would be erected to encourage people not to smoke in children's playground areas, sports grounds and swimming pools. It was not proposed to actively enforce the policy. The emphasis would be to "denormalise" smoking. The committee will be asked to recommend the report to the council.
Otago Daily Times, 31 October 2006
FREEDOM AND DECEPTION
A PDF version of this article, which includes footnotes, is available on request from Nick Wilson (nwilson@actrix.gen.nz).
Should New Zealand's Commerce Commission act on cigarette brand name deception?
The New Zealand Commerce Commission has begun an investigation into the misleading use of the terms 'light' and 'mild' on cigarette packets in New Zealand. Such action is consistent with New Zealand's treaty responsibilities, since part of the treaty Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (that New Zealand has signed) requires action on misleading descriptors.
However, some brand names themselves can also be considered misleading. An example from New Zealand is the Freedom brand, because of the connotations of the name, and the flying bird images on the pack (Figure 1). Even the cigarette stems have the word Freedom on them (Figure 2).
Given the near universal regret that smokers have about starting smoking and the highly addictive nature of nicotine, the use of the term 'freedom' would appear to be extraordinarily inappropriate. It is also highly misleading, and by creating positive associations with tobacco smoking contributes to the promotion of tobacco.
Cigarette packs in New Zealand require health warnings in text and one of these covers 'addiction' (Figure 1). However, in this case, the brand name and accompanying images are likely to seriously compromise the effect of the warning.
The key word in the warning ('addiction') is also smaller than the brand name Freedom with a font size ratio between the words of approximately 1.5 to 1 (Figure 1). And if a picture is "worth a 1000 words" the ratio of the 'flying birds picture' to that of the complete warning text is over 71 to 1.
For the back of the pack these ratios are over 4 to 1 and over 15 to 1, respectively in favour of the pro-tobacco message.
Figure 1. A pack of the Freedom brand of cigarettes marketed in New Zealand (front side) |
 Figure 2. Stem of a Freedom brand cigarette
Images supplied courtesy of the New Zealand Medical Journal. |
This concern about the name of the Freedom brand is not new, with adverse comment on it in Australia in 1995. There are also other cigarette brand names with problematic positive associations in New Zealand (eg, Holiday and Lucky Strike). What is new, however, is the neuroscience evidence base from experiments with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This provides biomedical mechanisms for the powerful effect of brand names and imagery on human beliefs and behaviour.
The Commerce Commission should consider expanding its current investigation to also address deceptive branding by the tobacco industry. In addition to fines they may impose on the industry, the policy options they could recommend to Government include:
- making the brand name a very small part of the pack cover (perhaps 5 percent and on one side only);
- not allowing certain brand names where these have positive associations and attributes; or
- banning brand names and branding altogether and allowing only plain packs with health warnings.
Ultimately, however, there is an urgent need to adopt a new regulatory framework that removes the tobacco industry from all aspects of tobacco marketing. Such a framework could also remove the profit motivation from cigarette production and distribution by making this the responsibility of a not-for-profit agency with a public health mandate.
Nick Wilson, George Thomson, Richard Edwards
Department of Public Health, Wellington School of Medicine & Health Sciences,
University of Otago, Wellington
New Zealand Medical Journal Vol 119 No 1244, 27 October 2006
YOUTH ANTI SMOKING ADS MAY HAVE OPPOSITE EFFECT
The surest way to get teenagers to do something is to tell them not to. That principle appears to apply to some smoking-prevention ads created by tobacco companies, a new study has found.
Youngsters 12 to 17 were less likely to see smoking as harmful and had stronger intentions to smoke after the airing of television ads that urged parents to talk to their children about not lighting up, according to the study to be published in December in the American Journal of Public Health.
The slogan of the national campaign, begun in 1999 by cigarette industry leader Philip Morris USA, was 'Talk. They'll listen.'
Researchers gauged the effect of the ads by analysing television ratings from 75 US media markets and data from an annual national survey of eighth, 10th and 12th-graders from 1999 to 2002.
Eighth-graders likely to have seen the ads targeted at parents were more likely to believe that the dangers of smoking had been exaggerated and more likely to say they planned to smoke, the study found. Older teenagers also expressed stronger approval of smoking and were more likely to have smoked in the 30 days before the school survey.
In the ads, "no reason beyond simply being a teenager is offered as to why youths should not smoke," wrote the researchers, led by Melanie Wakefield of the Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.
Smoking-prevention ads that tobacco companies targeted at kids themselves appeared to have no effect either way, the study found.
Dave Sutton, a Philip Morris USA spokesman, said the ads had been tested to make sure no unintended message was sent. Of parents who saw at least one ad, 61 percent talked to their children about not smoking.
"We have found nothing through our research to indicate that the study's conclusions are valid," Sutton said. Still, the company is open to 'collaborative dialogue' with public health experts on how to improve the campaign."
The Washington Post, 31 October 2006
NICOTINE THE ACHILLES HEEL OF HEALING
Smokers may have a tougher time recovering from tendon injuries, such as rotator cuff tears and Achilles tendon ruptures, a new study suggests.
Based on the observed effects of nicotine on tendon healing in rats, the study's authors recommend that people who are about to undergo rotator cuff repair should avoid tobacco products entirely.
While cigarette smoking is known to hamper the healing of bones and skin, the current investigation is the first to show it can slow tendon healing as well, Dr Leesa Galatz of the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri, said.
Dr Galatz and her team tested nicotine's effects on the outcome of rotator cuff repair surgery in 72 rats. Half of the animals were given nicotine via an implanted pump that maintained a nicotine concentration in the bloodstream equivalent to that in a human who smokes 20 to 30 cigarettes a day. The rest of the rats received a saline solution, an inactive water and salt solution.
Inflammation lasted longer in the rats given nicotine, while the rats on saline showed higher levels of type-1 collagen, indicating faster healing. Cell growth and density was greater in the saline-solution rats at day 10 and day 28 of the experiment, but were similar in the two groups by day 56.
Nicotine "has the greatest effect at the early time points", Dr Galatz said.
She said cigarettes contain many other harmful substances beside nicotine which could also impair healing.
New Zealand Herald, 28 October 2006
OCEANIA TOBACCO CONTROL CONFERENCE - CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
From
Vision to Reality
4-7 September 2007
The call for abstracts for the inaugural Oceania Tobacco Control Conference is now open. Deadline for abstract submission is 31 January 2007. Abstracts can be submitted through the conference website www.smokefreeoceania.org.nz.
Abstracts are invited from researchers, policy analysts and practitioners interested in achieving a smokefree Oceania. Abstract submission guidelines and details about the conference can also be found on the website.
The conference will be held in Auckland, New Zealand, 4-7 September 2007. Conference registration will open in early January 2007. This conference promises to be both exciting and informative. Confirmed keynote speakers include, Cynthia Callard with Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada, Shu-Hong Zhu from the University of San Diego, California, and Professor Melanie Wakefield with Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne.
To find out more about the conference visit www.smokefreeoceania.org.nz.
SOCIAL MARKETING DOWNUNDER - ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
A conference for social marketers in NZ, Australia and the Pacific
8-9 March 2007, Hotel Intercontinental - Wellington
The third Social Marketing Downunder conference is to be held in Wellington, New Zealand on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 March 2007. The conference will be attended by social marketers and people working in related areas in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands.
The theme of this year's conference is - Sustaining social marketing.
More details about the conference are available at www.socialmarketing.co.nz.
There will also be a number of meetings in Wellington earlier in the week involving some of the keynote speakers and people working in the government sector.
Conference objectives:
- To enhance understanding of social marketing and its value to our communities
- To improve the quality and effectiveness of social marketing practice in NZ, Australia and the Pacific
- To encourage collaboration between social marketing agencies, the sharing of good ideas and the building of networks.
Keynote speakers:
- Professor Tim Jackson - Tim is an expert in consumer behaviour and sustainability
- Dr Jeff French - Jeff is Director of the recently established Social Marketing Centre at the National Consumer Council in London.
- Professor Gerard Hastings - Gerard is a world expert in social marketing and is currently the Director of the Institute for Social Marketing and Centre for Tobacco Control Research, University of Stirling and the Open University, Scotland.
- Panel discussion/debate - the final plenary session will take the form of a panel discussion exploring partnering with the private sector. It will be facilitated by Linda Clark (former host of Nine to Noon).
Registration is now open. The early bird registration fee will be NZ $675.00 incl. GST ($600 plus GST). Registration forms will be available November 2006. Full registration will be $787.50 incl. GST ($700 plus GST).
To find out more about the conference visit www.smokefreeoceania.org.nz.
NEEDY FOREGO FOOD FOR CIGARETTES
An Australian study has revealed the most disadvantaged smokers are going without meals to enable them to buy cigarettes. The New South Wales Cancer Council will use the study to better target smokers in the state.
The cancer council's Anita Tang says it is a vicious circle - poorer smokers try to quit because of the high cost of cigarettes, but are less likely to succeed due to the everyday stresses they face.
Ms Tang says the study showed many poorer smokers are going without.
"Certainly things like being unable to pay bills, not being able to heat their homes or missing meals were reported by two thirds of smokers and poorest smokers were unsurprisingly most highly represented in that finding," she said.
Ms Tang says the most disadvantaged groups in NSW - such as single mothers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and people with mental illness - are twice as likely to smoke as the general population in NSW.
"In New South Wales alone there are over 270,000 households that live on less than $300 a week," she said.
"Now we don't know how many of them specifically went without meals, but if we know that poorer people are much more likely to be smokers and if we know that poorer smokers are likely to have do without other things, then they are quite large numbers."
ABC News Online, 30 October 2006
COURT BLOCKS RULING ON TOBACCO INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON: A federal appeals court has blocked a landmark judgment against the tobacco industry, allowing the companies to continue selling 'light ' and 'low tar ' cigarettes until their appeals can be reviewed.
The decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also allows the companies to continue for now the advertising campaigns that a federal judge in August ruled were misleading.
The companies have argued that her far-reaching ruling could cost them millions of dollars and lead to a loss of customers.
In mid-August, Kessler ruled that the companies had violated racketeering laws and conspired for decades to mislead the public about the health hazards of smoking.
The judge ordered the companies to publish in newspapers and on their Web sites "corrective statements" on the adverse health effects and addictiveness of smoking and nicotine.
She also ordered tobacco companies to stop labelling cigarettes as 'low tar,' 'light,' 'ultra light' or 'mild,' since such cigarettes have been found to be no safer than others because of how people smoke them.
Kessler's ruling was appealed by Philip Morris USA, Lorillard Inc., Brown & Williamson Corp. and British American Tobacco PLC.
"The company believes the trial court's decision is contrary to the law and facts presented during trial, and looks forward to the opportunity to present its arguments to the appellate court.," said William S. Ohlemeyer, vice president and associate general counsel for Altria Group Inc., the parent company of Philip Morris.
William V. Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the appeals court stay was not surprising.
"Judge Kessler's finding was that these companies have lied to the American people for 50 years," Corr said. "We're confident that, if it means going all the way to the Supreme Court, the government's case will be vindicated and the industry will be held accountable."
The Justice Department declined comment.
The three-judge appeals court panel was divided 2-1 on whether to block the order, with Republican-appointed Judges David B. Sentelle and A. Raymond Randolph in the majority and Democratic appointee Judge David S. Tatel in dissent.
The court will consider written and oral arguments in the case. No date has been set for arguments. It could be more than a year before an opinion is released.
Washington Post, 31 October 2006
BLAST FROM THE PAST
Gentleness makes friends (1956)
Brand: Philip Morris.
Full Text: Gentleness makes friends.
New friendships are often born of gentleness. That's why today's new Philip Morris, made gentle for modern taste, is being welcomed by younger smokers everywhere.
Enjoy the gentle pleasure - the fresh unfiltered flavour - of new Philip Morris. Ask for it in the smart new package.
New Philip Morris, gentle for modern taste.
Retrieved from: 20th Century Tobacco Ad Collection Collected by Richard Pollay, catalogued by Roswell Park Cancer Institute http://roswell.tobaccodocuments.org/pollay/dirdet.cfm.
QUOTABLE QUOTES
"It's always been our policy that young people shouldn't smoke."
Brennan Dawson, Tobacco Institute (USA), 1991
"It's a well-known fact that teenagers like sweet products. Honey might be considered."
Brown and Williamson Marketing Memo, 1972
"It will be mid-2008 by the time the picture warnings hit the shops. Pictorial warnings are not a new idea. They have already been implemented in other countries and the NZ tobacco industry has the technology to print the new packets within weeks."
ASH NZ Director Becky Freeman on the year-long implementation period given
to the NZ tobacco industry to bring in graphic
warnings on packets
"Smoking causes utterly preventable death, disease and disability. It cheats our people of the good health to which we all have a right. It is a scourge the world can do without."
Prime Minister Helen Clark
New Zealand Herald, 19 September 2006
MEDIA THEMES
RJ Reynolds' Grandson Stomps in Ohio Against Issue 4
Issue 4 is a pro-smoking constitutional amendment that would repeal 21 local smokefree laws. Patrick Reynolds has recently been in Ohio voicing his opposition to Issue 4, the Ohio ballot initiative funded by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the company founded by his grandfather.
"Don't be fooled be its name (SmokeLess Ohio)," says Reynolds, "Issue 4 is a pro-smoking constitutional amendment that would keep restaurants, bars, and other public places smoke-filled, exposing Ohio workers, residents, and children to second-hand smoke. It would overturn 21 local smoke-free laws in Ohio, and prevent any future ones from being passed."
"Issue 4 protects the wealth of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, not the health of Ohio residents," adds Reynolds. "Do Ohio residents really want to stand with a company profiting off the deaths of 420,000 Americans each year?
"Remember, if Issue 4 passes, clean indoor air loses. I trust that Ohio voters will see past RJR's smokescreen, and vote no on Issue 4."
JoeCherner-announce@smokefree.net, 26 October 2006
Hong Kong to go smokefree
The Legislative Council of Hong Kong approved a law that will require virtually all workplaces, including restaurants and bars, to be smokefree. The law will go into effect on 1 January, 2007 for most workplaces. Establishments which prohibit entry to minors will have until 1 July, 2009 to comply.
"It's a great step forward," says Joe Cherner, founder of BREATHE (Bar and Restaurant Employees Advocating Together for a Healthy Environment), "but the lungs of bar and nightclub workers are just as susceptible to cancer as the lungs of workers in other places. No one should have to wait three years for clean indoor air."
JoeCherner-announce@smokefree.net, 23 October 2006
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If you are considering using any material from the Smokefree Coalition Tobacco Control Update, please first seek permission from Mark Peck - director@sfc.org.nz