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| Issue 71 | 18 July 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Having trouble viewing this newsletter? Try the online version. FROM THE DIRECTOR'S DESK
Sir, I refer to your article 'Where there's smoke, there's fire' (7 July), which attempts a bit of light hearted fun about the opportunities for flirting when one is outside having a cigarette. Unfortunately there is nothing light hearted about smoking. Cigarettes, when used as intended by the manufacturer, will kill one in two people who smoke. There is no debate about this sad statistic. This is where you come in. What I take from your article is that I am more likely to find a hot date if I go outside and smoke. In my younger days I might have found that quite glamorous and enticing. And that is the point. To promote smoking as a romantic and enjoyable activity is to promote the use of a deadly product, and to promote it this way makes it especially attractive to the young. Cigarettes are highly addictive. We know from the just released Tobacco Use Survey (Ministry of Health) that most young people who have started smoking regret doing so, and would dearly love to quit. What a shame it would be if more young people were attracted to smoking because of the way articles like yours made it seem cool and sexy. Find someone who has sat at the bedside of a person dying from respiratory disease occasioned by smoking. Ask them if they think smoking is glamorous or sexy. I am sure the answer you receive would be unprintable. As an opinion former in the community, you need to be careful about how your articles may influence people, especially the young, even when the intent of a piece is to be light hearted. I wonder when the media will get it. Cigarettes are not chewing gum or toothpaste or even a social drink. Cigarettes are dangerous and kill. Isn't it time the media grew up? Have a good fortnight. Mark Peck Director IN THIS ISSUE:
ASH MEDIA ANALYSIS REPORT JANUARY – APRIL 2007ASH Communications Advisor Sneha Paul regularly undertakes an analysis of print media coverage and in this issue we present her findings for January – April 2006. There were a total of 827 smoking related print media articles from January to April 2007 in New Zealand. The table below provides the various categories and topics covered.
Tone of coverageThe stories were broken down into three categories: positive, negative and neutral. Stories favourable to tobacco control are classified as positive, those unfavourable are classified as negative and general stories that neither condemn nor support tobacco control are classified as neutral.
To request a full copy of the report, please contact Sneha Paul – spaul@ash.org.nz. NOMINATIONS REQUESTED FOR NIGEL GRAY AWARD 2007
In 2007 The Nigel Gray Award will be presented at the Oceania Tobacco Control Conference, Auckland, 4-7 September 2007. The Nigel Gray Award will recognise an individual's contributions to tobacco control, with a bias towards recognition of relatively 'unsung heroes'. People working in tobacco control in Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific Islands region and PNG are eligible for nomination. Criteria for selection Principally the award is for contributions to the field of tobacco control by any individual. It is hoped that nominations will be received for those whose work is behind the scenes as well as in the front line. Depth of achievement at a local or regional level will be valued, as will achievements at national and international levels. Criteria include creativity, persistence, effectiveness, contributions to change, skill in application or generation of evidence and argument for tobacco control. Please email your nomination for The Nigel Gray Award for Achievement in Tobacco Control, addressing all selection criteria, to info@smokefreeoceania.org.nz by 5 pm Monday 6 August 2007. Any queries regarding this award can also be sent to info@smokefreeoceania.org.nz. OCEANIA TOBACCO CONTROL CONFERENCE
No matter what part of tobacco control you are involved with – there will be something for you in the programme. Visit the website (www.smokefreeoceania.org.nz) for detailed information about the conference, including the draft programme, abstracts for the keynote presentations, descriptions of the workshops and much more. Join the email list to keep up-to-date with conference news and important deadlines. VACANCY SMOKING CESSATION PRACTITIONER/CO-ORDINATORRegional Forensic Psychiatry Services – Mason Clinic – One Year Contract The Mason Clinic leads the way in providing treatment and rehabilitation to criminal offenders who may have a mental illness and is in search of a Smoking Cessation Practitioner to facilitate smokefree/cessation strategies and models of service care delivery to patients at the Mason Clinic. If you are interested in this position, please contact Charles Joe, Associate Service Manager, 09 8155863, for more information. The position number is 013420, and applications close 27 July 2007. THROUGH THE SMOKE
Smoking MuseumFor tourists whose overseas adventures have never been quite complete, here's something you must add to your next itinerary – Le Musee du Fumeur in Paris. Le 'objects de puff' include live tobacco plants, as well as works of art about smoking for your viewing pleasure. The operators of the museum are certainly worshippers of the smoke, saying, "It connects mankind to the divine element, inviting the gods to descend among mortals, it inspires human beings." Really? For four euros (NZ$6.80) you can look at tobacco plants or something called Sinsemilla buds or at an opium pipe. Be sure to check out the engravings showing remains of pipes scattered between the feet of early tobacco smokers. Whatever you do, don't miss the snuff box filled with snuff. It seems all that's missing is a montage made up of x-rays of diseased lungs. You can visit the museum online at www.smokingmuseum.net/cadresa.html. SMOKEFREE SHORTS
New ZealandKeep smokers and obese people out – Doctors Potential immigrants should be screened for obesity and smoking habits because they place such a heavy burden on health services, respiratory specialists have suggested. Doctors Jeff Garrett and Andy Veale from Middlemore Hospital in South Auckland say obesity is a huge and increasing problem in Counties Manukau, but chronic health disorders are not funded adequately. NZ Herald, 30 June 2007 Smoking draws more in the north
The NZ Tobacco Use Survey 2006 shows 36 percent of Northlanders smoke - the highest rate in the country. This compares to 24 percent New Zealand-wide. Whangarei Leader, 10 July 2007
Tobacco busts An undercover sting has busted four Wairarapa dairies illegally selling tobacco to children. The Masterton, Carterton, Greytown and Featherston dairies sold tobacco to an under-18-year-old. Dominion Post, 11 July 2007 Māori most at risk of gambling problems, smoking Māori and Pacific Islanders have a significantly greater risk of being problem gamblers than other people, and gambling and smoking are closely linked, recent survey results show. NZPA, 28 June 2007 Marewa Glover: Snuff out the ads
Tiraha hasn't asked me yet what it is these people are doing. She doesn't see smoking on Playhouse TV. None of her daycare staff smoke, which is why she goes there rather than to a kohanga reo. NZ Herald, 9 July 2007
InternationalRussia to join WHO convention on tobacco control Russia will soon join the World Health Organization's tobacco control convention, the country's foreign ministry has said. Bangkok hosted the second session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) 30 June - 6 July. Since Russia has not yet joined the convention, but plans to do so in the near future, it attended the session as an observer. RIA Novosti, 10 July 2007 A toast – to taste buds that enjoy more than tobacco
A dissertation by a student at the University of California has even postulated that the reason many smokers control their weight has to do with the way cigarettes make food less desirable. Anchorage Daily News, 28 June 2007
A healthy diet spoils the taste for cigarettes United States researchers have found, in a study of 209 smokers, that many of them said coffee, alcohol and meat enhanced the taste of a cigarette. The researchers therefore conclude that to help give up smoking cut back on coffee and alcohol, and increase the intake of milk, water, fruit and vegetables. Readers Digest, July 2007 Smoking guns A British insurance company says its research shows smokers drive 23 percent faster than non-smokers. Privilege Insurance says smoking reduces a driver's ability to deal with other events and increases mental strain. It says the number smoking while driving is predicted to increase by 14 percent following the British ban on smoking in public. NZ Herald, 7 July 2007 People want smoking banned in cars Three out of five people believe drivers should be banned from smoking in their own private cars, a study has found. They cited concerns about the effect of passive smoking on passengers. The report comes less than two weeks after smoking was outlawed in public places – and in some vehicles including company cars. ThisisLondon.co.uk, 11 July 2007 Smoking ban to trigger rise in house fires
New research from Direct Line Home Insurance reveals that one in 10 smokers say they will be forced to smoke at home, resulting in an additional 16 million cigarettes smoked indoors every week. Cigarettes are the number one cause of accidental fatal fires in the home, causing 60 house fires a week. The Money Pages, 27 June 2007
Study finds smoking wards off Parkinson's Disease There is more evidence to back up a long-standing theory that smokers are less likely to develop Parkinson's disease than people who do not use tobacco products, researchers reported yesterday. The apparent protective effect of tobacco against the degenerative nerve disease has been observed for years but a University of California Los Angeles School of Public Health report said a new review of existing studies seems to confirm it, with long-term and current smokers at the lowest risk. NZ Herald, 10 July 2007 Inhaling from just one cigarette can lead to nicotine addiction
The study found that adolescents who smoke even just a few cigarettes per month suffer withdrawal symptoms when deprived of nicotine, a startling finding that is contrary to long-held beliefs that only people with established smoking habits of at least five cigarettes per day experience such symptoms. Science Daily, 6 July 2007 Nonsmoking workers immediately absorb potent carcinogen Offering alarming new evidence on the dangers of permitting smoking in the workplace, scientists have found that nonsmoking restaurant and bar employees absorb a potent carcinogen – not considered safe at any level – while working in places where they had to breathe tobacco smoke from customers and co-workers. The carcinogen, NNK, is found in the body only as a result of using tobacco or breathing secondhand smoke. Medical News Today, 4 July 2007 Tobacco firms thrive on bans Smoking bans are meant to be good for public health. In Europe, they haven't been too bad for tobacco companies either. Prohibitions on public smoking, along with advertising bans and tax increases, have narrowed their market to the most addicted smokers who are willing to pay whatever price to get their nicotine fix. Tobacco China Online, 22 June 2007 Smoking ban 'to save 500,000 lives' At least half a million deaths a year are likely to be prevented by England's smoking ban, one of the world's leading experts on the deadly effects of tobacco has said. Professor Sir Richard Peto made the forecast based on the experience of the Republic of Ireland, which introduced a similar ban in March 2004. Channel 4 News, 29 June 2007 Man arrested after refusing to put out his cigarette in pub
Officers were called to Riskers bar in Scarborough after Whisker refused to leave. He said he was protesting against the ban but police escorted him out, arrested him and handed him an £80 fixed penalty fine for being drunk and disorderly. Daily Mail, 5 July 2007
Smoking could kill 1b this century – WHO One billion people will die of tobacco-related diseases this century unless governments in rich and poor countries alike get serious about preventing smoking, top World Health Organization experts have said. However, if governments introduced measures such as aggressive taxation, banning cigarette advertising and making offices and public places totally tobacco-free, smoking rates could halve by 2050. China Daily, 3 July 2007 Children urged to pressure parents on smoking As England awakes to a ban on lighting up in pubs and restaurants, plans have been drawn up for "smoking cessation support workers" to visit schools to "educate" children about the dangers of passive smoking. The children will then be urged to return home and "stand up for their rights" by telling their mothers and fathers to stop smoking at home. The Telegraph, 2 July 2007 Electriciggy: The battery-powered nicotine fix
The new Electronik cigarette lights up, appears to blow smoke and satisfies the most desperate nicotine craving. Yet it stays strictly inside the law banning lighting up in public buildings which, after just a week in force, is already testing smokers' willpower to the limit. Daily Mail, 7 July 2007
Man sues tobacco firm over yellow teeth A Beijing smoker has taken a tobacco company and one of its sales agents to court, accusing them of manufacturing and selling cigarettes that turned his teeth yellow. The 35 year old law professor told the Xuanwu District People's Court that he started smoking 15 years ago and now consumes an average of two packs a day. China Daily, 4 July 2007 Rape fears over pub smoking ban The smoking ban could hand sex attackers a golden opportunity to strike, Sutton police are warning. Since 1 July, smokers have had to leave bars, pubs and clubs to light up. But leaving drinks behind makes it much easier for criminals intent on lacing people's drinks with date rape drugs. icCroydon.co.uk, 6 July 2007 Customs seize nine million cigarettes
Australian Customs Service officers said they discovered the contraband when they selected a container for x-ray at Port Botany on 22 June. Brisbane Times, 27 June 2007
MPs 'smoking in Commons toilets' MPs have been accused of flouting the smoking ban – and even sneaking cigarettes in the Commons toilets. Although it is not illegal to smoke in the Palace of Westminster, both Houses decided to ban it from Sunday – the same time as the rest of England. BBC News, 5 July 2007 Big Tobacco's deceptions go on Once again, the tobacco industry is trying to deceive. But thanks to the state legislature, which appropriated $9 million to fund state-wide tobacco prevention, Montanans have a fighting chance against the addiction that takes the lives of 1,500 state residents each year. Helena Independent Record, date? Officials stamp out sweet cigarettes
But 'sweet cigarettes' will no longer appear on Irish shop shelves. They have been banned under a directive by the Government's Office of Tobacco Control, which warns there is a dark side to the supposedly innocent treats. Independent.ie, 8 July 2007
QUOTABLE QUOTES"It is preposterous that everyday products like milk and bread face more rigorous Government scrutiny than cigarettes, which kill more than 15,000 Australians each year." Quit Victoria Acting Director, Suzie Stillman "As an electorate MP I am encouraged to see the strong participation in various activities by schools in Hornby and elswhere under the smokefree banner. Young people getting involved is a most important and encouraging sign that we are indeed making headway on this important issue." Jim Anderton, Associate Minister of Health |
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The Tobacco Control
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I sent the following letter to a newspaper recently which sought to make smoking appear sexy and glamorous.
Dr Nigel Gray was Director of the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria from 1968 to 1996. He worked tirelessly in tobacco control and played a critical role in the passage of the ground-breaking Victorian Tobacco Act (1987). He was instrumental in setting up the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (providing for the development and implementation of health and disease prevention campaigns through the placement of a levy on tobacco products). This foundation has provided a model for legislation, funding and promotion for many countries throughout the world. 
Do you work in tobacco control or have an interest in this area? Then come to the inaugural Oceania Tobacco Control Conference in Auckland, 4–7 September 2007.
Where
possible, links are provided below the stories. Please click these to read the
story in full.
Northlanders puff on cigarettes at a greater rate than any other region in the country, according to a new survey.
Tiraha's world is pretty much smokefree now - except for
the staff from the Warehouse Extra store huddled out the back of Sylvia Park
shopping centre, smoking.
Scientists, culinary professionals and beer makers have known for a long time that smoking cigarettes deadens the taste buds and sense of smell. 
Over 900,000 households will be at risk of fire following the public smoking ban
in the UK, as smokers stay at home to indulge.
A new study published in the
Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine shows that 10 percent of youth who become hooked on cigarettes are addicted within two days of first inhaling from a cigarette, and 25 percent are addicted within a month.
A man drinking in a bar was arrested after refusing to stub out his cigarette, police have said. Martin Whisker, 42, is believed to be one of the first people in England to land himself in trouble after flouting the new ban on smoking in public places.
It could be the ultimate accessory for smokers out to beat the tobacco ban.
An apparent plan to smuggle more than nine million cigarettes into Australia has gone up in smoke after the cargo was seized in Sydney.
They are an enduring childhood memory, for sale in sweet shops nationwide.