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| Issue 90 | 14 May 2008 |
Having trouble viewing this newsletter? Try the online version. FROM THE DIRECTOR'S DESK
This reminds me of the current state of affairs in tobacco control. Lots of ducks are in the water but everything appears rather quiet. Any moment now, however, things are likely to go berserk. Congratulations to the Hawke's Bay Smokefree Coalition. The work they are doing in their community is paying dividends. They have been busy educating their decision makers about tobacco display issues and have managed to change one mind at least, so well done to that team! I had lunch the other day with a former colleague (who shall remain nameless) and we were talking about tobacco displays. He told me how he managed to get dairies in his electorate to voluntarily put 'alcopops' behind the counter so that young people would not be tempted to buy them unsupervised. Literally he went dairy by dairy reminding owners they were part of a community and should carry some responsibility for community standards. Ensuring young people under the drinking age did not have access to these drinks was a moral obligation they should be willing to accept whether or not these alcoholic drinks were legal. It occurs to me there is scope for this message to also be rolled out to convenience store retailers in respect to cigarettes. It is not just about whether or not the product is legal. There is a strong health message conveyed when cigarettes are out of sight and out of mind. While this is not a substitute for stronger legislation to ban tobacco displays, it is the sort of thing we can all do (and indeed the sort of thing MPs and councillors should do) to impress on store owners their moral obligation to the community. I for one will be talking to some of those who have indicated support for the display ban campaign to ask them to do precisely this. There is no reason why we all can't do a bit of this in our own individual vicinities. This sort of activity has a couple of effects. First it is useful work but, more importantly, it builds the coalition of support for this social change to the point where it becomes normal for tobacco not to be on display. In short, we don't smoke here anymore! So, make like the ducks and start paddling! Have a good fortnight. Mark Peck Director IN THIS ISSUE:
SMOKEFREE CONTACTS MAP ONLINE
The map lists a variety of people and services dedicated to helping New Zealand become free from tobacco. Contacts are available for:
Every person or organisation you find through the site has chosen to list their own details, and is responsible for keeping them up-to-date. Each will automatically be sent an email prompting them to confirm their details every six months, and those who don't respond will eventually be de-listed. This will make sure the contacts remain reasonably current. All requests to be listed are checked and approved by the Smokefree Coalition and/or The Quit Group. If you work in tobacco control or provide a related service or programme, you are encouraged to become listed. Just fill in the form on the 'Get listed' page of the site. However, please ensure you accurately describe the region in which you provide services. Only national organisations and those who genuinely operate a national service should tick the national box. If we are in doubt we will contact the submitter to ensure details are correct before publishing them online. The Smokefree Contacts Map was developed and is maintained by the Smokefree Coalition and The Quit Group with funding from the Ministry of Health. TUTORS IN HEALTH PROMOTION SOUGHTThe Health Promotion Forum is seeking highly skilled professional tutors for a range of short courses including the MIT Certificate of Achievement in Introducing Health Promotion and TUHA-NZ. These positions are offered on an intermittent short term contract basis ideally fitted between your other work. You will have:
If you are reliable and self-motivated with a desire to make a difference, please send your CV to sal@hauora.co.nz or post to PO Box 99064, Newmarket, Auckland. Applications close today (14 May) so you'll need to be quick!. A position description may be obtained by emailing: sal@hauora.co.nz, by calling 09 520 3714 or from www.hauora.co.nz. OPPORTUNITIES TO TRAIN IN CESSATION PRACTICE
This training is designed for nurses and community health workers to enhance their knowledge and skills in providing brief advice and cessation support to patients/smokers. The course has a strong emphasis on what is culturally relevant and appropriate for Pacific people. Participants and providers who complete the training can get registered with the Quit Group as Quit Cards providers and access subsidised Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) for clients who smoke and want to quit. The training is based on the Revised New Zealand Smoking Cessation Guidelines 2007. Other topics discussed in the training include: The Pacific community and its issues; Providing and giving brief advice; Communication skills and Pacific cultures; Application of knowledge and skills; Relevant strategies and support for Pacific smokers etc. To be held: 20-21 May, Hutt Valley Hospital Learning Centre, Lower Hutt. Each workshop runs 9am-4pm. Morning and afternoon tea is provided. For more information contact Anthony Leaupepe, Training Facilitator, 04 472 2780 ext 2, or e-mail: anthonyl@nhf.org.nz. NATIONAL TOBACCO CONTROL HUIWednesday 25 - Friday 27 June 2008 Our Vision: Towards a Smokefree Aotearoa: promoting and supporting quitting. Conference themes:
The venue: Te Papa Museum, Wellington. For more information, see the conference website at http://ntcc.manaakisolutions.co.nz/. THROUGH THE SMOKEFourteen smoking accessories nobody should own
Necessity is the mother of invention, so we guess it's not surprising that many of the inventions are designed to overcome obstacles to smoking – like when you have two broken arms! See them here. SMOKEFREE SHORTS
MilestonesLook who has had a birthday recently! Ben MacRae and Michelle Heggie. New ZealandSmokers squirming over graphic packs
Faster selling brands tend only to be available with the anti-smoking graphics but some slower selling brands are still available without the pictures. Invercargill tobacconist Paul McKinlay said this had caused some of his customers to change to a brand with non-graphic boxes still available. "Most of them are disgusted by the images – they're very graphic." Retailers have been given until 31 August to sell any remaining stock that does not have the warning images. The Southland Times, 5 May 2008 Two Hamilton retail outlets fail compliance test A Hamilton service station employee and a dairy owner are facing possible prosecution and a fine of up to $2,000 after selling cigarettes to people under 18. Waikato District Health Board's Population Health Service health protection staff visited 26 retail premises in Hamilton, in a campaign to stop retailers selling cigarettes to people under age. Scoop, 7 May 2008 Call to keep cigarettes out of The Warehouse The Māori Party's Tobacco Out of Aotearoa spokesperson Hone Harawira is calling for cigarettes to be kept off the counters of the country's largest retail chain. "The Warehouse could become the next biggest seller of tobacco products if the judge of a Court of Appeal case, which started 29 April in Wellington, allows three Foodstuffs cooperatives and Woolworths Ltd to acquire up to 100 percent shares in, or assets of, the red shed retail chain." Scoop, 30 April 2008 Hey Peter, quit smoking and I'll streak down the main street
Instead, the Pete's Takeaways owner has chosen to use the prospect of seeing his employee Craig Forsman publicly humiliated to get him through. Mr Forsman will have to swallow his words – and his pride – at the end of this month after saying he would run down Cameron Rd naked before his boss ever stopped smoking. Mr Forsman said, "I don't mind being naked. It's the running part I don't like." Bay of Plenty Times, 6 May 2008 Children to be stopped from buying cigarettes in Samoa Children may soon be prohibited from buying cigarettes from local shops in Samoa, depending on the acceptance of the Tobacco Control Bill 2008 recently discussed in Parliament. Ever since cigarettes were introduced and sold in Samoa, children as young as five have been able to buy packets or loose cigarettes. New Zealand Herald, 28 April 2008 Rotorua District Council moves to ban smoking in forest Rotorua councillors have unanimously voted to ban smoking in the city's 76 playgrounds and in the council-owned Tokorangi Triangle, 290ha of the Whakarewarewa Forest which includes the carpark and the Redwoods Information Centre. In a report to the council, parks and recreation manager Garry Page said that they have been working with Toi Te Ora Public Health to introduce the ban. The Daily Post, 13 May 2008 InternationalQuick health gains for women smokers who quit
Those who stopped smoking had a 13 percent reduction in the risk of death from all causes including heart and vascular problems within the first five years. After 20 years the risk of death from any cause was the same for those who quit as it was for those who had never smoked, the study found. Stuff, 7 May 2008 Tasmania to phase out retail displays of tobacco products The Australian state of Tasmania is the latest jurisdiction to announce it is phasing out retail displays of tobacco products; the Australian Capital Territory has introduced legislation to ban tobacco displays; and other Australian states are under pressure to follow suit. It seems likely that eventually New Zealand will do the same. Smart marketers will be ready to fill the void. New Zealand Marketing, May 2008 Man asked to put out cigarette pulls gun instead A man who was asked to put out his cigarette inside a Burlington, (Washington state, US) restaurant responded by pulling out a gun instead and firing a shot. Police say as the 59-year-old was getting ready to leave the Cascade Brewery in Burlington when he lit up. An employee asked him to put his cigarette out. Police say the man responded by pulling out a revolver and firing a shot into the ceiling, then held the patrons hostage momentarily. King5.Com, 28 April 2008 Sculpture of racing legend Peter Brock to display cigarette brand A memorial to motor racing legend Peter Brock, due to be unveiled in Bathurst later this year, will be emblazoned with cigarette advertising. The life-sized sculpture depicts Brock standing on the roof of one of his favourite Holden racing cars. Bathurst City Council defended the sculpture saying it was important to faithfully recreate the car's design, with original cigarette advertising. HeraldSun, 25 April 2008 New way to crush a cigarette
However, the capsule has been criticised by anti-smoking groups, which claim product innovations such as Camel Crush and the marketing of cigarettes are geared toward attracting young consumers. Richmond Times (US), 7 May 2008 Call to increase tobacco tax in Australia The Rudd Government's chief adviser on preventive health has called for an increase to the excise on tobacco of 2.5 cents a cigarette, which could raise $400 million a year on top of the $500 million to be raised from the increased excise on 'alcopops'. Rob Moodie, who chairs the National Preventative Health Taskforce, said the increased excise on ready-mixed spirits – imposed to fight teenage binge drinking – was "terrific" and should be extended to cigarettes. The Sydney Morning Herald, 28 April 2008 Smoking ban keeps teens from smoking – study A study suggests restaurant smoking bans may play a big role in persuading teens not to become smokers. Youths who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than those in communities with no bans or weak ones, researchers reported in the May issue of The Archives of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. New Zealand Herald, 7 May 2008 Study suggests cool kids can help others avoid smoking Getting the cool kids to talk to their peers about the dangers of smoking cut the number of young people who started using cigarettes in one study by nearly 25 percent, British researchers have said. The study published in the journal Lancet took a different approach than most tobacco cessation programmes aimed at youths by asking students to nominate others they viewed as influential or leaders to spread the anti-smoking message. Reuters, 9 May 2008 When doctors tell patients to quit smoking, they listen Doctors who take a few minutes to talk with patients about their smoking – maybe passing along a leaflet or a sample of nicotine gum – make a difference when it comes to helping them quit successfully, according to a recent review of studies. "Assuming an unassisted quit rate of 2-3 percent, a brief advice intervention can increase quitting by a further 1-3 percent," write reviewers led by Lindsay Stead, of the University of Oxford in England. Newswise, 29 April 2008 Cigarettes put Aussies $300,000 out of pocket
A South Australian infectious disease physician, Dr Ross Philpot, has run new statistics on the physical and financial cost of smoking. By 65, the average 20-a-day smoker will have puffed on 400,000 cigarettes, and by the time they die 500,000 will have been smoked. This costs each smoker about $A300,000, a "sobering" figure that all doctors should remind their patients of to help them quit, he said. Stuff, 9 May 2008 Thanks Dad! A successful Saudi businessman from Taif paid his son a $US267,000 ($NZ338,230) reward for quitting smoking. The son learned of the gift when he asked bank officials why such a large sum had appeared in his account. Nelson Mail, 28 April 2008 Second-hand smoke: damage in mere minutes Just 30 minutes in a smoky room can cause profound blood vessel injury in healthy young adults, greatly increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a new study published in the 6 May issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. WebMD, 28 April 2008 QUOTABLE QUOTES"The consensus among experts is that taxing cigarettes does act as a disincentive to smoking." "A tax hike that makes sense" "Smokers live under the misconception that they enjoy smoking. You may be thinking right now: 'Who the hell are you to tell me what I enjoy?' I'm just speaking from personal experience. I used to think I enjoyed smoking. But it wasn't the smoking I enjoyed. It was the relieving of the nicotine cravings by taking a regular hit." Piers Fuller, "Chained by a dirty little monster" |
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I enjoy going to the park with my granddaughter where she takes great delight in feeding the ducks. Ducks look very serene just gliding across the pond but appearances can be quite deceptive. Underneath that calmness there are a pair of webbed feet going flat out!
Free training for health professionals – Introduction to Smoking Cessation (two modules over two days)
This
page from the Modern Mechanix blog reveals 14 smoking inventions,
most of which have never taken off in any commercial sense. Some are quite
clever in a quirky sort of way and some make you wonder whether it's just
tobacco the inventors have been smoking. We especially love the cigarette
case that has a counter on it to keep track of how many smokes your mates
have borrowed.
Where
possible, links are provided below the stories. Please click these to read the
story in full.
Some smokers are changing cigarette brands to avoid the graphic health warnings that became compulsory in late February.
Peter Harford reckons he doesn't need nicotine patches, self-help books or even hypnosis to stop smoking 40 cigarettes a day.
Women who stop smoking can enjoy major health benefits within five years, but it can take decades to correct respiratory damage and lower their risk of lung cancer, researchers recently reported.
A tiny blue capsule embedded into the filter of a regular Camel Lights cigarettes is the key element in RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s latest attempt to woo smokers. When they squeeze and snap the capsule, it releases menthol to change the flavour.
Cigarettes cost the average Australian smoker about $A300,000 ($NZ365,365) in their lifetime, a new calculation shows.