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| Issue 107 | 21 January 2009 |
Having trouble viewing this newsletter? Try the online version. FROM THE DIRECTOR'S DESK
Happy new year, everyone, and welcome to the first Tobacco Control Update of 2009. I hope you all had a wonderful break and found some time to relax before what is looking like a busy year. Urgent action by smokefree advocates over the next five weeks is critical if we are to persuade the government to ban displays of tobacco products. The government has until the end of February to respond to last September's recommendation by the Health Select Committee to ban tobacco power walls. We need to keep the pressure on our law-makers to legislate against tobacco displays so the Smokefree Coalition is encouraging all grassroots tobacco control campaigners to contact MPs and ministers, write letters to the editor and make sure everyone in your network knows how vital action is in these next few weeks. Although the Health Select Committee recommended a ban on tobacco power walls, there was a minority report issued disagreeing with that recommendation and wanting more international evidence of the link between banning power walls and decreased smoking rates. Now that we have had a change in government, it is important to keep up the action to get the displays out of our shops and away from the gaze of our young. This is perhaps our best chance to prevent the next generation being influenced to begin smoking by seeing tobacco products nestled benignly between the bread and milk. It is vital to keep reminding policy makers that these power walls influence kids to start smoking, and that a ban is about safeguarding our children's future. The Cancer Society and ASH have issued an Action Alert outlining some of the key steps advocates can take to support this campaign (see below for further details). The Smokefree Coalition is working to mobilise its members to put their weight behind this important campaign and I urge all of you to do the same. Have a good fortnight. Mark Peck Director IN THIS ISSUE:
ACTION ALERT FROM CANCER SOCIETY AND ASH ON TOBACCO DISPLAYSThe government has just over a month left to respond to the Health Select Committee's recommendation to ban tobacco retail displays. ASH and the Cancer Society are urging regional smokefree networks to up the pressure to ban tobacco displays. This week they released an Action Alert which outlines a series of grassroots actions local smokefree networks can lead. Urgent action is required if we are to see a display ban succeed. To get a copy of the Action Alert email Ben Youdan (byoudan@ash.org.nz) or Belinda Keenan (belinda.keenan@cancer.org.nz). To stay informed about progress on the campaign register on the 'Protect Our Children' listserv: http://groups.google.co.nz/group/bancigarettedisplays. THROUGH THE SMOKE
You know smoking is bad for your health. But how much do you know about smoking and tobacco? Take CNN's smoking quiz, and see if you know as much as you think. Questions include:
See: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/11/14/smoking.quiz/index.html. SMOKEFREE SHORTSNew ZealandQuit smoking success claims misleading A complaint by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) over a `bioresonance' treatment clinic claiming a 90 percent success rate for smokers wanting to kick the habit has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority. Quit Smoking Clinic's website claimed just one hour with its bioresonance machine at a cost of $350 was all it took for nine out of 10 smokers to quit for good. Otago Daily Times, 14 January Dairy proud to be smokefree
And even though it has made a dent in their bottom line and they've had a few disgruntled customers who see it as a negative, Sheryl and Ham feel just the opposite and see only the positives. "The only ones getting richer are the tobacco companies," says Sheryl. Their shop, VIP Takeaways, located on South Road, is the third retailer in the country – and one of only two in Northland – to take up the challenge towards a smokefree society. A Smokefree Retailers Award was presented to them by the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation. Northern News, 17 December 2008 Ratepayers set to cough up to keep council's smokers dry Ratepayers will foot the bill for a $2500 smoking shelter for South Taranaki District Council workers. The tobacco users at the council's headquarters have apparently been causing too much pollution for non-smokers and need their own outdoor refuge. Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 2008 Tobacco use declining in New Zealand Tobacco use is declining according to a new survey that says just under one quarter of New Zealanders are smokers. The 2008 New Zealand Tobacco Use Survey showed, after adjusting for age, 23.9 percent of adults aged 15 to 64 smoked. The 2006 figure was 24.3 percent. Yahoo!Xtra News, 18 December 2008 Playground smoke ban wins big vote of support
A public health service hopes the results will make for a smokefree New Zealand, prompting other councils to make their public places smokefree. On 20 December lighting up became illegal in 76 playgrounds and the council-owned Tokorangi Triangle – 290ha of the Whakarewarewa Forest which includes the Redwoods. No-smoking signs in English and Māori were erected. The policy aims to normalise non-smoking, encourage positive role models for children and create areas where families can enjoy healthy activities. NZ Herald, 16 January 2009 Breathing easy for Napier's Housing NZ Tenants Encouraging tenants to have a smokefree home or to quit smoking themselves has won Housing New Zealand's Napier Neighbourhood Unit and the Hawke's Bay District Health Board an Asthma and Respiratory Advocacy Award. Carleine Receveur, the Smokefree Project Manager for the DHB said the award from the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation recognised an initiative that had become a reality through education and support. Scoop, 16 January 2009 InternationalStop smoking: secrets of successful quitter
But most smokers know perfectly well they should quit, and 7 out of 10 say they want to. The challenge is how to break free of nicotine's suffocating grip for good. Just 2 to 4 percent of those who try are smokefree – with no slip-ups – a year later. US News & World Report, 16 December 2008 Cigarette beach ban goes up in smoke in Sydney Councils responsible for Sydney's popular beaches have not fined one smoker, four years after the bans were introduced. Smokers are lighting up without fear of fines on Waverley Council's major beaches, Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama, although anti-smoking regulations have been in effect since December 2004. A Waverley spokeswoman said the smoking ban was more about education and self-regulation than fines. The Australian, 12 January 2009 Newborns exposed to maternal smoking more irritable, difficult to soothe Previous studies have shown that babies exposed to tobacco in utero are more likely to have a low birth weight and are at increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome. Now new research by The Miriam Hospital reveals that these babies are also less likely to self-soothe and are more aroused and excitable than newborns whose mothers did not smoke during pregnancy. Science Daily, 2 December 2008 Man blows himself up after smoking while attached to ventilator A chronic smoker blew himself up when he lit a cigarette while using an oxygen ventilator to help him breathe. The 75-year-old man was admitted to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong with severe facial burns after lighting up in his home while the ventilator's plastic tubes were still running to his nose. HeraldSun, 29 December 2008 Victoria bans battery powered cigarettes
The devices resemble a traditional cigarette and contain nicotine cartridges that create puffs of vapour through an atomiser, like smoke. From 1 January 2009 the sale and use of nicotine cartridges became illegal in Victoria and the advertising of battery powered cigarettes banned. Health Minister Daniel Andrews said nicotine was highly addictive and toxic and was rapidly absorbed through the skin, inhalation and ingestion. The Age, 31 December 2008 Studies highlight big tobacco tactics in Asia Researchers claim that tobacco company Philip Morris planted a scientist in Chulabhorn Research Institute in Bangkok in a bid to get researchers to play down the impact of second-hand smoking. A separate study alleges that British American Tobacco provided funding for the Beijing Liver Foundation in a campaign to shift the focus in China away from smoking dangers to ailments like liver disease. Both companies denied the charges. NZ Herald, 24 December 2008 A new cigarette hazard: 'third-hand smoke' Parents who smoke often open a window or turn on a fan to clear the air for their children, but experts now have identified a related threat to children's health that isn't as easy to get rid of: third-hand smoke. That's the term used to describe the invisible yet toxic brew of gases and particles clinging to smokers' hair and clothing, not to mention cushions and carpeting, that lingers long after second-hand smoke has cleared from a room. The New York Times, 2 January 2009 Why smokers struggle to quit: new findings Just seeing someone smoke can trigger smokers to abandon their nascent efforts to kick their addiction, according to new research conducted at Duke University Medical Centre. Brain scans taken during normal smoking activity and 24 hours after quitting show there is a marked increase in a particular kind of brain activity when quitters see photographs of people smoking. Science Daily, 7 January 2009 Nicotine Replacement Therapy appropriate for gradual as well as abrupt quitters: new study Nicotine gum has been in use for over 20 years to help smokers quit abruptly, yet close to two-thirds of smokers report that they would prefer to quit gradually. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare have now found that smokers who are trying to quit gradually can also be helped by nicotine gum. Medical News Today, 6 January 2009 Teens are influenced by health risks of smoking
Researchers found that among 395 high school students they followed for two years, those who thought the health risks of smoking were fairly low, or the social benefits fairly high, were about three times more likely than their peers to start smoking. The fact that these perceptions influence teenagers' likelihood of smoking makes sense, but until now it hadn't been clear whether this was the case. "This is the first paper that really shows that perceptions truly predict behaviour," Senior Researcher, Dr Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, said. Reuters, 31 December 2008 Confrontational counselling does not increase smoking cessation rates Confronting smokers with spirometry data showing previously undetected chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) does not increase the long-term abstinence from smoking rate compared with an equally intensive treatment programme in which smokers are not confronted with spirometry, researchers report. "Confrontational counselling may have short-term effects, but these diminish during the first year after initial counselling treatment," report Daniel Kotz (Maastricht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands) and colleagues in the European Respiratory Journal. Medwire News, 9 January 2009 Study shows menthol cigarettes are more addictive Menthol cigarettes are harder to quit, particularly among African American and Latino smokers, according to researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). Newswise Medical News, 9 January 2009 Victorian smokers in cars get a reprieve Smokers will be free to light up in cars carrying children for another year, under Victoria's slow-moving reforms. The Australian state government will also take two years to remove cigarette displays from shop counters, under the long-awaited Tobacco Control Strategy 2008-13. HeraldSun, 23 December 2008 MILESTONESLook who has had a birthday recently... Brendon Baker, Dawn Gourdie! QUOTABLE QUOTES"Rep. Susan Kepner wants to make it easy to abduct the children of smokers. In this latest assault by the Nicotine Nazis, Frau Kepner is leading the charge to ensure we are not allowed within 25 feet of a playground if we're smoking." Lily Robertson, "Hampton proposes license to kidnap children" "If the research says that tobacco displays in shops impact on kids, then let's get rid of them, and that's what we've done." Matauri Bay shop owner, Raewyn Pau, who agreed to put tobacco under the counter when she was approached by staff from the local primary school.
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Take the smoking and tobacco quiz!
It's just over a year since Sheryl Stankovich and partner, Ham Petera, decided to stop selling cigarettes at their Kaitaia dairy.
Smoking in Rotorua's public playgrounds and popular Redwoods
Forest has been banned and a survey shows 85 percent of residents are happy about it – even though a third of those surveyed were smokers.
At any age, quitting smoking can avert or blunt myriad health hazards and might avoid heartache for would-be parents.
Smoking can hamper conception in women and reduce sperm count in men. The earlier a smoker grinds out that last cigarette, the greater the gain. Male doctors who ditched the habit before age 35 had nearly the same life expectancy as did a matched group of physicians who never picked it up, according to a 2004 study in the British Medical Journal.
Battery powered cigarettes that give pseudo smokers a hit of nicotine vapour have been banned in Victoria.
Teenagers who underestimate the risks of smoking – or overestimate the social value – are substantially more likely than their peers to take it up, a new study suggests.