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| Issue 122 | 5 August 2009 |
Having trouble viewing this newsletter? Try the online version. A word from the Deputy ChairThough we are currently without a Director, the Smokefree Coalition is still very much in business. The Tobacco Control Update will be appearing as usual, with a guest editorial each fortnight. This issue's guest editorial is written by Iain Potter. Past Director Leigh Sturgiss is kindly keeping the essentials of the office going and any messages will be picked up. Applications for the role of Director have now closed and will be processed over the next little while. We are not losing sight of the important issues either, and we are continuing to make good progress on finalising our Vision document. Jane Patterson, Deputy Chair IN THIS ISSUE:
Guest editorial
Iain Potter
However, in the same way we would like the All Blacks to show they have some idea what their game plan is (but clearly they don't), it is important that we have some shared view of the tobacco control game plan. Because I think the best game plans in rugby are basic ones, I tend to have a similar view of tobacco control. So, when asked, my way of explaining the tobacco-free Aotearoa vision is as follows: We need to manage both the 'supply' and 'demand' sides of tobacco control. The demand side consists of the many smokers that are already caught in the tobacco trap. We need to offer them a comprehensive range of support mechanisms that will enable them to overcome the hold smoking has on them (cessation services, pharmaceutical products, supportive family and community environments, supportive physical environments, a regular diet of anti-smoking media and communications, primary care prompts and services, etc). The supply side consists of the many marketing tactics the tobacco industry uses to encourage new smokers and keep their existing ones (until early death!). We need to systematically dismantle the supply side – and regrettably this is a process not a one off event. We all know that if logic ruled the world tobacco would not be allowed to be freely marketed and sold. But an accident of history let it in and the process to get it out has been long and laborious. The supply side includes distribution, point of sale, packaging, promotions, pricing, product formulation, etc. Addressing the supply side involves regular and visible anti smoking media and communications to help develop the socially supportive environment we need. If we don't manage to contain the supply side we will always have the demand side to deal with. It's like letting the Springboks have all the ball and wondering why we have to tackle so much – control the ball and you control the outcome! And my final rugby analogy is – while the All Blacks' forwards and backs are responsible for different things they are still part of the one team with the one goal. The same goes for the demand side and supply side members of tobacco control. However, unlike the All Blacks recently, we will win! Quit Group enjoying great success
For the researchers (and stats-geeks) among us, the evaluation method used is known as Seven Day Point Prevalence (intention-to-treat). This measures the number of people who hadn't smoked in the seven days preceding their six-month interview, and treats people unavailable for interview as smokers. Although this produces conservative quit rates it is the most internationally recognised way of measuring quitting outcomes. It is worth noting that if the results were taken only from those people actually interviewed, quit rates would be around 10 percent higher. The evaluation, which involved surveys of registered Quitline users three weeks and six months after their registration, also found that more than eight out of 10 had made at least one quit attempt in that time. Of those that hadn't quit, more than seven out of 10 had reduced their tobacco consumption, and eight out of 10 of all respondents did not allow smoking in their homes. These are all significant factors in the subjects' continuing fight against their tobacco dependence. The use of nicotine patches, lozenges or gum is shown to greatly improve the likelihood of 'being quit' after six months. Chances are increased when eight or more weeks of nicotine products are used, through the redemption of Quitcards. Also available from The Quit Group over the last week or so were the results of its latest Client Satisfaction Survey and its annual figures. In terms of client satisfaction:
Research Manager Michele Grigg says, "It's been a busy time for us collecting this critical information, which both reveals how we're doing and identifies any modifications we might need to make to our services. It's pleasing to see that our quit rate stacks up against others from overseas, especially for a brief intervention quitline service. Our challenge is to maintain our good levels of service and keep assisting people with their quit attempts in whatever way we can." The Quit Group's latest 12-monthly report shows the organisation has registered the highest number of clients since 2001/2, when NRT was first introduced. Between July 2008 and June 2009, The Quit Group registered 53,167 new people. Of those, 27,995 called the Quitline, 21,229 registered online and 3,946 registered via Txt2Quit. Those last two figures are really charging ahead, with online registrations particularly going through the roof over the last couple of years. Coming clean on butt littering campaignsShane Kawanata Bradbrook
Keep New Zealand Beautiful (KNZB), a non profit organisation promoting litter abatement, has recently launched a campaign focused on this issue. The campaign seeks to work with local councils and chambers of commerce to reduce cigarette butt litter. Central to the campaign is the placement of outdoor cigarette butt receptacles.1 Now this may seem like a great solution and we applaud local governments and others who want to improve the cleanliness of our environment. However, we have significant concerns regarding this sort of campaign. Firstly it misses the point by limiting its scope to education alone. It does nothing to encourage people to try and quit smoking. Obviously, reducing the number of smokers would be the most effective way to reduce the number of discarded cigarette butts. Secondly, we're concerned that British American Tobacco (BAT) is heavily involved in this and other anti-butt littering campaigns – such as the Butt Littering Trust in Australia. BAT has sponsored KNZB to the tune of $300,000 according to the organisation's annual return. This sort of sponsorship allows BAT to give the impression it's a caring, concerned industry that's environmentally aware. BAT even puts this sort of sponsorship in its corporate responsibility reports. But we're dealing with an industry that deliberately makes an addictive product that kills people, so we're entitled to our suspicion that BAT really only cares about keeping New Zealand beautiful because it makes them look good down the track. And we're fairly certain there's even more to it. Establishing a link to local government provides an opportunity to lobby against tobacco control measures. There is evidence that Australia's Butt Littering Trust has acted to further tobacco industry interests by opposing the ban of smoking in outdoor eating areas attached to cafes in at least one local government area.
"Imagine how seriously the community would regard a plastic bag manufacturer setting up a trust to educate shoppers not to discard bags, while lobbying hard to oppose any reduction in bag use. This is exactly analogous to what BAT is doing."2 According to Article 5.3 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, to which New Zealand is a signatory, public health policies should be protected from "commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry". We could learn from Mauritius in this regard. It is probably the first country in the world to completely ban so-called 'corporate social responsibility programmes' by the tobacco industry. Programmes stopped have included BAT's Undergraduate Scholarship Scheme and its Food Baskets programme." Providing cessation support is the best long term solution to butt litter. Instead of focusing on educating smokers and collecting cigarette butts, a range of policies to reduce tobacco use, including cessation support, is the only thing that's really going to work. This is something to think about, especially if your local council is considering a partnership with KNZB. Perhaps you could help them understand the broader agenda behind tobacco industry sponsored anti-litter campaigns that will only help entrench smoking for many years to come. New Zealand could do without this underhanded undermining of public health and similar initiatives. ___________________________________ 1. Interestingly, the current CEO of Keep New Zealand Beautiful is named as Managing Director of Smokin' Station, the same company that produces and offers the butt receptacles for purchase. 2. Simon Chapman. 2006. Butt clean up campaigns: wolves in sheep's clothing? Tobacco Control 2006;15;273 doi:10.1136/tc.2006.017590 Farewell Helen GlasgowOne of New Zealand's tobacco control champions is busy saying her goodbyes. Helen Glasgow, who helped found The Quit Group and became its first Executive Director in 2000, is leaving the organisation on 14 August. She'll hand over to new Chief Executive Paula Snowden. A gathering of luminaries from across the smokefree sector gathered in Wellington on 23 July to say goodbye to a woman and leader who has had such a significant impact on smoking in New Zealand.
Helen (right) receives a farewell gift from Quit Group Chairperson Annette Milligan In 1998, Helen and HSC's Iain Potter worked with Te Hotu Manawa Māori to set up The Quit Group and to demonstrate the benefits of a smoking cessation television campaign with a linked Quitline. The three organisations established a pilot in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty areas. The Quit Group gained Ministry of Health funding for a national smoking cessation service and Helen became Executive Director in 2000. Iain Potter says, "An important point to remember about Helen's involvement in the beginning of the Quit Group is that the number one objective was to put cessation on the Government and policy agenda. "Cessation was not always flavour of the month as it is today. In 1998 not one dollar of Government money was spent on cessation because it was thought smokers should get themselves out of the fix they had gotten themselves into. "So Helen, with others, thought that a quitline pilot project might help convince Government that cessation should be funded as part of a comprehensive tobacco control programme. Therefore, the Quitline, Aukati Kaipaipa, NRT, ABC, hospital cessation services and others all owe their existence in some way to the 'cunning plan' Helen was hugely involved with. "Similarly, the Smoke-free Environments Act improvements – smokefree bars, second-hand smoke, anti smoking campaigns etc – often have Helen's 'fingerprints' on them. Her ability to see that a cunning plan needs to consist of more than just the obvious has been a big part of her contribution to public health." Paula Snowden starts at The Quit Group on 10 August. We look forward to profiling Paula in the next Update. New te reo Smokefree Schools website
"A smokefree school is a sign of wellbeing, not just a sign on the gate." If you haven’t already, check out the new te reo smokefree schools website: Nau Mai ki Ngā Kura Auahi Kore – www.kuraauahikore.org.nz. HSC's Smokefree Schools Project Manager Kath Blair says the te reo site is for Boards of Trustees, principals, teachers and students working within the framework of Te Aho Matua and the Hauora curriculum guidelines of Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. "These pages reflect kaupapa Māori me ngā tikanga Māori. "During their development, consultation took place with a number of Māori principals attending the Te Akatea national conference. "The tone of te reo pages is positive, reflecting Māori values." Kath says students are more likely to stay auahi kore if:
The Smokefree Schools and Nau Mai ki Ngā Kura Auahi Kore websites were developed in consultation with the National Smokefree/Auahi Kore Schools Working Group. SMOKEFREE SHORTS
New ZealandBan on duty-free cigarettes urged
In a study published in the international journal Tobacco Control, Wellington public health researchers from Otago University estimated the percentage of foreign cigarettes smoked in New Zealand by collecting discarded cigarette packets from streets in four cities and six towns nationwide. Lead investigator Nick Wilson said 3.2 percent of the 1310 packets collected were from outside New Zealand, which meant a significant revenue loss for the country. Dominion Post, 5 August 2009 Smoking holds one in five back from healthy life Smoking holds one in five New Zealanders back from a healthy lifestyle. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) says findings from new research that only one in seven New Zealanders has a healthy lifestyle is a sign that tough new measures are needed to combat tobacco consumption. ASH Director Ben Youdan says it is significant that smoking is included as part of the study. Scoop, 30 July 2009 Tobacco cuts legal Tobacco companies did not breach the Smoke-free Environments Act when they cut the price of some products last month. Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia had threatened legal action if the companies were in breach of the act but Ministry advice was that the cuts were legal as the price drop was permanent, not a promotional discount. Dominion Post, 3 August 2009 Cigarette sting nabs dairies Three Invercargill dairy owners and a Mataura retailer could be prosecuted and fined up to $2000 each after being caught selling cigarettes to under-age teenagers in a Public Health South sting. One of the teens used in the sting last month was only 14-years-old. Southland Times, 31 July 2009 InternationalTeenager collapses after chewing nicotine gum
Aiden Williams overdosed on the Nicorette gum, designed to help smokers quit the habit, after it was handed out by counsellors at his school. The teenager's mother has hit out at the school, which allows children as young as 12 to be given up to a week's supply – 105 pieces – without parental consent. Daily Mail, 21 July 2009 Nicotine bingeing endangers health Young women are behind an alarming new trend labelled "binge smoking" which is causing grave concerns for health experts. Similar to binge drinking, the practice involves the consumption of a large number of cigarettes over the course of a few hours, then not smoking for days. The Daily Telegraph (Australia), 27 July 2009 Do anti-smoking programmes reduce smoking? Michael Erikse, the Director of the Institute for Public Health at Georgia State University, says they do. Rigorous scientific research has shown that price increases, strict advertising restrictions and clean indoor air laws are effective in reducing smoking for everyone, but are particularly effective among young people. ajc.com (Georgia, US), 20 July 2009 Scientists find toxic chemicals in 'safe' smokes Federal US health officials said they have found cancer-causing ingredients in electronic cigarettes, despite manufacturers' claims the products are safer than tobacco cigarettes. The Food and Drug Administration said testing of products from two leading electronic cigarette makers turned up several toxic chemicals, including a key ingredient in automotive antifreeze. "Little is known about these products, including how much nicotine is there and what other chemicals may be there," said FDA's Deputy Commissioner Dr Joshua Sharfstein. New Zealand Herald, 25 July 2009 Israel bans electronic cigarettes The Isareli Health Ministry has banned electronic cigarettes, both the import and use of those previously brought into the country. The move comes in the wake of a health warning by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about the product. Arutz Sheva, 3 August 2009 Teen drink and drug use declining pic
The proportion of 8000 11-to-15-year-olds surveyed who have never drunk alcohol rose slightly to 48 percent in 2008. However, those who do drink alcohol seem to be consuming more, the NHS Information Centre said. BBC, 23 July 2009 Smokeless tobacco safer than smoking, study suggests Smokeless tobacco products, as used in Europe and North America, do not appear to increase cancer risk. A large meta-analysis, published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, has shown that snuff as used in Scandinavia has no discernible effect on the risk of various cancers. Science Daily, 29 July 2009 Philip Morris battles cases across the US A Los Angeles court is re-hearing a claim for punitive damages in light of a 2007 US Supreme Court ruling in an Oregon case against Philip Morris (the Williams case) that held punitive damages can't be calculated based on harm to people who aren't parties to a lawsuit. Richmond Times Dispatch, 26 July 2009 Only half of smokers enjoy it Only half of people who smoke do so because they enjoy it, a survey has revealed. In the study, carried out by Cancer Research UK, 50 percent of those polled said they enjoyed smoking, while 47 per cent of people said they smoked to cope with stress. The Independent, 29 July 2009 Fewer 'planning to quit smoking' The proportion of smokers who say they would like to give up smoking has fallen in recent years, figures from the Office of National Statistics (UK) show. In addition just over half of smokers said they had made a serious effort to quit in the past five years, a figure lower than in previous surveys. But the poll did find the numbers who say they would not smoke in front of a child has increased in the last decade. BBC News, 28 July 2009 Russian army rations to swap cigarettes for candy
"We are no longer buying cigarettes for the armed forces and are replacing them with caramel and sugar," Lieutenant-General Dmitry Bulgakov was quoted by news agencies as saying. He specified however that Russia was not banning smoking in the military. "Naturally, if a soldier wants to smoke we can't forbid this. But now he'll have to buy cigarettes in stores," Bulgakov said. "If you want to smoke, then smoke. If you don't want to smoke, eat candy." Yahoo, 30 July 2009 Turkey reports first smoking ban murder A restaurant owner in southwest Turkey was shot dead after he tried to prevent his customers from smoking to comply with a new law on the use of tobacco indoors. New York Times, 30 July 2009 Quitlines urged to cold call Smoking cessation quitlines could considerably enhance their reach and effectiveness by pro-actively calling smokers and offering phone counselling and quit-smoking self-help kits, new Australian research shows. Six Minutes, 29 July 2009 Cold turkey castaway
Former merchant banker Geoff Spice is due to land on the small isle of Sgarabhaigh, off Harris in the Outer Hebrides, over the weekend. Mr Spice, 56, will spend four weeks in solitude with only some books and the island's sheep for company. Sgarabhaigh has no electricity or water supply and lies at the eastern end of the Sound of Harris. BBC News, 1 August 2009 Cigarette packaging sways sense of risk: study When it comes to choosing which cigarette to smoke it seems the prettier the package, the less lethal the product appears to those buying it. CBC News (Canada), 28 July 2009 Ryanair allowing passengers to puff on 'smokeless' cigarettes Ryanair is allowing passengers to puff on "smokeless" cigarettes during flights. Cabin staff on short-haul services sell the devices - which can be legally smoked in public places - at £6 for a pack of 10. A passenger said: "The stewards were brandishing the packs as they walked down the aisle. No one bought any." The Mirror, 27 July 2009 QUOTABLE QUOTES"Smoking is so 'very 20th century.'" Peter Hilt, Letters, Southern View, 22 July 2009 Pulse: When people see you smoking again do they give you a bad time? Thune: Oh, yeah. Everybody. It's one thing when they give you a bad time. It's another when they look sorry for you. That really hurts. Dave Thune, the council member who spearheaded the St Paul, Minnesota
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If you are considering using any material from the Tobacco Control
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There is always a lot happening in tobacco control and the natural tendency is
for us all to get completely focussed and absorbed by what we are doing ourselves.
In many ways this is a good thing as our individual work efforts are what make up the whole tobacco control effort. 
As you may have seen recently, a detailed evaluation of the Quitline has shown that, using a conservative measurement, at least one in five people (21 percent) who call the Quitline has given up smoking
and remains smokefree after six months. Overseas evidence suggests the rate for those quitting without help is just one in 25 (4 percent), making the Quitline five times more successful.
Even though less people are
now smoking, more people are smoking outside. Cigarette butts are a major cause of litter, particularly in the storm water drains that lead to our waterways.
In a recent Tobacco Control Journal, Editor Simon Chapman made this analogy about the Butt Littering Trust:
Where
possible, links are provided below the stories. Please click these to read
the story in full.
Sales of duty-free cigarettes should be banned for people entering New Zealand, say public health researchers, who calculate more than $36 million in potential tax revenue is going up in smoke each year.
A
boy of 14 collapsed after chewing 45 sticks of nicotine gum – equivalent to 180
Marlboro Light cigarettes – in just 25 minutes.
Rates of drug use and drinking are continuing to fall among young teenagers, annual NHS figures show.
Russia will no longer include free cigarettes in its food rations for servicemen but will compensate by providing them with candy, a top general said.
A businessman who has smoked 30-a-day for decades is to maroon himself on a remote Scottish island in an effort to quit the habit.