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| Issue 128 | 28 October 2009 | |
Having trouble viewing this newsletter? Try the online version. From the Director
Another stroke of lucky timing had the Coalition Chair – Professor Robert Beaglehole – visit Wellington the day the Ministry of Health (MoH) announced major shifts in its planning and funding structure for health and disability services. I had scheduled a meeting for us with the Ministry's Tobacco Control Team, and had a chance to learn first-hand what these changes mean. It's an unsettling time for people who work in health – whether in the Ministry of Health, DHBs, NGOs or other organisations or agencies. And it seems everyone is awaiting further detail about the shape the National Health Board will take, and exactly what its function will be. The idea I get from the report is that loads of 'back office' functions of DHBs for nationally provided services will be handed over to the new entity, allowing DHBs more time for their own planning on a regional basis. There could be a huge handing back to DHBs of the $2.5 billion or so which the MoH currently manages in service contracts. I'm pleased to welcome a regular contribution to the Update from the Ministry's Tobacco Control Team. The work of the Team is of interest and direct relevance to many of us who work in tobacco control, and regular updates on the progress of various issues will be much appreciated. Hon Peter Dunne stressed acknowledgement by the Government for the three-way relationship amongst community service providers, local health boards, and the MoH, and its recognition for each group's place in a 'better, sooner, more convenient' health service to New Zealand. Hon Tariana Turia cut straight to the chase, however, challenging NGOs and DHBs alike to focus on whānua ora, family-oriented health initiatives. I like that: when health is considered individually, it becomes a matter of consumption. But an individual is nothing without a healthy household. More good messages from Ms Turia, our Government champion of the month! Take care, Prudence Stone, Director, IN THIS ISSUE:
Oceania Conference: Nigel Gray Award
I would like to express my thanks to all those who have sent messages regarding the Nigel Gray Award. The award was created to recognise an individual's contribution to tobacco issues within the Oceania region. I was told the nominations came in from a couple of sources and I am grateful I was even remotely considered worthy. I am the first indigenous recipient, New Zealander, non-Dr/PhD and advocate to receive this accolade, which, if I was to be honest, is embarrassing, especially when you look out to an audience that has a number of heavyweight advocates from this sector whom I have learnt from, worked with and have loads of respect for. But as Nigel said to me later, "Getting awards is embarrassing but enjoy it anyway!" But the thing I am most affected by is just how our New Zealand contingent is so proud of this achievement. The haka performance and all the hugs and handshakes from colleagues were affirming and an emotional time for me. So I would like to again thank all those who were there to share the moment. I would also like to thank the past and present Board of Te Reo Marama for all the time and energy they have put into the organisation and myself over the years. Nga mihi ki a koutou. And I was proud to see Māori on the international stage delivering dynamic, positive and highly professional contributions in their respective presentations. Ten years ago that was an aspiration expressed by our community – to have more speakers up on stage. We can now say that has been achieved. Let's maintain it. I hope one day to hear that another New Zealander, Māori and indigenous colleague has been similarly honoured. So back to reality... We have the Māori Affairs Select Committee Inquiry on the battleground now. This is a massive opportunity not only for Māori but for the whole sector/community to get involved by making submissions, writing to the media and presenting to the Committee. While Māori are disproportionately affected by tobacco use this is a cross cultural issue, as tobacco addiction and tobacco destruction do not discriminate. So for me it is simple – let's push for the elimination of tobacco from these shores! If we really want to serve and protect our communities then here is a moment in history that needs to be grasped with both hands. Na reira, ka nui te mihi aroha, mihi mahana hiki ki a koutou. The Award The Nigel Gray Award recognises an individual's contributions in 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 were eligible for the nomination. Depth of achievement at a local, regional, national and international levels were considered along with a criterion that included:
Inquiry into the tobacco industry in New Zealand: Making submissionsReaders are likely aware that public submissions are being invited on the inquiry into the tobacco industry in New Zealand and the consequences of tobacco use for Māori. The closing date for submissions is Friday, 29 January 2010. The Ministry of Health has updated its website and now has an informative page surrounding the inquiry submission process. Click here. Sign the petitionYou can also sign a petition organised by Te Reo Marama via GLOBALink to show your support for the Māori Affairs Select Committee hearing on Māori tobacco use and the tobacco industry here. Supermarket cigarette advertising by proxy?
The photographer, who took a cell phone photo of the unusually packaged sweet, remembers them as Coffee Shotz or something similar. But what really struck her was how similar to a cigarette packet the packaging was: same proportions, with a flip top and a gold strip to peel off to open the plastic wrap. She wondered if it was intended to be a prompt to remind people to buy cigarettes, in the absence of cigarettes on display. Is the industry, she mused, organising for when displays are banned? This example is not the only one to come to the attention of the Update. Another member of the Smokefree Coalition says he has a packet of Wrigley's Extra Drops which are also in cigarette pack-like packaging. Tobacco Control Research website now liveThe national Tobacco Control Research Steering Group is pleased to announce that a website dedicated to tobacco control research is now live. Check out: www.tobaccoresearch.org.nz. The website aims to be the key source of all things related to tobacco control research. It provides the following information:
Add it to your favourites! The link between type 2 diabetes and smoking
The current issue of Healthy Food Guide outlines the latest scientific findings in a special report on type 2 diabetes. Here is a much shortened version: Diabetes is our nation's fastest growing, chronic disease. Around 270,000 New Zealanders have type 2 diabetes and although it's most commonly diagnosed in people over 30 years old, increasing numbers of teenagers and children are developing the disease. A few years ago type 2 diabetes was virtually unknown in teenagers, but it's now estimated around 500 young people aged between 10 and 18 years old have the disease. Around 15,000 New Zealanders have type 1 diabetes, and although the numbers here for gestational diabetes are not known, in Australia, it's estimated five percent of women will develop it. No one has yet discovered the answers that will lead to a cure, but the scientific community has made substantial progress. The latest medical advice for avoiding type 2 diabetes is summarised below.
Research updateEvery year, thousands of research institutions release findings that help shed light on how to better manage, prevent, and maybe even cure diabetes. Some of the most exciting results are highlighted in the full article at www.healthyfood.co.nz. © Reproduced with permission from Healthy Food Guide magazine.
Through the smoke
Audio slideshow: created by Mad Men "Cigarette vending machines should be banned and shops in England, Wales and Northern Ireland should keep stocks out of sight, [British] MPs say. Similar plans are being discussed in Scotland. "But there was a time when there were very few restrictions on tobacco promotion. With this interesting slide show, Larry Viner, of the Advertising Archives, takes a look at the ingenious, and not so truthful, ways the ad agencies tried to sell cigarettes in the past." Click here for the slide show, courtesy of the BBC. SMOKEFREE SHORTS
New ZealandWellington woman launches petition to ban smoking in CBD
She'd like to be able to stroll down Lambton Quay without having to dodge smoke. After reading letters to the editor in the local paper, Charlie realised she wasn't alone and is now spearheading an e-petition on the council's website. She wants an outdoor smoking ban from Lambton Quay through to Courtney Place, Wellington's entire golden mile, and that's got smokers worried. 3 NEWS, 15 October 2009 Tobacco sting nabs 10 dairies selling to teens Ten Whangarei and Kaipara dairy owners could be prosecuted and fined up to $2000 each after being caught selling cigarettes to under-age teenagers in a Northland District Health Board tobacco operation. Dargaville News, 14 October 2009 Smokefree beaches? Western Bay of Plenty District Council has gone a step beyond almost every local authority in New Zealand by banning smoking on beaches. While 23 councils throughout the country have introduced "open air" smoking bans – usually around municipal playgrounds or outside public halls – only Gisborne and Opotiki have included council-owned beaches. Bay of Plenty Times, 24 October 2009 InternationalMan jailed for letting girl smoke
Newcastle Crown Court heard that the girl asked Graeme Conroy, 31, for a cigarette and when she started smoking it she was filmed on a mobile phone. The court heard that the child had smoked three cigarettes before the filming took place. Conroy, from Ashington, Northumberland, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering or injury to health. BBC News, 15 October 2009 Tobacco companies scoping younger crowd with social networking, smokeless products Tobacco companies are looking for new ways to market products to young people in America. They have started advertising on social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. Central Michigan Life, 14 October 2009 Smoking keeps its grip on urban poor A full 42 percent of people in Milwaukee's poorest neighbourhoods smoke – more than twice the national U.S. average – sacrificing US$9 on a pack of cigarettes even while most of the households reported earning less than US$15,000 a year. Even more troubling is the fact that a large number of these low-income smokers hold beliefs that make them less likely to quit, according to ongoing research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Health Day, 16 October 2009 French parliament committee approves cigarette hike A French parliamentary committee has approved a measure that would add 6 percent to the price of a packet of cigarettes from next year. The Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, or Lower House, adopted an amendment to the 2010 Social Security Budget specifying a 0.6 percent hike in cigarette taxes that would lift the overall price of cigarettes by 6 percent. Reuters, 22 October 2009 Cigarette firm destroyed studies, review finds
The internal studies, done from 1967 to 1984, were destroyed in 1992 on orders from head office at British American Tobacco in the United Kingdom to avoid "exposing the company to liability or embarrassment," the authors of the review say. The studies were later uncovered in British American Tobacco files, which began to be made available through disclosure during a US trial in 1998. CBC News, 14 October 2009 Cognitive barriers to calling a smoking quitline A Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco study has examined cognitive barriers that might prevent cigarette smokers who are interested in quitting from calling a smoking quitline. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, a 53-item inventory of possible cognitive barriers to quitline access was developed. A total of 641 daily smokers who reported high intentions to stop smoking completed this inventory and were then prompted to call a toll-free smoking quitline. Oxford Journal, 30 September 2009 First smoking in car with child conviction A New South Wales woman has been convicted of smoking in a car containing a three-year-old child in what is believed to be one of the first successes with such a prosecution under new state laws. News.Com.Au, 20 October 2009 Smoking costs Australian economy $31b, report says A report that reveals the AU$31 billion social cost of smoking to the Australian economy is a mandate for tobacco taxes to be hiked, health groups say. The Cancer Council of Western Australia has released what it says is the first independent analysis of economic arguments put forward by the tobacco industry. The Northern Star, 23 October 2009 Doctors should ask mentally ill to stop smoking, new report says
In a new study, clinical psychologist and lead author Brian Hitsman, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, recommended an integrated care model to help mental health patients quit smoking. The method, combining drugs and psychological therapy, addresses the tobacco dependence of mentally ill smokers. Medill Report, 13 October 2009 MPs approve cigarette vending ban The removal of cigarettes from public display is a step closer after MPs said vending machines should be banned and shops should keep stocks out of sight. MPs supported a backbench amendment to outlaw cigarette vending machines in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has its own separate bill. The vending machine amendment to the government's Health Bill was passed by the Commons without going to a vote. Health campaigners welcomed the step, calling it a "brave move". BBC News, 13 October 2009 State-wide teen smoking cessation trial is first to achieve significant increase in prolonged quit rates For the first time, researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre (Seattle, US) have demonstrated that it is possible to successfully recruit and retain a large number of adolescent smokers from the general population into a smoking intervention study and, through personalised, proactive telephone counselling, significantly impact rates of six-month continuous quitting. Health Orbit, October 2009 ACT (Australia) cracks down on smoking outdoors Smokers will be banned from lighting up in outdoor areas where food and drinks are served under new laws being proposed by the ACT government. It will force smokers to move at least two metres away from eating and drinking areas if they want a cigarette. The move – mirroring similar measures in Queensland and Tasmania – is about ensuring a smoke-free workplace for waiters and waitresses, the ACT government says. 7News, 16 October 2009 New York City council bans flavoured tobacco
Often found behind the counter in glitzy, fluorescent coloured wrappers and sometimes near candy, these cigars, chewing tobaccos and cigarettes have been laced with child-friendly flavours to get kids addicted early, said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. City officials hope getting this type of tobacco product off shelves will keep kids from starting smoking. Gotham Gazette, 15 October 2009 The environmental price of every cigarette We all know that smoking can kill. It pollutes the air and leads to untold damage ... But does it harm the environment? Apparently, yes, it does. Crosby Herald (UK), 15 October 2009 Electronic cigarettes: In need of FDA regulation? They look like cigarettes, but they have names most people have never heard of: Gamucci, Cloud 9, and Njoy. That's because they are electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes. These battery-powered devices do not create smoke but provide a mist of nicotine to the user's lungs. The Christian Science Monitor, 17 October 2009 The risk of receiving a smoker's organ Matthew Millington died from lung cancer less than a year after undergoing a lung transplant. He was 31. The donor was a heavy smoker. The case, details of which have just emerged, has raised concerns about the screening of donors for transplants. The Independent, 13 October 2009 Getting kids involved in researching the tobacco industry
The study commissioned by the Canadian Convenience Stores Association and the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco found 30 percent of butts gathered near Ontario high schools were contraband, up from 26 percent last year. The numbers were even higher in Quebec, where 45 percent of the cigarette butts collected near high schools were contraband, up nine percent from 2008. The Canadian Press, 14 October 2009 Is smoking tougher on women? Women may be more vulnerable than men to the carcinogens and other noxious substances in cigarette smoke, a growing body of research suggests. In one study of nearly 700 people with lung cancer, Swiss experts found that women tended to be younger when they received the diagnosis, even though they smoked less than the men who developed lung cancer. Health Day, 25 October 2009 QUOTABLE QUOTES"Tobacco packaging is no longer the 'silent salesman' it once was, now it shouts loudly. These screams for attention are used to defy advertising bans and drown out health warnings. The industry will fight tenaciously but the only consistent and effective policy response is generic packaging." Professor Gerard Hastings, lead researcher, Institute for Social Marketing at the University of Stirling, UK in "Making the Pack the Hero, Tobacco Industry Response to Marketing Restrictions in the UK: Findings from a Long-Term Audit" International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 18 September 2009 |
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Shane Kawenata Bradbrook
Take a close look at the picture on the right. Remind you of anything? Well, they're not a new brand of cigarette. They are a sweet by Wrigley's displayed in the main line of vision at a Wellington supermarket checkout.
Research reported in the US National Institutes of Health publication PubMed in
2007 found smoking was associated with an increased risk of developing type 2
diabetes. See 
Where
possible, links are provided below the stories. Please click these to read
the story in full.
It's lunchtime and all over the Wellington CBD, smokers spill out of their offices for that long awaited puff.
And that's a problem for office worker and non-smoker Charlie Dickson.
A man has been jailed for 18 months for allowing a three-year-old child to smoke.
Imperial Tobacco Canada destroyed up to 60 early studies that linked cigarettes to addiction and carcinogens, according to a review published in the online
Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Smoking addiction treatment should be included in the care plans for mentally ill patients with tobacco dependence.
Snuffing out cherry-flavoured cigarillos and cookie dough laced cigars, the city council has banned the sale of flavoured tobacco products just weeks after the federal government took flavoured cigarettes off shelves nationwide.
The latest study of cigarette butts collected around high schools in Ontario and Quebec suggests more teens are buying their smokes on the black market, prompting a call to make tobacco possession illegal for those under age 19.