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| Issue 138 | 3 March 2010 | |
Having trouble viewing this newsletter? Try the online version. From the Director
The first hearing dates have been announced by the Māori Affairs Select Committee and, as we expected, they are short notice. If you live in the Auckland and Rotorua regions, you may have already received your invitation. Please contact Shane Kawenata Bradbrook at Te Reo Marama on 04 499 6494 (shane@tereomarama.co.nz) if you are scheduled for the 8 March hearing in Rotorua and would like assistance in preparing your oral submission. For those scheduled for 10 and 11 March in Auckland, please contact either myself on 04 472 0157 (director@sfc.org.nz), ASH on 09 520 4866 (ashnz@ash.org.nz), or Te Hotu Manawa Māori on 09 6385800 (info@thmm.co.nz). If you helped other organisations or individuals make their submissions, but they are not members of the Smokefree Coalition, please let them know that we are making assistance with hearings available to all. Our aim is to achieve some collectivisation that will give us confidence to make our arguments as clearly as possible. I strongly advise everyone expecting an oral submission invitation to set aside some preparation time to practise their key messages before they deliver them to the Māori Affairs Select Committee. Take the opportunity to write to your local editor about the occasion. If you are based in Wellington or Christchurch, sit tight. We expect more announcements about hearing dates in these regions by the end of this week. Keep checking the Smokefree Coalition’s or the parliamentary website for breaking news, and please review the submissions of the Coalition members. Please review the submissions by members of the Smokefree Coalition which can be found on the Coalition's Māori Affairs Select Committee web page. Check this page regularly for breaking news. There is great strength in our unity and our Vision. Let's make the most of this historic opportunity, everyone. Carpe diem! Take care, Prudence Stone, Director, IN THIS ISSUE:
New Zealand hosts World Health Organization meeting
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is the first international treaty of the WHO. The treaty is now managed by the United Nations and with 168 signatories, including the European Community, it is the most widely embraced in United Nations history. The four-day meeting was for a special working group of 70 countries, set up to spearhead the development of scientifically-based guidelines to promote and support people to quit smoking and providing the best ways to treat tobacco dependence. "I am really proud that New Zealand is stepping up to the mark, in terms of demonstrating our support to encourage people to quit smoking," said Hon Tariana Turia, Associate Minister of Health with delegated responsibility for tobacco control and prevention. "In New Zealand, providing better help for people to quit smoking is one of the Government's six health targets. This meeting is an opportunity for New Zealand to show our support for this global network of countries and organisations committed to improving people's health by reducing the harm done by tobacco use," she said. Ministry of Health Tobacco Control National Programme Manager Karen Evison said New Zealand had an important contribution to make because we were already implementing the 'ABC Approach to Smoking Cessation'. The ABC Approach involves health professional including doctors and nurses in hospitals and in the community as well as other health professionals Asking people if they smoking, giving Brief advice about quitting and providing Cessation support. "It's a simple formula with a powerful potential. It's about mobilising the existing health workforce and giving them the help to include smoking cessation into their every day practice," Mrs Evison said. "The ABC approach has potential to be used in other countries where resources were limited because it involves working with the existing health workforce and systems." The Framework Convention is a response to the globalisation of the tobacco epidemic and the harm it is inflicting. Globally it is estimated that tobacco use kills 5.4 million people each year. In New Zealand tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality, accounting for an estimated 5000 deaths every year. Voxy, 15 February 2010 WHO tobacco meeting in New Zealand, but action still needed at home
ASH says that measures including a ban on the display of tobacco at the point-of-sale and an increase in tobacco excise tax would dramatically slow the numbers of new smokers. "The meeting shows that New Zealand supports measures to combat tobacco harm globally, but the reality is that substantive changes haven't happened in this country since 2003," said ASH Director Ben Youdan. "In this time our smoking rate has hardly declined and countries like the UK, Australia and Canada all now have lower smoking rates." Mr Youdan says this is because of tough, proven measures including bans on the display of tobacco in shops and hard-hitting anti-tobacco industry social marketing campaigns. "Cessation is of vital importance because we know that three-quarters of smokers want to quit, but if we are really serious about eliminating tobacco harm in this country we also need to address the bigger picture issues of supply. "The Government needs to be aware of the strength of public opinion supporting a display ban." ASH media release, 17 February 2010 Get ready to be asked if you're a smokerNew Zealand smoking expert Hayden McRobbie laid down the reality of what it really takes to give up smoking at a United Nations World Health Organization conference on tobacco held 16-19 February in Auckland. Any patients visiting a dentist, physiotherapist or social worker now face being asked whether they are smokers. The scheme is being introduced into hospitals and will then be pushed into primary healthcare groups. The scheme to have all health workers question patients and offer quitting advice was seen as so effective that it was the centrepiece of the conference. The ABC scheme was designed in New Zealand as part of national health guidelines drawn up in 2007. It calls for health workers to: A – ask people if they smoke, B – give brief advice about quitting, and C – provide cessation support. One of its architects, Hayden McRobbie, a Health Ministry consultant and researcher at the London School of Medicine said, "ABC is really right across the spectrum of healthcare professionals and may be even into non-registered healthcare professionals." He cited involvement from nurses giving cervical smears, staff on orthopaedic wards in hospitals, physiotherapists, dentists and social workers. "It was not nagging, it was offering help," he said.
The Dominion Post, 17 February 2010 ABC Smoking Cessation Launch
MidCentral Health's ABC approach to Smoking Cessation launch was held at Palmerston North Hospital cafe on Friday 19 February. Launch compere Tipi Wehipeihana of Otaki radio station Reo FM entertained diners while tobacco control staff and ABC clinical champions provided information and support. Reaching the Ministry of Health required target of 80 percent of inpatient smokers being "A" and "B" by June 2010 has meant the Smoking Cessation Taskforce, put together at Palmerston North Hospital to assist in reaching the target, were highlighting to staff the opportunities and options available and encouraging them to be a part of the "There's an elephant in the room and its too big to ignore" campaign. For MidCentral, training in the ABC approach commenced in September 2009 with a pilot in the hospital's medical wards. Nursing staff have been quick to pick up on the trainings provided to them in their own settings. Other disciplines including pharmacy, physiotherapy and dieticians are participating enthusiastically. Women's Health and Surgical services followed the medical wards and are finding the yellow sticker system of identification useful. Ensuring all disciplines and night duty staff are trained has been a challenge. The availability of the onsite quit smoking services has ensured a prompt actioning of referrals and after nine years the quit service is an integral part of Palmerston North Hospital. The ABC approach has seen another increase in referrals to this service. In the community Aukati Kai Paipa and local PHO smoking cessation support are gearing up for the increase they expect as the trainings take on a primary flavour later in the year. MidCentral has seen an improvement from 14 percent at the baseline check in September to 24 percent in January. The ABC approach has been an opportunity for processes and documentation around smoking and smoke exposure to be improved. Social media sites to monitor tobacco industry advertisingAn open letter by Becky Freeman Dear Tobacco Control Colleague,
This is where you come in. We have created a Facebook page to monitor the advertising tactics of the global tobacco industry and we need you to help us. Please join our page and share any example that you come across that promotes tobacco products. We are primarily interested in items outside the traditional forms of mass media. Perhaps a YouTube video, an invite to an event, a blog posting, a txt message, a flashy new pack design or even supposed good works by the industry, such as sponsoring litter clean up days. Anything at all that promotes tobacco use – no item will be deemed too small Action 1: Become a fan of our Facebook page by clicking here. If you're not on Facebook yet – here's your perfect excuse to get on board and join. Action 2: Encourage your friends around the globe to join too. Effective monitoring means we need as many eyes and ears on the ground as possible – and not just tobacco control experts: we need smokers, young people, parents, and concerned citizens to be part of this global monitoring effort. Even if you don't think you'll have anything to contribute, please join and invite others to join – the greater the number involved the more likely it is that governments will be moved to act to ban all forms of tobacco advertising. Email your MP tool launchedAlmost one year has passed since the Government deferred the debate about banning tobacco retail displays by calling for more evidence. A new Email your MP web tool has been launched to help your campaign to reach politicians. An easy to use online form can be used to select your MP, choose a key message about tobacco displays and send it direct to them. You can find it here. We need to keep the pressure up now! More and more countries have banned displays, including Finland, Norway and Scotland. The Scottish Parliament even used evidence form the ASH Year Ten Survey when making its decision to ban point of sale tobacco advertising. Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia has been persistently pushing this issue, and we need to show that the public is behind her. The Māori Affairs Select Committee has reported over 2000 submissions to its enquiry into the impact of tobacco on Māori. A quick analysis by ASH of the submissions available on the Committee's website, showed that 80 percent want a ban on tobacco displays. Sixty percent were in favour of getting rid of tobacco sales by 2020. This proves banning retail displays is not a radical step, but a small one on the road to this goal of a smokefree Aotearoa/New Zealand. Please take the cause to your MPs and urge them to take urgent action. We want our Kiwi kids not to see tobacco in their local shops anymore. Recent researchClick the links below each piece for more information. Tobacco industry use of corporate social responsibility tacticsThis study's focus is to better understand the tobacco industry's corporate social responsibility efforts and to assess whether there has been any substantive change in the way it does business with regard to the issue of exposure to second-hand smoke. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123217207/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Household smoking associated with increased child emotional and behavioural problemsThis study investigated whether children who live with smokers are more likely than children who do not live with smokers to have emotional or behavioural problems and explored this association in households with non-smoking mothers. Do smokers crave cigarettes in some smoking situations more than others?Smokers tend to smoke when experiencing craving, but even within smoking occasions, craving may vary. This study examines variations in craving when people were smoking in various real-world situations. http://ntr.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/ntp198 Promoting tobacco through the international language of dance musicIn 1995, British American Tobacco (BAT) initiated a partnership with London's Ministry of Sound (MOS) nightclub to promote Lucky Strike cigarettes to establish relevance and credibility among young adults in the UK. In 1997, BAT extended their MOS partnership to China and Taiwan to promote State Express 555. http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/ckq009v1 The intergenerational transmission of implicit and explicit attitudes toward smokingThis study examined the intergenerational transmission of implicit and explicit attitudes toward smoking, as well as the role of these attitudes in adolescents' smoking initiation. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2703492/pdf/nihms115043.pdf Free seminars on smoking cessation and nursesSmokefree Nurses Aotearoa/New Zealand
Nurses are key to achieving smoking cessation targets. Hayden McRobbie will discuss practical aspects of smoking cessation in different settings and overview support and reporting in DHBs and primary care. Jennifer Percival RN, HV, MW, Dip counseling, Dip teaching is visiting New Zealand. She will discuss the importance of the role of nurses in tobacco control, outline the barriers faced by many nurses undertaking this work and give examples of global nursing achievements. Wellington: 3-5pm, Friday 12 March at the Graduate School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, Victoria University of Wellington, Level 8 – Room 801, Clinical Services Block, Wellington Hospital (download flyer). Auckland: 4-6 pm, Thursday 25 March, Room AA 236, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, AUT University, Akoranga Campus, Akoranga Drive, Northcote (download flyer). These free seminars are for nurses or those who work with nurses. They count as two hours professional development and, as space is limited, attendees must contact Lynn Stevenson to register and for further details: lynn.stevenson@aut.ac.nz. Smoking Cessation Training – Pacific
Free smoking cessation training for healthcare workers – one day workshopPurpose of Training
The training is based on the Revised New Zealand Smoking Cessation Guidelines 2007. Topics covered in the training include:
Training goals Support participants:
Training dates:
For further information, please contact: Anthony Leaupepe Walk2Work Day – 10 March 2010
Living Streets Aotearoa is coordinating and supporting Walk2Work events around the country on Wednesday 10 March. Walk2Work Day is part of a Living Streets campaign that aims to encourage people to walk more in their daily lives. It is a free event held before work in a location close to the main walking routes, targeting people who have walked all or part of the way to work. The campaign aims to encourage active healthy lifestyles for all New Zealanders, raise the profile of walking as a as an essential mode of transport, and decrease road congestion. For more information about an event in your area please visit the Living Streets Aotearoa website or contact caroline.barnes@livingstreets.org.nz or 04 385 8380. Abstract writing workshopThe Waikato branch of the Public Health Association (PHA) is offering a free workshop on 24 March to help members develop abstracts for the upcoming PHA September conference. The workshop facilitator is Dr Polly Atatoa-Carr and the workshop will be held at the Salvation Army Rooms at 94 London Street in Hamilton from 10am to 12.30pm. Please RSVP by 14 March to Claire Simcock, simcockc@waikatodhb.govt.nz, or 07 838 2569.
SMOKEFREE SHORTS
New ZealandQuit smoking around me please
When you're walking along the waterfront, up Cuba or Manners Malls and down Lambton Quay, the smell and eyesore is not from smoking trucks or cars. It's cigarettes. Is it really necessary to smoke right where hundreds of people stroll every day? Newswire, 17 February 2010 Laws' Māori smoking comments unfair – BSA Comments made by Radio Live talkback host Michael Laws while discussing Māori smoking have been deemed unfair by the Broadcasting Standards Authority. The authority said its finding should remind broadcasters to deal fairly with people referred to in programmes. New Zealand Herald, 22 February 2010 "In long run tobacco will be banned" "It might be a long process, but I do believe in the long run tobacco will be banned in the Western World," said Tairawhiti District Health Board member Brian Wilson. "But according to the Gisborne Herald web poll there is still 30 percent of our local population who don't want any ban. They don't want to be told what to do and don't want big brother." Gisborne Herald, 18 February 2010 Puffing okay only on field? Puffing may become an on-field activity only following the launch of a new initiative that could eventually see all Waikato rugby grounds smokefree. The joint venture between Waikato District Health Board and the Waikato Rugby Union will see smokefree initiatives rolled out this season and mainly targeting club and school rugby. Waikato Times, 27 February 2010 InternationalSmokers need not apply
Tennessee Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga began testing prospective employees this week for smoking. If the tests come back positive, their chances of being hired go up in smoke. "It's relevant to creating that healthy lifestyle," Memorial Health Care Systems CEO James Hobson said. "It's relevant to the entire community." The policy sends a message that the hospital takes the health of its own workers serious enough not to tolerate unhealthy habits, hospital administrators said. But the policy remains controversial. ABC World News, 14 February 2010 Are pipe and cigar users blowing smoke? Pipe and cigar smokers may say they don't inhale, but a new study suggests otherwise. The study, based on breathing tests in people ages 48 to 90, found that the pipe and cigar smokers had more than double the risk for abnormal lung function that contributes to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a leading cause of death – even if they abstained from cigarettes. Those who also smoked cigarettes were at more than triple the risk. New York Times, 15 February 2010 Smoking ban evaded by holes in wall A Swiss bar owner has devised a novel way to beat the smoking ban by cutting a series of holes in the wall. The three holes enable patrons to stick their heads through the larger top hole and their hands through the other two so they can technically have a cigarette outside. The Telegraph, 16 February 2010 Italians smoke less as recession hits disposable income Cigarette sales in Italy fell the most since 2005 last year as the recession and rising prices hit consumers' disposable income, according to data compiled by research institute Ricerche per l'Economia e la Finanza, or REF. Business Week, 19 February 2010 European Union to increase cigarette and tobacco excises
"The directive is intended to ensure a higher level of public health protection by raising minimum excise duties on cigarettes, while bringing the minimum rates for fine-cut tobacco gradually into line with those for cigarettes," a media statement said. The outcome of a fourth four-yearly review of tobacco taxation under various directives, the change is aimed at "modernising and simplifying the rules and making them more transparent," the statement said. The Sofia Echo (Bulgaria), 16 February 2010 Cigarette taxes: where there's smoke, there's money A new study by a US anti-smoking group argues that states could raise more than $9 billion in new revenues if they all hiked cigarette taxes by $1-a-pack. The levy wouldn't come close to balancing recession-ruined state budgets, but it wouldn't hurt. The group says the higher tax would keep 2.3 million kids from becoming smokers and convince 1.2 million adults to quit, saving one million lives and $52 billion in health costs over the long-run. Christian Science Monitor, 16 February 2010 Romania to ban sale of tobacco in duty-free shops Companies that sell goods in duty-free shops have 45 days to exhaust their stocks of distilled alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, following an order by the Romanian Finance Minister effective as of 12 February. Mediafax, 15 February 2010 Hong Kong plans to abolish inbound duty free tobacco allowances The government of Hong Kong is planning to abolish inbound duty-free allowances for travellers, citing "public health reasons". The move will come as a blow to retailers such as Sky Connection, which operates the Arrivals duty free concession at Hong Kong International Airport under the Free Duty brand. The Moodie Report, 25 February 2010 Trinidad and Tobago means business Trinidad and Tobago's 2009 Tobacco Act will come into effect on Ash Wednesday. Section 12 states: "No person shall smoke or hold a lighted tobacco product in any enclosed public place, enclosed workplace, or public conveyance... "Where a person contravenes this law the manager, owner or lessee of the place where the contravention occurred, if he authorised or acquiesced in the act, is personally liable. "The liability is to a fine of $10,000 and six months imprisonment." The Guardian, 14 February 2010 Are non-smokers smarter than smokers?
Dr Mark Weiser and colleagues from Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer found that young men who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day or more had IQ scores 7.5 points lower than non-smokers. "Adolescents with poorer IQ scores might be targeted for programmes designed to prevent smoking," they conclude in the journal Addiction. Reuters, 23 February 2010 French advertisement shocks, but will it stop young smokers? A new French antismoking advertisement aimed at the young that plays off a pornographic stereotype has gotten more attention than even its creators intended, and critics suggest that it offends common decency and creates a false analogy between oral sex and smoking. The slogan is bland enough: "To smoke is to be a slave to tobacco." But it accompanies photographs of an older man, his torso seen from the side, pushing down on the head of a teenage girl with a cigarette in her mouth. Her eyes are at belt level, glancing upward fearfully. New York Times, 23 February 2010 Cigarette makers take fight to Supreme Court Leading tobacco companies have asked the US Supreme Court to throw out court rulings holding that the industry illegally concealed the dangers of cigarette smoking. The filings mark the latest round in a landmark legal fight that began during Bill Clinton's presidency and has dragged on for over a decade. Associated Press, 19 February 2010 Black market cigarettes made of poo? The National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco says illegal cigarettes are not just sold illegally, but are manufactured that way, too. Many of these underground processing areas are set up in tool sheds and garages, where spider's eggs, animal and even human faeces can mix with the finished product. Ottawa Sun, 23 February 2010 Pro tobacco comments criticised
Mykola Azarov, one of President Victor Yanukovych's three candidates for Prime Minister, hinted at decreasing such taxes, a step that runs counter to proven global anti-smoking and revenue-generating practices. Last year, due to the recent tax hikes, 15 billion fewer cigarettes were produced in Ukraine than in 2008, according to Konstiantyn Krasovsky, Head of the Ukraine Health Ministry's Tobacco Control Unit. That's about a 12 percent drop. Kyiv Post, 26 February 2010 World Health Organization Chief slams tobacco industry 'bullies' World Health Organization Chief Margaret Chan accused "ruthless, devious" tobacco companies of bullying as she battled attempts to stimulate smoking in poor nations. Chan said she would not allow the tobacco industry to take part in talks on expanding the world's first public health treaty. Expatica, 26 February 2010 Study confirms ETS link to childhood wheeze, asthma Childhood exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in the home is significantly associated with an increased risk for wheeze and asthma, research confirms. Medwire News, 25 February 2010 Smoking, drinking chimp sent to rehab A chimpanzee has been sent to rehab by zookeepers to cure the smoking and beer-drinking habits he has picked up, a Russian newspaper reported. Stuff, 1 March 2010 QUOTABLE QUOTES"Like my predecessors, I am not on speaking terms with the tobacco industry, but I will say this: we've come a long way, bullies." World Health Organization Chief Margaret Chan
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Our chance to be heard has arrived.
New Zealand
has hosted a World Health Organization (WHO) meeting, which was held 16-19 February in
Auckland, aimed at promoting smoking cessation across more than 160 countries.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) says that although the Government
has just hosted a World Health Organization (WHO) meeting on tobacco, more action to prevent the uptake of tobacco by
New Zealand young people is needed.
by Fay Selby-Law,
Where
possible, links to full articles are provided below each story.
Wellington has some awesome sights and sounds that tourists and locals would like to experience, but these are continually hindered by walls of smoke.
Deep in the heart of "tobacco country," smoking could bar some people from getting jobs.
The European Union
(EU) Council of Ministers, the bloc's principal decision-making body, has adopted a directive updating EU rules on the structure and rates of excise duties on cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Cigarette smokers have lower IQs than non-smokers, and the more a person smokes the lower their IQ, according to a study of over 20,000 Israeli military recruits.
A top contender for Ukrainian Prime Minister, who is a traditionally pro-tobacco lawmaker, has derided government measures to hike excise taxes on the nation's cheap and plentiful supplies of alcohol and tobacco products.