 |
|
| Issue 140 | 31 March 2010 | |
Having trouble viewing this newsletter? Try the online version. From the Director
The excitement is building now that the Māori Affairs Select Committee inquiry is well underway. I've met with various Coalition members who plan to speak before the Select Committee here in Wellington, and I simply can't get over the scope, strength and determination of their arguments. But with the announcement yesterday from Mrs Turia's office, some of us will also be back to the submission writing table, to have our say on removing tobacco displays – one of the the most significant legislative measures there could be for our future generations and their smoking uptake. Professor Robert Beaglehole and I will be delivering hardcopies of our document, Achieving the Vision, at our appearance before the Māori Affairs Select Committee inquiry. We will offer the Select Committee a the timeline and roadmap for systematically and rapidly reducing smoking and supporting all smokers to quit. We have no doubt our nation can be tobacco free by 2020. One of the very first policy steps in Achieving the Vision’s timeline is increasing taxation and the removal from display of all tobacco products. To show your support for Mrs Turia's proposal, send her a short email (but scroll down to read her statement, first!). Take care, Prudence Stone, Director, IN THIS ISSUE:
Consultation to begin on removing displays
Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia announced on Wednesday 31 March that the Ministry of Health is seeking feedback on a proposal to have all tobacco displays and products stored out of public view. Mrs Turia says it is vital that we do more to help people quit smoking and stop young people from being tempted to take up the habit. "The evidence shows that most people who smoke want to quit. It's harder to quit when you walk into a shop and are confronted with the instant temptation of tobacco on display. "There is a growing body of evidence that tobacco displays prompt impulse purchasing and that there is a link between displays and young people taking up smoking," she says. A recent survey reports overwhelming public support for ending tobacco sales. A massive 65.6 percent of the participants surveyed agreed that 'the number of places selling cigarettes and tobacco should be reduced to make them less easily available'. The survey interviewed 1608 people aged 15 and over. "The survey results are very encouraging that the time is right for change on all fronts," says Mrs Turia. "Once the consultation is completed I will be reporting back to Cabinet and a decision will be made on whether or not to proceed with a ban on the display of tobacco products in retail outlets." Letters are being sent to individuals and organisations that have previously made a submission on options for regulating the display of tobacco products in retail outlets, although anyone is welcome to comment on the proposals. Similar restrictions on tobacco displays have been adopted in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia. Scoop, 31 March 2010 Learn more about making a submission at the Ministry of Health website. Aiming for clean, green and tobacco sales-freeby Marewa Glover
It is clear that the main argument for banning the sale of tobacco products is to reduce the high rates of death and disease that result from smoking. There are about 656,000 smokers in New Zealand and if they continue to smoke, half will die as a result and many more will suffer smoking-related illnesses. If the sale of cigarettes is banned in 2020, as is being discussed, the questions that remain are how many current smokers will quit by that time, how many will be satisfied to switch to alternative nicotine delivery products, and how many will still want to source tobacco for smoking. The demand for tobacco is already in decline. Four out of five smokers would not smoke if they had their life over again. Twenty-six percent of current smokers want a ban on sales, increasing to nearly 50 percent if non-tobacco nicotine substitute cigarettes are available. One third of smokers try to quit each year, however, the power of their addiction means that there is an annual reduction in smoking prevalence of less than 1 percent. At the present rate of decline, unless we take radical measures, we can estimate that the prevalence of smoking by 2020 will still be 17 percent. There is a high rate of relapse to smoking because of the addictive power of nicotine and the many triggers that overpower the motivation to stay smokefree. Once a ban is in place many of these triggers, such as exposure to tobacco marketing in dairies and petrol stations and to other people smoking, will be removed or significantly reduced. In the interim, if we progressively reduce the amount of nicotine in cigarettes, the severity of nicotine addiction by 2020 will decline to levels that make sustained quitting more possible. New nicotine delivery products are being developed all the time. Provided these products are available for sale in New Zealand, smokers will have a wide range of alternatives available to them in the next 10 years. New treatments for nicotine addiction are also promising, for example, a vaccine is in development. Improved access to stop-smoking support and treatments, especially for women of child-bearing age and parents of young children, will stem the flow of new smokers. Fewer parents smoking will mean fewer children taking up the habit. In fact, whatever the outcome of the proposed ban on tobacco sales, we need to shift prevention efforts to focus on women of child-bearing age and those who smoke during pregnancy. Focusing on Māori women is particularly important because of their relatively high rates of smoking. Preventing smoking during pregnancy would almost eliminate sudden unexpected deaths in infancy and would reverse the trend toward more and more of these deaths happening in Māori families. It would also reduce rates of lower respiratory tract infections and ear infection in children and reduce the severity of child asthma. It has been suggested that a tobacco sales ban could reduce the prevalence of smoking to about 1 percent or 32,000 people. By helping people to quit in all of the ways I have described, the number of people who would still want to smoke would also be reduced. Because the proposed ban stops only the commercial sale of tobacco – which is not the same as prohibition – smoking as a behaviour will not be illegal. People who want to continue smoking tobacco might try growing and curing their own, or obtaining it from overseas. A small percentage of New Zealanders might buy from illicit sources, although presumably the excessive prices would put many off. As we've seen with progressive law changes banning smoking in workplaces, schools, restaurants and pubs – public support grows for extending smokefree environments. With so few people smoking, social smoking would become highly unacceptable, meaning that even more people would be encouraged to stop. Soon after cigarette sales stop in 2020 we expect to be able to postpone up to one in six funerals by anything from one to 40 years of extra life, and that people will be living with less cancer, coughing, wheezing, and ill health. A sales ban will save lives and prevent premature deaths without making criminals of those who wish to continue smoking. Most importantly, our children will live longer and healthier lives once New Zealand is tobacco sales-free. Marewa Glover is the Director of the Centre for Tobacco Control Research at Auckland University. She presented an oral submission to the Māori Affairs Select Committee inquiry. Stuff, 25 March 2010 BAT NZ submission videoFor those of you who missed the BAT submission to the Māori Affairs Select Committee, here is your chance to see them in action. Courtesy of Te Hotu Manawa Māori, Part one of a video of BAT NZ's submission is on the ASH NZ website and features the company's pre-prepared statement. Parts 2-6 will appear on ASH NZ's YouTube channel over the next day or two as they get uploaded. These feature the questioning from the Select Committee members to BAT NZ's Graeme Amey and Susan Jones. Submitters' impressions about the inquiryFollowing on from last issue, here are a couple more "impressions" from members who presented orally to the Māori Affairs Select Committee inquiry in Rotorua and Auckland. Our questions were as follows:
"We think we provided some different perspective to the Committee. We knew our stuff and used their questions to highlight Māori and public health perspectives across the social determinants. We highlighted the significance of illness to wellness and paradigm shifting which allows for behavioural change." Waitangi believes the Committee is headed in the right direction. "They seem to be collective in their support of banning tobacco and know that it is harmful to Māori. It will be interesting to see how they progress this." In terms of pointers for Wellington and Christchurch, she says stronger discussions are needed about vulnerable populations. "The tobacco company talked at length about how they do not market to under 18-year-olds and that they provide choice. Also that they work within the parameters (legally) determined by the Government."
Waitangi suggests the following for future Select Committee hearings.
"Some members were very interested in the impact of tobacco on heart disease and in the degree to which elimination of tobacco would close the life expectancy gap between Māori and rest of the population." She says the Select Committee certainly seems to be hearing and receiving the messages. "A theme I noticed was 'We have already spent a lot of money on Māori smoking and it hasn't worked – why would any more make a difference?' "It may be too late for Wellington and Christchurch but I understand the Select Committee will be seeking expert advice and information before they come to their conclusion. It will be important to answer this question." A smokefree Aotearoa?On 21 March Radio New Zealand's Sunday morning Ideas programme dealt with whether a smokefree New Zealand was a realistic goal. Experts who spoke:
New nicotine replacement products offer hope to smokers
The new products come in small sachets which smokers keep in their mouths, allowing nicotine to be rapidly released. Meanwhile the researchers are launching a second more ambitious study which will be the largest nicotine replacement trial ever seen in New Zealand. It is aiming to test an innovative new mouth spray to be used every time a smoker has the desire to light up. The new study is looking for 1600 participants in Wellington and Christchurch to take part in a trial to test the effectiveness of the new Zonnic mouth spray, to be used in addition to the normally available nicotine patches. Participants will also be given regular counselling to help them quit smoking. Watch Otago University's Brent Caldwell talk about the two new nicotine replacement therapies Zonnic and Snus on TVNZ's Breakfast, 22 March 2010. New half owner of major New Zealand tobacco retailer – the government
The Shell operation is one of our six major tobacco retailers (Foodstuffs, Progressive Enterprises, BP, Mobil, Shell, and Caltex). According to the Greenstone chairman, Mobil is also selling its New Zealand stores. A consequence of this move is that the New Zealand government is further involved with the tobacco industry and tobacco sales (it appears to still have investments in tobacco companies through New Zealand Superannuation Fund, the National Provident Fund and The Earthquake Commission). The ACC Board ordered its investment in the industry sold in 2006. The Government Superannuation Fund divested from tobacco in 2007, and was reported to have "realised that [its tobacco] shareholders' objectives were inconsistent with New Zealand's commitments to, in particular, the objectives of the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control." In 2007, Finance Minister Michael Cullen was reported as writing to all Crown financial investment agencies ordering a review of their responsible investment policies, and as saying, "It remains the decision of the boards as to how their requirements should be interpreted and which stocks they invest in." Those submitting to the Māori Affairs Select Committee in Wellington and Christchurch may wish to comment on this. One option would be for the government to use its influence to remove tobacco from Shell stores, another would be for the government to act to withdraw its investment from tobacco manufacturing companies. George Thomson See also:
Recent researchClick the links below each piece for more information. Bupropion and cognitive behavioural therapy for weight-concerned women smokersThis study sought to determine whether the combination of cognitive behavioural therapy for smoking-related weight concerns and bupropion therapy would enhance abstinence for weight-concerned women smokers. http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/170/6/543 Evidence base and strategies for successful smoking cessationSmoking cessation efforts have benefited from continued pharmacologic developments, increased public awareness of stop-smoking programmes, aggressive counter-campaigns to illustrate the toll of cigarette smoking and recognition of the many primary and secondary effects of smoking exposure on the general public. This article reviews the effects of tobacco dependence on peripheral arterial disease, perioperative considerations in smokers, as well as common clinical interventions such as counselling and pharmacotherapy to encourage tobacco cessation. www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/07415214 How socio-economics relates to health habits and mortalityThis study aimed to examine the role of health behaviours in the association between socioeconomic position and mortality. Its conclusion was that, in a civil service population in London, England, there was an association between socioeconomic position and mortality that was substantially accounted for by adjustment for health behaviours, particularly when the behaviours were assessed repeatedly. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/303/12/1159 Cigarette advertising and adolescent smokingThis study underlines the specificity of the relationship between tobacco marketing and youth smoking, with exposure to cigarette ads, but not other ads, being associated with smoking behaviour and intentions to smoke. This finding suggests a content-related effect of tobacco advertisements. www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/07493797 Rangatahi Māori health and development project surveyStage one of New Zealand Aotearoa Adolescent Health and Development's (NZAAHD's) Rangatahi Māori Health and Development Project (RMHD) is under way. Keri Lawson will be conducting research and analysis of background documents to complete an environmental scan of existing programmes, services, resources, reports and strategies aimed at rangatahi Māori health and development. This will include scoping NZAAHD members and non-members who work with rangatahi Māori, and identifying the key factors impacting on rangatahi Māori health and development in Aotearoa – with the aim of developing a strategy to best support that work. One element of this first stage is an online survey. This is a great opportunity for the sector to paint a picture of what is out there for rangatahi Māori, identify where the gaps are and how we can work together to fill them. This will provide the opportunity to support and learn from the good work that is taking place. Another survey will be held in coming weeks as part of the collection of the necessary data to paint a clear picture of the important work being done across the country with young people. You are encouraged to take five minutes to fill out the current survey and refer it on to any organisations or individuals you feel NZAAHD would benefit from hearing from, as this is going to lead to an important area of work for the sector. Complete it and your name will go in a draw for a $50 gift voucher! The survey is at www.surveymonkey.com/s/rangatahi. Lunchtime seminar: Men's Wellbeing = Men being WellDepartment of Public Health This presentation summarises the findings of the Men's Mental Health Symposium (2010), to inform health promotion and health services targeted at men. Solutions need to be strengths-based, masculine affirming and culturally appropriate to help men connect and take pride in their important social roles such as partner, father, son, grandfather, uncle and mate. Presenter: Barry Taylor, Suicide Prevention Co-ordinator at Wairarapa District Health Board, was the organiser of the symposium and has been working on a Men's Mental Health promotion strategy as part of the Wairarapa Suicide Prevention Strategy. 9 April 2010, Wellington, 12.30pm to 1.30pm Nordmeyer Lecture Theatre Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand Whānau Ora workshopsThe Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand is currently taking enrolments for Whānau Ora workshops. Topics:
Locations:
Find out more at the Health Promotion Forum website or download a calendar of Health Promotion Forum training taking place between April and June. If you are interested in attending, please enrol at the website. Hurry as places are limited!!
SMOKEFREE SHORTS
New ZealandSmoking ban reduces heart attacks – study Edinburgh University researchers made a study in New Zealand three years after a smoking ban was introduced, and found hospital admissions for heart attacks among men and women aged 55-74 fell by 9 percent. This figure rose to 13 percent for 55-74 year olds who had never smoked, the university said in a statement. Stuff, 17 March 2010 Southland and Otago DHBs revise smokefree policy Southland and Otago DHBs are committed to protecting their communities from the harm caused by smoking and have launched a revised and stronger smokefree policy to reaffirm this fact. The revised policy outlines the DHBs' commitment to providing a smokefree environment for all patients, staff and visitors. Southland and Otago DHBs media release, 16 March 2010 Grilling due over cheap cigarettes A Christchurch company selling cheap high-nicotine cigarettes faces a grilling before a Government select committee on smoking. Māori MP Hone Harawira said he would be asking the NZ Tobacco Group to appear before a coming Māori Affairs Select Committee hearing on the tobacco industry in Christchurch. The Press, 20 March 2010 Docs urge ban on smoking in cars when kids present Kiwi doctors want adults to be banned from smoking in cars containing children. The ban is already in place in several Australian states. Two years ago Tasmania introduced an on-the-spot fine of $110. A ban in New Zealand would mean anyone under the age of 18 – the current legal age for smoking – would be classed as a child. New Zealand Herald, 28 March 2010 Smoking saga to drag on further The ongoing saga of a Northland pub owner who made history by being the first to be prosecuted for allowing smoking indoors is set to drag on for several more months yet. Neal Summers, whose Rightside Properties owns the Kaikohe Hotel, was first called to court in August 2008 for breaching the then four-year-old Smoke-free Environments Act. Northern Advocate, 31 March 2010 InternationalDid Camel ads encourage young girls to smoke?
If the answer to both of those questions is yes, she may have been influenced by a series of advertisements for Camel cigarettes that appeared in those and other magazines in 2007, a new study published this week in the journal Pediatrics suggests. According to the study RJ Reynolds seems to have devised a marketing strategy that – deliberately or otherwise – successfully caught the eye of teen girls. Health.com, 15 March 2010 Smokers who quit see improved artery health within year, study shows Despite gaining an average of nine pounds, a large group of smokers from Wisconsin who quit had a significant improvement in the health of their arteries within a year of their last cigarette. The benefit was the equivalent of a 14 percent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology. Journal Sentinel Online, 15 March 2010 Cigarette tax 'should be raised' Tax on cigarettes should be massively increased to pay for health measures such as a £10-a-week "reward" for pregnant women who give up smoking, a British think-tank has said. Policy Exchange said the cost to the public of smoking far outweighed the revenue from duty, leaving the taxpayer with a 6.5p bill for every cigarette smoked. Press Association, 19 March 2010 Tobacco second major cause of death worldwide Tobacco is the second major cause of death worldwide and death toll is rising rapidly specially in low and middle-income countries where most of the world's 1.2 billion tobacco users are living. Almost 1.3 billion people currently smoke worldwide the majority of whom live in developing countries. Tobacco kills one in two long-term users – 4.9 million such deaths occurring each year, said a report by The Network for Consumer Protection. The News International, 22 March 2010 Big tobacco and the historians
Then in January he got another subpoena, this one for three years of e-mails with a colleague, and also for his computer hard drive. Attorneys for RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris USA are trying to get him barred from testifying in a Florida court as an expert witness on behalf of a smoker with cancer who is suing the companies. The Nation, 15 March 2010 Experts warn new smokeless tobacco products are still dangerous The tobacco industry is offering new products and finding new ways to attract and keep customers. However, health advocates say the new products are just as dangerous, and the customers are getting younger and younger. Story includes video. Fox News, 22 March 2010 'No plans' to ban smoking in cars The Scottish government says there were currently no plans to ban smoking in private cars and public areas used by children. The comments came in a response to a report by the Royal College of Physicians that said smoking in cars was an "important and persistent" factor in exposing children to cigarette smoke. BBC News, 24 March 2010 Extra tax makes smoking long cigarettes a drag The UK: "Women lighting long cigarettes renders men helpless", says one page on MySpace. The chancellor, Alistair Darling, is apparently not one of those men; his budget has slapped extra duty on any cigarette longer than 8cm, excluding the tip. From 1 January 2011 every additional 3cm, or part thereof, beyond this length will be treated as another cigarette. This means that an 11cm cigarette will be treated as two cigarettes, while a 12cm cigarette will be counted as three. The Guardian, 25 March 2010 Israel may ban addictive tobacco products
If tobacco were not addictive, the smoking rate would quickly decline from the present 23 percent. People already addicted to nicotine who felt the need for it would be able to get it through other delivery systems such as nicotine chewing gum, skin patches and other forms, but not through tobacco, the bill states. The Jerusalem Post, 16 March 2010 Bizarre claim that smoking is healthy A Director of the Victor Chang Foundation's board has written a long and detailed opinion piece promoting 'healthy smoking' for The Jakarta Post, as the Indonesian government considers its first crackdown on cigarette advertising. "The real argument is here in Indonesia some quite remarkable Indonesian scientists and doctors have discovered that cigarette smoking can, with specially treated cigarettes, significantly assist people's health and has the potential to cut health costs around the globe," wrote Murray Clapham, an Australian businessman and former diplomat. Sydney Morning Herald, 30 March 2010 Passive smoking and children The Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) in England has published its report on passive smoking and children. The report details the effects of exposure to second-hand smoke in children and includes a chapter on associated costs, a consideration of ethical problems, and a review of potential strategies to tackle the problem. British Medical Journal, 24 March 2010 QUOTABLE QUOTES"History has become a key component in the tobacco attorneys' defence strategy. In the past, when smokers with cancer sued for damages, the companies said they shouldn't have to pay, because there was a "scientific controversy" about whether smoking causes cancer. But in recent years they have given up that argument and now argue something like the opposite: "everybody knew" smoking causes cancer. So if you got cancer from smoking, it's your own fault." "Big tobacco and the historians", The Nation, 15 March 2010 -- "Soon after cigarette sales stop in 2020 we expect to be able to postpone up to one in six funerals by anything from one to 40 years." Marewa Glover, "Aiming for clean, green and tobacco sales-free ", Stuff, 25 March 2010
|
|
| Subscription info | |
|
The Tobacco Control Update is produced
by the Smokefree Coalition
If you are considering using any material from the Tobacco Control
Update, |
|
It appears we have real legislative progress afoot! Read below to find out more about our Associate Minister of Health Tariana Turia's invitation for more submissions, this time on how to remove tobacco products from retail display. 
Consultation will soon begin on a proposal to ban the display of tobacco products in all retail outlets in New Zealand.
Banning the sale of tobacco products by 2020 seems to be a done deal. The
Māori Affairs Select Committee examining tobacco harm appears to be
genuinely looking for ways to make it happen. The potential barriers to a
ban appear to be the erroneous claim that an illicit trade would thrive
driven by demand, and concern for smokers unable to stop by the time a ban
on sales comes into effect. 
Waitangi
Wood, Communications Manager at Hapai Te Hauora Tapui, Māori Public Health, says their presentation was well received. 
Maggie McGregor of the National Heart Foundation says Select Committee members represented the spectrum of tobacco control approaches but were generally attentive.
New Zealand smokers have given the thumbs up to two nicotine replacement products which may become more commonly available in this country following research from the University of Otago, Wellington.
Shell has sold its 300 plus service stations to Greenstone Energy, half owned by the
guardians of New Zealand Superannuation fund (i.e.
the New Zealand government).
Where
possible, links to full articles are provided below each story.
Scottish researchers say they have found a possible link between a smoking ban in bars and restaurants and a reduction in severe heart attacks in New Zealand.
Does your teenage or college-age daughter read fashion magazines such as Glamour or Vogue? Does she smoke?
Last summer Robert Proctor, a Stanford professor who studies the history of tobacco, was surprised to receive court papers accusing him of witness tampering and witness intimidation, along with a subpoena for his unfinished book manuscript.
Kadima MK Yoel Hasson
has tabled a private member's bill that, if passed, would be the world's first law barring the sale of tobacco products containing addictive substances such as nicotine, or other substances, such as menthol and ammonia, that make nicotine more addictive,
The Jerusalem Post has learned.