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| Issue 146 | 9 June 2010 |
Having trouble viewing this newsletter? Try the online version. From the Director
I had the privilege of attending an addictions studies course at AUT on cessation a few weeks ago. It was a privilege because it was taught by Dr Hayden McRobbie. Hayden made New Zealand's cessation solutions seem so clear and do-able. He had such hope and confidence about how we could reach smokers with ABC (Ask, provide Brief advice, refer to Cessation treatment)) and inspire them to make a difference for themselves and their families – it was infectious. It all made me get a bit mathematical. Hayden showed the class a model for calculating quit success. I spent a lunch hour punching numbers into the model to see just how far a successful ABC outcome could go for New Zealand. The current situation looks like this: for every 100 smokers in New Zealand maybe 44 make a quit attempt each year. Thirty-three of those will try cold turkey – 75 percent – and we know about 2-3 percent of these will succeed. The remaining 11 will try a treatment or a quit service or both. These have a higher rate of success – perhaps 15 percent – but because there's so few of them, we still only see another one or two people actually succeeding out of that initial 100. So in a population of 650,000 smokers – and remember 80 percent say they wish they could quit – even 20,000 successful quits is a push, while a fresh cohort of youth take up smoking in roughly the same numbers, leaving little chance of lowering the national prevalence rate. But once ABC is rolling up and down our country, we might finally start to see dents in more of our graphs. What if 80 out of every 100 smokers made a quit attempt every year, and 60 percent of them – 48 – tried our services and treatments? What if our greater coordination and follow up with these ex-smokers upped our quit success rate to 20 or even 25 percent? The number of successful ex-smokers might jump as high as 80,000 in the first year! At that rate, there's a real possibility of significantly reducing the prevalence rate in New Zealand by 2020, through effective cessation practices (along with other measures). Then when you add greater incentives to quit provided by higher taxation, and less incentive to start smoking or relapse by removing tobacco products from retail display, well! No wonder Hayden McRobbie never stops smiling! The vision just keeps getting clearer. Take care, Prudence Stone, Director, IN THIS ISSUE:
World Smokefree Day: Protecting our Whare Tangata
Hon Tariana Turia wants to draw attention to the responsibility of all New Zealanders to consider others around them before they pick up a cigarette. "Tangata whenua have often drawn on the symbolism of te whare tangata – to describe the vital role that women play in nurturing future generations. It is timely then to remember the fundamental link between the health and wellbeing of our mothers and their children." "The World Health Organization (WHO) theme lends itself to us thinking about the damage caused from second-hand smoke, which places women and their unborn babies at risk; and also the harm caused to children who live in homes where there are adult smokers." Maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of premature delivery, perinatal mortality, low birth-weight and may cause a reduction in breast milk. "I am particularly mindful of the high smoking prevalence amongst Māori women; a factor which has been highlighted during the current inquiry by the Māori Affairs Select Committee into tobacco issues," said Mrs Turia. "Tupeka Kore Aotearoa 2020/Tobacco Free New Zealand 2020 suggests that eradicating smoking from New Zealand is the single most important and attainable policy action to reduce inequalities in mortality for Māori and Pacific peoples." Mrs Turia also referred to a study published in the New Zealand Medical Journal which identified at least eight mechanisms used to market tobacco to New Zealand women. "Advertisements brand certain cigarettes as being 'light', playing on appeals to concerns around weight or health' or package them in a way which is designed to attract a female audience. "The WHO theme on targeting the marketing strategies of the tobacco industry, alerts us to the ways in which advertisements may falsely link tobacco use with female beauty, including perpetuating a myth that smoking is a good way of keeping slim." The Associate Health Minister noted that the consultation process seeking feedback on a proposal to have all tobacco displays and products stored out of public view had closed on 21 May, and she looks forward to receiving the results from that consultation. "We must do everything we can to help people quit smoking and to stop young people from being tempted to take it up," said Mrs Turia. "We know that if we must work on all fronts to achieve the vision laid out by the Smokefree Coalition 'that future generations of New Zealanders will be free from exposure to tobacco products and will enjoy tobacco free lives'." Hon Tariana Turia media release, 31 May 2010 Record numbers quitting as World Smokefree Day heralds a new era
Quitline, which spoke to more people in one day than ever before when the tobacco tax increase was announced, reports that people are quitting by the thousands:
Paula Snowden, Chief Executive of The Quit Group which runs the Quitline, said World Smokefree Day comes during one of the most historic times in New Zealand's tobacco control history. "The tax increases have provided the trigger many people seem to have been waiting for – prompting thousands to quit. Meanwhile, the Māori Affairs Select Committee is calling the tobacco industry to account, a move long overdue. It's initiatives like this which are making a smokefree Aotearoa an increasing reality. "The record number of people using our blogs to help each other to quit, and stay quit, is extremely encouraging. Often the best support a smoker can receive is from someone else who has quit – whether that's one of our advisors or someone in the online community." Ms Snowden said if someone has tried quitting but relapsed, they are always welcome to come back to the Quitline. "The more attempts you make the more chance you will succeed. "Smoking is misleadingly and deliberately portrayed as a personal choice, a statement of freedom. But the sad irony is its very nature is to remove choice and rob people of their freedom, replacing it with an addiction that kills one in every two smokers." Quit Group media release, 28 May 2010 Nurses promote World Smokefree Day
NZNO Kaiwhakahaere, Kerri Nuku is a member of Smokefree Nurses Aotearoa New Zealand (SNANZ) and is NZNO's spokesperson for Smokefree Coalition Tupeka Kore Campaign. She is clear about the need for stronger action to increase quit rates. "As health professionals, we deal first-hand with the consequences of tobacco use every day. We see its effects on our patients' physical and mental health, and the social, economic and cultural wellbeing of their whānau," she says. "We are well aware of the highly addictive nature of tobacco, that it causes more deaths in New Zealand than any other drug, and that it is responsible for the death of 5,000 New Zealanders each year, (4700 smokers and 300 from second-hand smoke), of which 600 are Māori. "I am proud to say that NZNO strongly advocates for legislation and strategies that help smokers quit and to prevent our rangatahi from starting to smoke in the first place. At the moment we are asking Government to eliminate tobacco retail displays in Aotearoa New Zealand. "Surveys show that tobacco displays in dairies, petrol stations, supermarkets and convenience stores make it more difficult for smokers to quit or stay quit and international evidence also shows that marketing tobacco to younger people influences their uptake of smoking. We must remove tobacco products from sight in retail outlets to protect children and young people from uptake, addiction and all the terrible health outcomes that follow. "Eradicating smoking is the single most important and attainable thing we can do to reduce inequalities in mortality for Māori and Pacific peoples and NZNO members are committed to supporting patients to quit and stay quit," Kerri Nuku said. New Zealand Nurses Organisation media release, 28 may 2010 New ASH website feature: 'Research of the month'
'No Smoking Day' has featured regularly on the UK calendar since 1984. ASH NZ piloted 'No Smoking Day' in Whangarei in 2005 and it has since become an annual event across Tai Tokerau/Northland. The entry includes a link to the research abstract in full. ASH is keen to hear your suggestions for future 'Research of the month' pieces. You can read 'Research of the month' at the ASH website, and send in your suggestions here. Registrations for the PHA Conference 2010 are now open
The programme is available at http://nzphaconference.info/assets/2010-PHA-conference-programme.pdf. From researching racism to achieving health equity, to the impact of the recession on health inequalities; from internet smoking cessation in the Bay of Plenty to the question of whether water rights are a public good or private resource; from attaining childhood immunisation targets to doing better with the "health cheque"; from a Māori model of non-violent parenting to spirituality as a public health issue – the topics are wide-ranging; thought provoking and inspiring. Earlybird registration (until 9 July) will save you $70 so get to it! Mark it in your diary, book your flights or car ride and register for the "must attend" public health event of 2010. Go to http://nzphaconference.info/registration. If you are not a PHA member you can save even more money by joining! See www.pha.org.nz/membership.html. Invercargill World Smokefree Day Walk
Celebrating World Smokefree Day by walking in Invercargill on 31 May were staff and friends of Awarua Social and Health Services. The group of 80 people walked from South City, Invercargill, to the Murihiku Marae. Leading the group along Tramway Road are flag bearers Crystal Ellis (left), a Youth Tutor at Frontline, and Brittany Niania. Whānau Ora worker Frances Maheno said the walk was traditionally held most years to celebrate World Smokefree Day. The service also received several inquiries from Māori wanting to give up smoking, she said. Southland Times, 1 June 2010 New Zealand women targeted by tobacco companies
The new research, published in the latest New Zealand Medical Journal, shows there are at least eight ways in which tobacco companies get round the spirit of the law and 'push' tobacco specifically at women. The study was released to coincide with 'World Smokefree Day' on Monday 31 May, which has a theme this year of tobacco marketing to women. "We have analysed a relatively unknown area; the marketing of tobacco to women in New Zealand, and particularly Māori women, 50 percent of whom still smoke," says Dr Heather Gifford from Whakauae. "Smoking is more serious for women than men before middle age because it has negative health impacts on children; perinatal mortality, low birth weight and premature birth are just some of these effects", she says. "There's also the known impact of second-hand smoke on such conditions as asthma and sudden infant death syndrome." The study shows there are at least eight ways that tobacco companies continue to try to persuade women to take up or continue smoking despite the current law.
The researchers concluded that the advertising and sponsorship restrictions in the current law are inadequate and need to be expanded. One of their recommendations is to follow the lead of Australia and regulate plain packaging of all tobacco products. "Given the ongoing examination of tobacco issues by the Māori Affairs Select Committee, now is an excellent time to further advance new laws for tobacco control," said Dr Gifford. "We argue for a full phase out of tobacco sales over 10 years – but improved marketing controls would be a valuable supplementary measure." University of Otago, Wellington, media release, 27 May 2010 Submitters' impressions about the inquiryWe asked members who presented orally to the Māori Affairs Select Committee inquiry to tell us their impressions in just a few sentences each.
Janet Hoek, Professor of Marketing,
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Happy Matariki everyone!
The focus of World Smokefree Day is to protect women from the harm of tobacco marketing and smoking.
Smokers
are quitting and supporting each other to quit in record numbers, according
to new figures. One month on from the tobacco tax increase, and at the time of World Smokefree Day (31 May), health experts are predicting
we're a few years from a smokefree New Zealand.
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO)
celebrated World Smokefree Day – a global event that draws attention to the effects of smoking, on Monday 31 May.
Action on Smoking and
Health NZ (ASH) has added a 'Research of the month' to its website. The first entry featured research demonstrating that the UK 'No Smoking Day' campaign is incredibly good value for money.
You can now register for the PHA's 2010 Conference "Tomorrow for Tomorrow's People", to be held 22-24 September at Turangawaewae Marae in Ngaruawahia.
Despite the passing of the Smoke-free Environments Act in 1990 restricting advertising and sponsorship of tobacco, tobacco companies are still targeting women with their marketing, according to a team of researchers from the University of Otago, Wellington and a Māori health research group – Whakauae Research for Māori Health and Development.
1.
Tell us how you really think you did?
Where
possible, links to full articles are provided below each story.
Māori Affairs Select Committee
Chairman Tau Henare has condemned the refusal of tobacco giant Philip Morris to give evidence to his
Select Committee and has threatened to invoke a little-used parliamentary power against it.
Auckland Zoo has banned smoking from Saturday 29 May, riding the growing wave of opposition to lighting up at outdoor venues.
Dunedin taxi company United Taxis has recently developed a smokefree policy whereby their premises and taxis are smokefree at all times.
South Australia has the dubious distinction of receiving the Australian Medical Association's
(AMA's) annual Dirty Ashtray Award for the second year in a row for the Australian State or Territory that made the least progress on combating smoking during 2009/10.
Scientists believe they have discovered why women smokers are twice as likely to develop cervical cancer than non-smokers.
Children and teens who live in counties banning smoking in public places have much lower levels of a second-hand smoke biomarker, US researchers found.