Smokers inEnglandare being encouraged to stop smoking for 28 days from October 1, according to a note on the Department of Health’s Media Centre website.
The campaign, Stoptober, is based on research showing that ‘those who stop smoking for 28 days are five times more likely to stay smoke-free’. Presumably, the unfinished comparison is with those who stop smoking for a period of less than 28 days.
Stoptober, which is said to be ‘the first ever mass quit attempt for smokers’, was launched on Saturday by the chief medical officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies.
‘The innovative campaign comes as smoking remains the biggest killer inEnglandwith half of long-term smokers dying prematurely from smoking related diseases,’ the note said.
‘Stoptober which takes place from 1 October and is backed by Cancer ResearchUKand British Heart Foundation is the first 28 day quit attempt of its kind to encourage the nation’s [England’s] eight million smokers to make the step towards a smoke-free future.
‘Smokers will receive support and encouragement through TV and radio advertising which goes live on Monday 10 September, plus a daily messaging service and road shows around the country.’
“Smoking is still the biggest cause of premature death inEngland, taking more than 100,000 lives in theUK[England,Scotland,WalesandNorthern Ireland] every year,” Davies was quoted as saying.
‘The new campaign is also supported by the Stoptober app (available free via Smartphone) as well as the Smokefree Facebook page with additional tips and advice,’ the note said.
‘The giant Stoptober wheel will tour the country throughout Stoptober and encourage smokers everywhere to stop smoking and take part,’ the note added.
Cigarette production inChinaduring the first seven months of this year, at about 1,500 billion, was up by 1.81 per cent on that of the first seven months of 2011, according to a Tobacco China Online story.
During July, cigarette production reached about 192 billion, which was up by 1.58 per cent on that of July last year.
Production inYunnan province during the first seven months of this year, at about 221 billion, was up by 0.92 per cent on that of the first seven months of 2011.
Yunnanwas followed byHunan,HenanandShandongprovinces in cigarette production.
Smokers are being banned from lighting up on balconies in a move that could soon be extended to apartments in the Gold Coast region ofQueensland,Australia, according to a story by Jessica Elder for the Gold Coast Bulletin.
In effect, many high-rise buildings would become smoke-free.
Buildings inMainBeach, Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach already have bans in place and many more are said to be considering implementing non-smoking regulations.
Elder wrote that precedents had been set in other states, including New South Wales, where many Sydney buildings enforced blanket bans on smoking.
A novel technique developed by scientists at British American Tobacco has made it possible to weigh the amount of smoke a person is likely exposed to when they take a puff of a cigarette.
‘The development of this technique is part of on-going tobacco science research to develop tools and approaches to understand smoking in support of the development and assessment of potentially less harmful tobacco products,’ BAT said in a press note.
‘The new technique, which is described in Chemistry Central Journal, was developed by combining two established technologies – a commercially available quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) unit (Vitrocell® Systems GmbH, Germany) and British American Tobacco’s in-house developed ‘in vitro lung’ exposure chamber (patent publication number WO 03/100417 A1).
‘Using the combined technique, it is possible to directly quantify the dose from cigarette smoke particles on a cell.
‘This is the first demonstration of QCM application for the assessment of cigarette smoke in vitro.
‘These measurements will enable the development of more relevant in vitro assays that more accurately reflect what smoker’s lung cells are being exposed to and is an exciting step forward in British American Tobacco’s work towards the assessment of the biological effect of cigarette smoke.
‘Before the QCM, smoke was measured in vitro as a ratio or percentage of smoke to air and involved multiple calculations to estimate the amount of smoke coming into contact with cells. This novel application now provides scientists with a very accurate and direct method to determine the mass of smoke in contact with in vitro cell cultures within the nanogram range.
‘Using the new technique, it has been calculated that each cell is exposed to between 11 and 1300 smoke particles per exposure, depending on the concentrations of smoke used. At the lowest concentration measured in this study, each cell’s exposure represents 400 femtograms (fg) of smoke particles, which have an average diameter of 400 nm, one fiftieth of the diameter of a fine human hair.’
“The integration of the Vitrocell® QCM into British American Tobacco’s whole smoke exposure chamber has led to the development of a reliable, sensitive tool to assess whole tobacco smoke in vitro, said Tobias Krebs, managing director at Vitrocell® Systems. “We are pleased with the capability of this tool, which will ultimately help support industry needs to measure smoke particle deposition.”
Meanwhile, John McAughey, principal scientist at BAT, said new tools would allow the measurement of the weight of deposited smoke particles as a real number, making such research more comparable to toxicological research in other areas and the results easier to share with other industries and researchers.
‘The exposure chamber is an inexpensive hand-sized plastic device that can be used to study the effect of exposing human airway cell cultures to aerosols, such as cigarette smoke,’ the note said.
‘After exposure, cells are examined for a number of endpoints such as cell toxicity, DNA damage, gene expression and other biological markers that are associated with cigarette smoke disease pathways.
‘The Vitrocell® QCM consists of a thin quartz disc held between two gold electrodes. It is a sensitive gravimetric balance that utilises the piezoelectric effect, associated with all quartz crystals, to weigh very small amounts. When mass (stress) is applied to the crystal, this induces a change in thickness, which in turn changes the frequency at which the crystal oscillates. This change in oscillation frequency can be measured and used to determine mass.
‘QCMs are used for a wide variety of applications including monitoring chemicals in polluted waters, the detection of virus nanoparticles and peptide membranes, and occupational environmental monitoring.’
A cross-section diagram of the BAT exposure chamber which enables human lung cells to be exposed to cigarette smoke for toxicity testing. The microbalance is installed in the chamber to allow the assessment of real-time cigarette smoke mass.
Tobacconists in six EU countries yesterday demonstrated against measures being considered by the European Commission to restrict cigarette packaging and display, according to a story by Dave Keating for the European Voice.
As part of a proposed revision of the EU’s tobacco products directive scheduled to be put forward by the end of the year, the Commission is considering recommending that tobacco products should be sold in ‘plain packaging’ and that tobacconists should be forbidden from displaying cigarettes in their stores.
The European Confederation of Tobacco Retailers (CEDT) was reported as saying that its members in Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Austria and Poland took part in the protest. Participants covered their shop displays with protest banners, sent letters to national governments and met with politicians. A press conference was organised next to the Polish president’s house.
“These demagogic and completely useless measures will cut tax revenues and turn out of house and home hundreds of thousands of people working in the retail sector, thus fueling organised crime without bringing any positive effect for public health,” said Giovanni Risso, the confederation’s chairman.
Hungary’s national assembly will open its autumn session on Monday with a vote on a law aimed at creating a state tobacco distribution monopoly high on its agenda, according to an All Hungary Media Group story quoting the parliament’s press service.
The final vote on the tobacco law is due to be held on Tuesday.
The bill has been tabled in parliament several times, but deputies delayed making a decision while waiting for the European Commission to give an opinion.
The Commission and other EU member states had until August 17 to comment on the bill and perhaps object that it would be a hindrance to the free movement of products within the community, but no such objections have been received.
China Tobacco Shandong Industrial Corp. held a foundation-laying ceremony on Tuesday to mark the start of the relocation and upgrade of its Tengzhou Cigarette Factory, according to a Tobacco China Online story
A total of Yuan1.25 billion is being invested in the project.
There has been an increase in the number of non-smokers being diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer inFrance, according to a story in News-Medical.net quoting a report by researchers at theFrenchCollegeof General Hospital Respiratory Physicians.
They reported also that there had been an increase in the number of women being diagnosed with the condition.
Little is known about risk factors that can cause lung cancer in non-smokers, though the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed earlier this year that exhaust fumes from diesel engines were a cause of the disease.
“We have seen from these results the change in lung cancer over the last 10 years,” said the report’s lead author, Dr Chryst-le Locher.
“Not only has there been an increase in the number of women and non-smokers contracting the disease, but there has also been an increase in the number of cases diagnosed in stage 4 of the illness.
“We recently saw that the WHO have classified diesel fumes as carcinogenic, but more research is needed to understand other factors that could contribute to lung cancer in non-smokers.
“Anti-smoking campaigns must also target women more specifically, as we can see little change in lung cancer rates caused by smoking in women.
“It is also important to note changes in the type of lung cancer. The prevalence of cases of adenocarcinoma lung cancer is growing and further research is needed to understand the characteristics of this form of the disease.”
Thirteen designers from around the world are currently assimilating their experiences enjoyed during a voyage of creative discovery at Iggesund, Sweden, where they plunged into the Swedish countryside and learned about working with paperboard and, in particular, Iggesund Paperboard’s Invercote.
“The arrangements were good,” said Amy Beauregard, who works for xpedx in theUS. “The visit was informative and also gave us the opportunity to discuss both major and minor issues of design, materials and so on with experts and colleagues. We were also able to create, which was great fun.”
The designers paid for their travel expenses toSweden, but Iggesund took care of them during the week they attended the Iggesund Design Experience.
In a press note, Iggesund Paperboard said that selecting the program participants from all the designers who had applied was not easy, but that it was decided to choose them from a wide range of countries and types of design experience.
’The result was a good mix of both personalities and nationalities,’ the note said. ’Participants came fromLebanon, theUnited States,Finland,South Korea,Poland,Germany,DenmarkandBelgium.’
Commenting on the Design Experience, the Belgian freelance designer Joke Velghe, said it had been a fantastic week in a beautiful country. She had returned home with useful knowledge about Iggesund Paperboard’s products, and about Swedish forest management and sustainability programs.
“A week to remember,” said Max Kuehne, of the German company Paperlux. “The Iggesund Design Experience enabled me to compare interesting experiences with colleagues and I was also fascinated by the beautiful countryside and the friendly people.”
Paperboard is white and flat, and it is difficult to distinguish between the many different grades and brands; so a large part of the program was spent discussing which types of paperboard were suitable for which applications.
“The goal of the Design Experience event is for participants to return home filled with inspiration and new insights into how to create designs that stand out from the crowd,” said Iggesund Paperboard’s Elisabeth Östlin, who was one of the hosts during the week.
“We want to help designers raise their creativity to new heights in terms both of design and of making the right choices from a sustainability perspective,” added her colleague, Staffan Sjöberg. “Judging by the participants’ responses we succeeded fairly well.”
Johan Granås, product manager for Invercote shows the visiting designers what the forest looks like after an area of standing timber has been felled – and why. Photo: Per Trané
Japan Tobacco Inc. is to launch three new styles of its Zerostyle brand of smokeless tobacco products.
Zerostyle started life as a cigarette-shaped product, or ‘pipe’, containing a replaceable cartridge with tobacco and flavors. It had a tapered mouthpiece and removable cap. It was not lit.
In a note posted on its website, JT said that limited quantities of Zerostyle Drive Concept, Zerostyle Off Concept and Zerostyle Night Concept, would be made available from early next month at selected retail stores acrossJapan.
Zerostyle has been well received since its launch as Zerostyle Mint in May 2010 and, in fact, JT had problems keeping up with demand in the early days of its launch.
The new products are said to have been developed following consumer feedback about the flavour, aroma and pipe design of Zerostyle.
They are offered in pouches to differentiate them from the brand’s existing product range.
As its name implies, Zerostyle Drive Concept is made to be enjoyed while driving. ‘It features a strong and brisk menthol flavor and aroma with a subdued sweetness,’ the note said. ‘The design of the pipe is inspired by the leather interior of fine cars.
‘Zerostyle Off Concept is made to be enjoyed during coffee or tea breaks. Its flavor and aroma are mild, with a clean sweetness that never tires the palate. The soft design of the pipe, inspired by interior decor, is meant to evoke images of relaxing breaks.
‘Zerostyle Night Concept is made to be enjoyed on fun nights out with friends. Its flavor and aroma are pleasantly sharp with a subtle sweet-and-sour overtone. The vivid colors of the cubic pipe design are intended to catch the eye.’
JT said it was committed to satisfying its consumers through innovation that was not bound by preconceived notions.
