Category: Harm Reduction

  • Pregnant testing initiative

    pregnant photo
    Photo by Showbits

    England’s public health chief is urging hospitals to give every pregnant woman a carbon monoxide test to check whether she smokes, according to a story in The Guardian.

    Duncan Selbie wants midwives and nurses routinely to screen mothers-to-be when their pregnancy is first “booked”, monitor them at all their antenatal appointments and support those who want to quit.

    The initiative is part of a National Health Service (NHS)-wide drive to persuade patients to quit the habit.

    Under the plan, hospitals would ban smoking shelters used by staff and patients, hand out nicotine gum and patches, and include helping smokers to quit in patients’ Public Health England’s treatment plans. Doctors and nurses would use their conversations with patients to advise them how to give up tobacco or encourage them to switch to electronic cigarettes instead.

    “This isn’t about scaring or hectoring people,” said Selbie. “It’s about making people aware that if they want to give up, NHS staff can help them. The evidence shows that if someone is helped to quit, they are four times more likely to succeed than if they do it on their own.”

    The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) backed carbon monoxide testing for expectant mothers if they had the right to refuse to undergo it.

    “The RCM is supportive of pregnant women being offered carbon monoxide testing at a time when it is appropriate to do so,” said Janet Fyle, the RCM’s professional policy adviser. “Depending on the circumstances, it could be at the initial antenatal booking or during subsequent antenatal visits. Women should have the ability to decline testing as with any other area of antenatal screening.”

     

  • Nicotine dialogues

    Nicotine dialogues

    The Global Forum on Nicotine is organizing a series of public dialogues in the UK.

    The organizers say that the format of the events is designed to stimulate discussion and debate, involving the audience, on the often-contentious issue of vaping in public and work places.

    The dialogues are due to be held in Leicester on March 21, Liverpool on March 22 and Glasgow on March 23.

    Each will start at 14:00 and end by 17:00.

    The Leicester event, which is to be hosted by the Leicester City Council Stop Smoking Services, will see Professor Gerry Stimson, programme director of the Global Forum on Nicotine, in the chair, and will include panellists Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, of the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens; Ruth Tennant, director of Public Health Leicester; Louise Ross, manager of Leicester’s Stop Smoking Services, and Alan Law, a vaper and vaping advocate.

    The Liverpool event, which is to be hosted by HIT, will see Pat O’Hare, director of HIT, in the chair, and panellists Farsalinos; Sarah Jakes, secretary of the New Nicotine Alliance; and Dr. Russell Newcombe, research and evaluation manager, User Voice.

    The Glasgow event, which is to be hosted by the Centre for Substance Use Research, will see Dr. Delon Human, of Health Diplomats, in the chair, and panellists Farsalinos; Andy Morrison, of the New Nicotine Alliance, Scotland; Dr. Joanna Miler, of the Centre for Substance Use Research; and Robbie Preece, NHSGG&C Health Improvement Lead – Tobacco.

    Attendance at the dialogues is free, but those interested in participating are required to register.

     

  • Nicotine rethink required

    Nicotine rethink required

    Clive Bates

    The U.S. federal government’s decision to regulate all nicotine products without regard for the amount of harm they cause will ultimately be detrimental to overall public health, according to a new R Street policy study.

    The study was co-written by Clive Bates, former director of the UK’s Action on Smoking and Health (pictured); R Street President Eli Lehrer; and David Sweanor, professor at the University of Ottawa’s Center for Health Law.

    ‘The vast majority of health harms attributed to smoking arise from burning tobacco cigarettes and inhaling the smoke into the lungs, not from nicotine use,’ the authors note.

    David Sweanor

    ‘Where there is no combustion — as with smokeless tobacco, e-cigarettes and other vaping products or heated tobacco products — the risks of nicotine use inevitably will be much lower (representing from two percent to 10 percent of the risk of cigarettes) because the physical processes are so different.’

    An R Street press note announcing the report said that the authors had shown that federal agencies had ignored opportunities to reduce serious disease by replacing high-risk cigarette use with low-risk vaping or smokeless tobacco products, an approach known as tobacco harm reduction.

    While allowing thousands of cigarette brands to stay on the market, rules promulgated by the Food and Drug Administration would eliminate most of the much lower-risk vaping products. The authors argued a complete reorientation of policy was due.

    ‘None of these products are perfectly safe, as very little is, but they are very much safer, the authors said. ‘These products with radically reduced risk create opportunities for major health and economic gains through substitution. However, U.S. policy has actively denied and stymied this opportunity.’

    The authors offer eight suggestions for the 115th Congress and the new Trump administration to consider in moving toward a more sensible tobacco policy that benefits public health:

    1. Seize the huge opportunity presented by low-risk nicotine products.
    2. Cancel the FDA deeming rule before it destroys the US vaping market.
    3. Establish a standards-based regime for low-risk nicotine products.
    4. Use new labels to inform consumers about relative risk.
    5. Stop using the public health test to protect the cigarette trade.
    6. Restore honesty and candor to public-health campaigns.
    7. Refocus tobacco science on the public interest, not bureaucratic expansion.
    8. Challenge vapor and smokeless prohibitions under World Trade Organization rules.

    Read the report here >>.

    Vapor industry representatives welcomed the study.

    “This report is an opportunity for the FDA and vaping community to work together to find a solution for tobacco harm reduction,” said Jeff Stamler, CEO at Nicopure Labs.

    “If you read the report and are familiar with vaping products, you will learn that the risks associated with them are far less than the risks that come with using combustible cigarettes. That information alone could save a smoker’s life, unfortunately, it’s a message the FDA, through its Deeming Rule, doesn’t want publicized. However, if the FDA was willing to have an open dialog with the industry, this report would be an excellent jump off point.”