Category: People

Question of balance
A Greek member of the EU Parliament has said that the use of heat-not-burn (HNB) products should not be seen as safer than smoking or vaping.
‘The IQOS device, which came out in 2014 and which heats solid tobacco, is no less harmful to cells than smoking and vaping, according to scientists, who said that a new study is a further indication that the new devices – which are now being used in 41 countries – are no safer,’ Lampros Fountoulis said as a preamble to two questions put to the Commission.
‘The scientists, who will continue their research into smoke heating appliances, emphasised that “it is already known that the failure of two types of lung cells can destroy the lung tissue and lead to fatal diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and pneumonia, and increase the risk of asthma, so these devices should not be considered a safer option*”.’
Fountoulis asked the Commission if it could say:
(1) ‘What steps will it take to establish homogeneous arrangements in member states?
(2) ‘How will it control tobacco products and other related products in order to protect public health, given that more and more young people are addicted to nicotine as a result of this trend?’
The Commission is due to answer in writing.
*https://www.in.gr/2019/02/11/health/body/oi-syskeyes-thermansis-kapnou-eksisou-epivlaveis-gia-ton-anthropo-kapnisma-kai-atmisma/?fbclid=IwAR1-VUiRQ2-ZIIDUQjYkzMc8c_S1nkuqC4CnU3reNKqpi8w31owvR5TIdv; and http://scinews.eu/ta-nea-tis-epistimis/1735-oi-syskeves-thermansis-kapnoy-eksisou-epivlaveis-gia-ton-anthropo-me-to-kapnisma-kai-to-atmisma.
March 12, 2019
Call for end to vaping ban
The authors of a new report have recommended that vaping products should be primarily regulated in Australia as consumer goods rather than as therapeutic, medicinal or tobacco products.
The report, Legalising Vaping in Australia, was published on Saturday by the McKell Institute, and was the subject of a story posted on the website of the Australian Harm Reduction Association.
In the report’s executive summary, the authors said that ‘legalising vaping has enormous potential to improve public health, particularly for disadvantaged smokers who are disproportionately affected by smoking-related diseases’.
‘We recommend that vaping products should be primarily regulated as consumer goods rather than as a therapeutic, medicinal or tobacco product,’ they said.
‘Regulation should aim to maximise the benefit for adult smokers while reducing any potential risks to users and harm to the wider population, especially young people who have never smoked.
‘Regulation should be proportionate to the risk of vaping.
‘The authors strongly recommend that Australia’s successful tobacco control policy continues and is supplemented by two changes: first, ending the de facto ban on vaping; and second, re-introducing appropriately funded mass media campaigns and supporting counselling to increase quitting rates.’
The McKell Institute is described as an independent, not-for-profit, public policy institute dedicated to developing practical policy ideas and contributing to public debate.
The report’s co-authors are: Dr. Alex Wodak AM, Conjoint Associate Professor Colin Mendelsohn.
March 12, 2019
Dust-up in Bangladesh
At least 20 ‘tobacco dust factories’ in the Kaliganj and Aditmari upazilas (sub-districts) of Bangladesh have been in operation for years, without official permission and posing ‘serious health hazards’ to thousands of locals, according to a story in The Daily Star.
The factories apparently process the tobacco dust into smokeless tobacco products such as jarda and gul.
The story reported that, on the roadside at Baninagar village in the Kaliganj upazila, five such ‘illegal’ factories have been in operation for the past eight years.
The factories have been set up in the vicinity of homes, a primary school and a village market.
Locals said that though they had complained repeatedly to the appropriate authorities, the factories had not been closed. They did not know why.
A student was quoted as saying that he and his fellow students had to hold their noses while passing the factories on their way to and from school so as to protect themselves from the wretched smell.
And a local shopkeeper said that whenever the dust factories were in operation, he was unable to stay for long at his shop.
But an owner of one of the tobacco dust factories at Baninagar village said tobacco dust did not pollute the environment and that the factories provided employment opportunities for many locals.
March 12, 2019
Appointment at LLFlex
LLFlex has hired Curtis Conley as director of global supply chain.
In this role, Conley will be responsible for all aspects of the company’s supply chain operations, including inventory control, supplier management, logistics and customer service.
Prior to joining LLFlex, Conley served as a global commodity manager at Woodward, Inc, and for Amcor Flexible Packaging.
LLFlex is said to be North America’s largest supplier of cigarette inner bundling material, as well as custom-printed laminations for cigar, pipe and smokeless tobacco.
March 12, 2019
Hospital vapors
The UK pro-smoking group Forest (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking) has called for the lifting of restrictions on vaping within hospital grounds.
Fifty-five percent of National Health Service (NHS) trusts did not allow electronic cigarettes to be used outdoors last year, according to a report by Forest, Prejudice and Prohibition: Results of a study of smoking and vaping policies in NHS hospital trusts in England.
This was despite Public Health England (PHE) advice that it should be made easier for people to vape on site.
Forest is calling also for greater freedom for patients, visitors and staff who want to smoke cigarettes at hospitals.
Freedom of Information requests were made to 200 NHS trusts in England by Forest, 170 of which provided a response.
‘Around 45 percent said they allowed e-cigarettes to be used outside in 2018 and 11 percent of trusts, mainly specialising in mental health, permitted vaping indoors,’ the research was said to have found.
‘However 14 percent said they were planning to amend their policies in 2019 to allow vaping outside buildings, in shelters or in wards.’
Forest said vaping should be permitted in all outdoor areas at hospitals and inside buildings and on wards if management considered it appropriate.
Seventy-six percent of NHS trusts did not allow cigarettes to be smoked anywhere on hospital grounds while 22 percent provided smoking shelters, the research also found.
Meanwhile, thirty two percent of trusts said they had installed a button which triggers a recorded message when pressed by a member of the public or staff, to help deter smokers.
Forest described the devices as ‘shame-a-smoker buttons’.
“We welcome the fact that some trusts are reviewing their policies on the use of e-cigarettes, but adopting a more sensible approach to vaping shouldn’t come at the price of a complete ban on smoking,” Simon Clark, director of Forest, was quoted as saying.
“Banning smoking on hospital grounds demonstrates a staggering lack of compassion for smokers who may be stressed, upset and in need of a comforting cigarette.
“A reasonable policy would lift restrictions on vaping, but give those who prefer to smoke the option of sheltered smoking areas.”
The NHS trust responses were collected between July and December 2018.
March 11, 2019
Tobacco fails to inspire
None of Nepal’s local governments is seen to be serious about controlling and regulating the consumption of tobacco products, according to a story in The Kathmandu Post.
While the Tobacco Products (Control and Regulatory) Act, 2011, made it mandatory for local governments to submit to the Ministry of Health and Population annual reports on measures taken to control and regulate tobacco products, none of them had submitted a report.
And the Ministry said that because local governments had not been submitting reports, it was facing difficulties in preparing a national strategy for tobacco control.
“Not a single local government has submitted its annual report to the ministry,” said Pushkar Raj Nepal, under-secretary at the legal section of the ministry. “This makes it difficult for us to find whether they are performing their responsibilities as per the act or not.”
The Act prohibits smoking in educational institutions, libraries, training and health-related institutions, cinema halls, cultural centers, theatres, religious places, child welfare homes, hermitages for senior citizens, parks and other public places.
It bans also smoking in houses or private vehicles in a way that affects another person.
March 11, 2019
Fuming over smoke
The Toyota Motor Corp. has said it will ban all its Japanese employees from smoking by the end of this year, according to a story in the English-language daily, The Japan News, quoting the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
The ban is due to be imposed at its headquarters, and its branch offices and production facilities nationwide.
The company is said to be planning to do away with all indoor smoking areas and persuade its employees to quit smoking.
According to a Teikoku Databank survey in October 2017, less than 20 percent of major companies said they had completely banned smoking in all workplaces. The figure for production facilities is about 10 percent.
But the decision by Toyota is likely to affect other companies’ efforts to introduce total smoking bans.
Toyota has been organizing classes to encourage employees to quit smoking and handing out medication to treat nicotine addiction.
The story said the company had banned smoking during working hours in principle in 2013.
It said that, as a consequence, the smoking rate within the company had fallen from 51 percent in 2004 to 25.4 percent in 2018, but it is likely that a host of other issues were involved; perhaps including the employment over these years of a higher proportion of women, who are less likely than men to smoke.
The story said that Japan’s revised Health Promotion Law would take full effect in April 2020 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. ‘The law will, in principle, completely ban smoking at workplaces, restaurants and other facilities,’ it said.
March 11, 2019
Slowly does it
A federal court on Tuesday ordered the US Food and Drug Administration to issue a final rule mandating graphic health warnings on cigarette packs and advertising, according to a statement issued by a number of health and anti-tobacco organizations and posted on the website of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
The order by Judge Indira Talwani of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts was said to have been made in response to a lawsuit filed in October 2016 by eight public health and medical groups and several individual pediatricians.
‘In a September 2018 ruling, Judge Talwani agreed with the health groups that the FDA has both “unlawfully withheld” and “unreasonably delayed” agency action to require the graphic warnings,’ the statement said.
‘In response to Judge Talwani’s ruling, the FDA proposed issuing the final graphic warnings rule by May 2021. ‘Instead, Judge Talwani ordered the FDA to issue a proposed rule by August 15, 2019, and a final rule by March 15, 2020.
The current cigarette warnings, which are printed on the side of packs, date back to 1984.
The March 6 statement was issued on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Cancer Society, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the Truth Initiative.
March 8, 2019
Catch as catch can
The outgoing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, has said his departure won’t have any impact on the agency’s crackdown on youth vaping, according to a story by Jessie Hellmann at thehill.com.
“I’m very confident of that, and I’m very confident that we’re going to continue with this policy over the next month, including the policy that we’ve been formulating,” Gottlieb was quoted as saying during an event hosted by The Hill on Wednesday.
Hellmann wrote that Gottlieb had proposed limiting the sales of most flavored electronic cigarettes to age-restricted, in-person locations, effectively ending sales at gas stations and convenience stores.
“I think there is widespread recognition that this is a major public health crisis,” Gottlieb said. “I think for the vaping community and the tobacco industry this is an existential threat.
“I don’t think they fully appreciate what they’re facing and the tsunami that they’re facing if we don’t get this under control.
According to the story at The Hill quoting FDA data, there was a 78 percent increase in e-cigarette use among US high school students from 2017 to 2018, and a 48 percent increase among middle school students.
Gottlieb’s actions have been questioned by some people who argue the proposed changes would make it harder for adults who are trying to quit smoking to get e-cigarettes as an alternative.
But Gottlieb seemed not to buy that argument.
“I think the arguments that the folks who are advocating a completely laissez-faire hands-off approach with respect to vaping don’t hold true,” he was quoted as saying.
“We’re catching the beginning of an epidemic.”
March 8, 2019
Nightmare scenario
In Sri Lanka, the Vavuniya South Tamil Pradeshiya Sabha (the town of Vavuniya’s local authority) has banned the sale of cigarettes in areas which fall under its purview, according to a story in The Times.
The ban was brought in on March 1 after a proposal to this effect was unanimously approved by the members of the Pradeshiya Sabha (legislative body that presides over the third-tier municipality).
Meanwhile, the Vavuniya South Sinhala Pradeshiya Sabha was said to have mostly implemented a similar ban in areas under its purview.
The sale of cigarettes in Vavuniya was said to have dropped by 78 percent by October last year as a result of the ban.
March 8, 2019