Category: People

  • Getting the message across

    Getting the message across

    Smokers believe that advertising that included messages about the positive public-health and financial potential of vaping would be key to them making the switch from smoking, according to a press note from the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) citing new research.
    The study, which was conducted by Consumer Intelligence on behalf of the UKVIA is said to have shown that:

    • 68 percent of respondents felt that changing current advertising restrictions imposed by the Advertising Standards Agency to allow public health messages to be promoted by the vaping industry would help more smokers make the switch.
    • 63 percent of those interviewed felt that information from their GP, pharmacist or a healthcare professional would influence their decision to make the change;
    • 61 percent said that information in a healthcare environment would be beneficial;
    • 48 percent called for more ‘educational advertising’ by public health organizations or the government in the media;
    • 61 percent agreed with the idea that Public Health England’s recent recommendation for hospitals to allow vaping on their premises and to sell e-cigarettes and e-liquids on site would convince more of them to take up vaping.

    “This highlights the critical role that accurate advertising has to play in realizing the public health prize that vaping represents,” said John Dunne (pictured), a director at UKVIA, in commenting on the findings. “This isn’t coming from the industry but from smokers who could be convinced to break their habits.
    “More education all round is needed to get smokers to make the switch and to realise the full public health potential of vaping. There needs to be a strong and cohesive message from government, public health and the vaping industry to make switching from smoking to vaping an obvious choice.”
    The research, which surveyed more than 1,000 smokers, revealed also that the vaping industry, despite its fast rate of growth, was in danger of not fulfilling its potential. It showed that many people considered vaping to be as harmful or more so than smoking. A significant number of people wrongly believed that vaping was more expensive than smoking and were confused by the array of vaping devices on the market.
    The Consumer Intelligence study looked also at smokers’ experiences of and attitudes to using e-cigarettes to identify what was most likely to help them make the switch to vaping. It showed that:

    • The odor of conventional cigarettes (62 percent of respondents), vaping being cheaper (60 percent) and favourable insurance premiums for vapers (50 percent) were viewed by smokers as being key influences in making the switch from smoking to vaping;
    • 46 percent of smokers said media coverage of vaping hadn’t encouraged them to consider a switch to vaping;
    • Over-55s are the least likely group to have tried vaping and are proving to be the hardest group to reach with vaping communications, with 73 percent claiming not to have seen any form of information from the media and health bodies.

    “The research reveals that there is an appetite for better information, including clear benefits in terms of assured health implications and the cost savings that can be made by consumers,” said Dunne. “Current advertising restrictions inevitably make it very difficult to reach smokers on the potential health benefits. This is particularly concerning when considering smokers over 55, who are most likely to suffer the ill effects of smoking. We currently have few ways to let them know that a switch to vaping could dramatically improve their health.”

  • Late-adolescence crisis

    Late-adolescence crisis

    By living more dangerously and settling down later than people of previous generations, Millennials could be creating a new generation of addicted smokers and e-cigarette users, according to the results of research by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), published on Newswise.
    Statistics highlighted in an article in the Journal of Adolescent Health had shown greater numbers of new smokers and e-cigarette users among young adults than among adolescents, marking a reversal of previous social norms, the Newswise story said.
    “Historically, it used to be that nearly everything started by age 18,” Cheryl Perry, PhD, senior author and professor and regional dean at the UTHealth School of Public Health in Austin, was quoted as saying. “That’s no longer the case, as young adults are experimenting with things once more common during high school years. Young adults are starting to act like adolescents.”
    The new statistics indicate that people are much more likely to start smoking as young adults rather than as adolescents. Using the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, analysis of cross-sectional data from 2006-2013 is said to show that the rate of onset of cigarette smoking among young adults (6.3 percent) was more than three times higher than onset among adolescents (1.9 percent) during this time.
    “If adolescence now extends to age 30, this makes the battle against tobacco much bigger and more complicated,” Perry was quoted as saying toward the end of the story.
    “Just when we thought we were nearing the end game, we might have been outsmarted.
    “It’s a challenge, which will demand new ways of trying to communicate with and influence young adults who may be much harder to reach than adolescents.”

  • Big brother is watching

    Big brother is watching

    Smoking in non-smoking areas without getting caught is about to get a lot harder in Singapore, according to a story in The Straits Times.
    The National Environmental Agency (NEA) intends to deploy surveillance cameras around the island with high definition thermal sensors to help detect smoking in prohibited areas. The cameras will be aimed also at capturing what the story described as ‘other unhygienic acts’ such as spitting and littering.
    Singapore prohibits smoking in an estimated 32,000 premises and locations, such as entertainment outlets, shopping malls, office premises, hospitals, schools, cinemas, bus-stops, covered walkways, lift lobbies, stairwells and entrances to buildings.
    Cameras deployed in areas where smoking is prevalent but barred will record images of the person as well as the date and time.
    The tamper-proof thermal cameras, which can detect a person holding a lighted cigarette during the day or night, will be placed discreetly on rooftops, in common corridors and staircases of residential buildings, multi-storey carparks and other locations.
    But the thermal cameras will focus only on the common corridors, lift lobbies or staircase landings where smoking is prohibited.
    NEA said it would be mindful of the privacy of members of the public, though it is aiming to deploy 140 cameras a year.
    The NEA said there were strict protocols governing the viewing of the footage from cameras and that only authorized NEA staff and the vendor would be authorized to handle and view the video footage, and then only for official purposes.
    The NEA issued about 22,000 tickets last year to people smoking in prohibited areas, up from 19,000 in 2016, but this rise was only to be expected given the exponential rise in the number of places where people cannot smoke.
    People caught smoking in prohibited areas are liable to fines of S$200-S$1,000 if convicted in court.
    Members of the public can report infringements via the NEA website or MyENV app.

  • Why 'ex-smokers' relapse

    Why 'ex-smokers' relapse

    New findings published in the Journal of Substance Use suggest that many ex-smokers experience quitting as a ‘loss’, according to a story in news-medical.net.
    The findings, based on research at the University of East Anglia, indicate too that smokers who [believe they] have quit often relapse because they want to recapture a sense of lost social identity.
    “Although many people do manage to quit, relapse is very common,” lead researcher, Dr. Caitlin Notley, was quoted as saying.
    The research team was said to have studied in-depth interviews with people who had quit and relapsed. Forty-three participants described their history of smoking and previous quit attempts, their current quit attempt, and discussed any smoking relapses. The researchers then studied further 23 of the participants who provided the most detailed information about relapsing to smoking.
    “What we have found is that relapse is associated with a whole range of emotional triggers’” Notley said. “It is often tied up with people wanting to recapture a lost social identity – their smoker identity.
    “People want to feel part of a social group, and recover a sense of who they are – with smoking having been part of their identity, for most, since their teenage years.

  • Spending questioned

    Spending questioned

    An English member of the European Parliament is seeking to discover how much EU taxpayers’ money has been spent so far this century in trying to get people to quit smoking.
    Without giving a preamble to his question, Tim Aker asked the European Commission to ‘set out, broken down both by organisation and year-by-year since 2000, just how much money has been paid by the Union under whatever budget heading to stop smoking?’
    The Commission is due to reply in writing.

  • A matter of timing

    A matter of timing

    A member of the European Parliament has suggested that the European Commission would be putting the commercial interests of tobacco manufacturers before the health interests of EU citizens if it issued a legal challenge to Belgium’s proposal to ban menthol cigarettes.
    In a preamble to his question, the Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts said the purpose of the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive was better to protect consumers, particularly young people, by considering new scientific knowledge and legislating on new tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.
    Specifically, the TPD banned the sale of menthol cigarettes from May 20, 2020.
    ‘Tobacco use is the most common cause of premature death in the EU,’ he said. ‘On average, 700,000 smokers die each year and smokers die 14 years earlier than non-smokers. That figure is almost 20 times higher than the number of premature deaths caused by fine particulate nitrogen oxide emissions, the dangers of which came to light during the “dieselgate” scandal. Of people aged between 15 and 24 years old, 29% are smokers.’
    Lamberts said the Belgian press had reported that the Commission was threatening to bring legal action against the Belgian Government because it was seeking to ban the sale of menthol products before 2020. (See the June 18 story: Brussels threat to Belgium)
    ‘In doing so, the Commission would be putting the commercial interests of manufacturers before the public health interests of EU citizens,’ he said.
    He then asked:
    ‘What is its justification for that stance?’; and
    ‘Is the Commission’s position not contrary to Article 9 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which provides that “in defining and implementing its policies and activities, the Union shall take into account requirements linked to (…) a high level of (…) protection of human health”?’
    The Commission is due to reply in writing.

  • Banning tobacco

    Banning tobacco

    A recent meeting in Sri Lanka tried to sell the idea of switching tobacco growers to ‘alternative’ crops. Something needs to be done because the Government is planning to ban tobacco cultivation from 2020.
    According to a story in The Lanka Business Online, also from 2020, the Government plans to ban the importation of ‘cigarettes and tobacco’. If tobacco here refers to leaf tobacco, then the country is moving towards prohibition and the repercussions could be enormous.
    Sri Lankan consumers’ annual expenditure on cigarettes and tobacco is higher than the annual export revenue the country earns through the EU GSP Plus, according to the Lanka Business story quoting the Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen. The EU GSP (European Union Generalised Scheme of Preferences) helps developing countries export their products to the EU.
    “Reports say that Sri Lankan consumers spend more than Rs200 million per day for cigarettes,” Bathiudeen was quoted as saying.
    “According to the World Health Organization, in 2015 the direct and indirect cost of tobacco use in Sri Lanka was estimated at Rs89 billion or US$662 million.”
    Bathiudeen was addressing the launch event of the tobacco farmer research report titled Farmer Perspectives on Proposed Tobacco Growing Ban and Opportunity to Diversify, by Dr. Chatura Rodrigo of Green Space Consultancies.
    “We annually spend more than $660 million for tobacco use and resulting expenses,” said Bathiudeen. “When we compare this $660 million with some other important values we can understand the huge cost for the economy from tobacco use.
    “Sri Lanka’s annual expenditure on tobacco use is even higher than the additional export income from EU GSP Plus, which is around $480 million.”
    Bathiudeen said the Government was therefore making attempts to switch the tobacco economy to a more productive livelihood stream comprising alternative, export-driven crops.
    Currently, Lanka Business said, more than 3,300 tons of tobacco was reportedly produced in Sri Lanka on 0.07 percent of the country’s agricultural lands.
    An expert tobacco panel at the event indicated that tobacco was considered to be an industrial crop, rather than a commercial crop. Since the bulk of the harvest was used for nicotine products, it ended up in industrial/machine processing, unlike many other commercial crops.
    Among all types of full-time farmers in Sri Lanka, tobacco growers are some of the most profitable, earning regular margins of 20 percent or higher.

  • Looking again at vaping

    Looking again at vaping

    The Government of Ontario, Canada, has decided to delay the implementation of changes to the Smoke Free Ontario Act while it examines vaping issues that the proposed changes had raised, according to a story by Antonella Artuso for the Toronto Sun.
    The changes were to have come into effect on July 1.
    “The government will work with the public, experts and businesses to re-examine the evidence related to vaping as a smoking cessation tool to ensure that any changes are in the best interests of everyone and protect Ontarians’ health and safety,” Simon Jefferies, a spokesman for the recently-elected Premier, Doug Ford, was quoted as having said in an email to the Sun.
    “The current provisions in the Smoke Free Ontario Act and the Electronic Cigarettes Act remain in effect and will continue to be enforced.”
    Artuso explained that the previous provincial Liberal Government, under former-premier Kathleen Wynne, had planned to replace the Smoke-Free Ontario Act and Electronic Cigarettes Act with a single new version of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act covering both tobacco and vaping.
    The new legislation would have banned vaping everywhere smoking is disallowed, and expanded the prohibition zone to outdoor restaurants, bar patios, and around schools or children and youth recreational facilities.
    The same strict rules for selling tobacco would have applied to vaping products.
    Vapor Advocates of Ontario issued a statement praising the Government’s actions.
    And Shaun Casey, president of the Canadian Vaping Association, was quoted as saying the provincial regulations needed to align with Health Canada’s stance on vaping as a less harmful alternative to smoking to ensure the industry was clear on the legal expectations from both levels of governments.

  • E-liquid tax postponed

    E-liquid tax postponed

    The Indonesian Government has delayed from July 1 to October 1 the imposition of a 57 percent tax on e-liquids manufactured before July, according to a story in The Jakarta Post.
    “We cannot implement the regulation starting on July 1 because there are many users,” the Finance Ministry’s technical and excise director, Nugroho Wahyu, was quoted as having told the tribunnews.com.
    “We told the vendors they are allowed to sell e-liquid without the additional tax until October 1.”
    The delay applies only to e-liquids produced before July – presumably, July 1.
    Liquids produced after that date will be subject to the 57 percent tax burden.
    The Finance Ministry’s Customs and Excise Directorate General has estimated that the revenue from the e-liquids tax will amount to Rp5-6 trillion annually.
    The Customs office has estimated that, this year, revenue from the e-liquids tax will reach about Rp200 billion.

  • I Love Smoking

    I Love Smoking

    The recent initiative by Korea Airports Corporation (KAC) to remove smoking rooms from airports has smokers fuming, according to a story in The Korea Herald.
    ‘Smokers are being unfairly inched out, protested I Love Smoking, a South-Korean smokers’ community.
    On June 25, KAC said that indoor smoking lounges at 14 airports in South Korea would be closed gradually, and that outdoor smoking areas would be moved further from areas with ‘a lot of passenger traffic’.
    In a statement, I Love Smoking asked KAC not to implement its plan.
    The community said that a unilateral decision to close smoking spaces at airports was not the way to solve the issue of the smoker/non-smoker divide.
    And it pointed out that the move would undermine smokers’ basic right to happiness.
    ‘Why not try using some of our tax money to build better separated smoking spaces?’ the community asked.
    The Herald said that South Korean laws put non-smokers’ rights above smokers’ rights; so it is not surprising that smoking rooms and spaces are becoming increasingly rare in Korea.