The UK-based New Nicotine Alliance (NNA) has called upon the World Health Organization to show leadership in highlighting ‘the considerable public health potential of reduced risk products’.
Speaking today, designated by the WHO as World No Tobacco Day, Sarah Jakes (pictured), chair of the NNA, said that electronic cigarettes comprised a proven safer alternative to combustible cigarettes, and an alternative that many people found to be an acceptable substitute.
“They have contributed to record falls in smoking prevalence in the UK,” she said.
“There have also been big declines in smoking prevalence in France and the USA due to uptake of innovative products, while Sweden and Norway boast by far the lowest smoking rates in Europe thanks to the widespread use of snus, a tobacco product which carries a fraction of the risk of smoking lit tobacco.
“The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was founded with a commitment to encourage tobacco harm reduction. Its Ottawa Charter and Jakarta Declaration also pledge to put people at the heart of decision-making and to support and enable consumers to keep themselves, their families and friends healthy. Yet these goals appear to have been abandoned in favour of blindly attacking industry, ignoring the global success of alternative nicotine products and refusing to engage with consumers.”
Jakes went on to say that, on World No Tobacco Day, it was time for leadership from the WHO in educating governments that e-cigarettes were not tobacco products as some states wrongly categorised them. It was time to emphasize that it was the act of lighting and smoking tobacco, not the consumption of tobacco in all its forms, that led to heart and cardiovascular disease.
“In 1976, Michael Russell famously said ‘people smoke for nicotine but they die from the tar’, leading to an acceptance of the nicotine replacement therapy market we have today,” she said. “Yet increasingly the public are being misled into believing nicotine is a problem, when it can be a solution.
“World No Tobacco Day should be a great opportunity to raise awareness of far safer alternative nicotine products to maximise benefits to public health worldwide. The WHO should be empowering people to take control of their health by way of clear messages on differing risks and the relative safety of nicotine, but this year they have sadly missed the target.”
Finally, the NNA said it would like to see a greater commitment by the WHO and NGOs ‘to correcting ideological opposition to successful consumer-driven solutions to lit tobacco, and a better recognition of long-term recreational use of nicotine as a powerful incentive for smoking cessation’.
Category: People
A missed opportunity
Aiming to be tobacco-free
World No Tobacco Day provided an opportunity to ‘remind ourselves of the epidemic of disease and death that the tobacco industry continues to cause,’ according to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), which describes itself as ‘America’s oldest anti-tobacco organization’.
In a statement issued yesterday, on the eve of World No Tobacco Day, ASH said the vision of a world without tobacco deaths was purely aspirational to many; few could truly foresee a world without tobacco products commercially sold.
‘While we celebrate progress in reducing the carnage, we always ask ourselves “how many pointless, preventable deaths are acceptable?”,’ it said. ‘The answer must be zero.
‘Some may see this as extreme or naïve. Smoking has been around for centuries, and there are over a billion tobacco consumers around the world. In spite of over 50 years of fighting the tobacco industry, there are more smokers than ever. But this argument misidentifies the problem. We are not fighting smokers – they are the victims, not the perpetrators of this health catastrophe…
‘All the responsibility and guilt lays with the tobacco industry, which continues to aggressively market a product that has been specifically engineered to be as addictive as possible and that they know will kill when used as intended. As the Danish Institute for Human Rights put it, “there can be no doubt that the production and marketing of tobacco is irreconcilable with the human right to health”.
‘The world is starting to wake up. If a new product came on the market tomorrow that was addictive and deadly, there is no doubt that swift action would be taken, including holding those responsible legally liable. We have had a blind spot when it comes to tobacco, but this is changing. In March, the global health community adopted the Cape Town Declaration on Human Rights and a Tobacco-Free World, recognizing that the tobacco industry infringes on human rights. Over 150 organizations – and counting – have endorsed the Declaration.
‘There will come a May 31st we can celebrate being truly tobacco-free. ASH aims to bring that day as soon as possible, saving as many loved ones as possible.’Flavors defended
The introduction to the city council of Chicago, US, of a measure aimed at banning flavored nicotine cartridges used with electronic cigarettes has been condemned by experts at the free-market think tank, The Heartland Institute.
The measure has been put forward by Alderman Ed Burke.
‘Alderman Ed Burke’s proposed ordinance is nothing more than preening for moralizing anti-fun busybodies,’ said Jesse Hathaway, research fellow, budget and tax policy at the institute.
‘Selling e-cigarettes to individuals under the age of 18 is already illegal in Illinois, so the ordinance’s aims are already addressed by existing laws.
‘Prohibiting the sale of flavored vaping products won’t save any lives, but it may stop people currently addicted to cigarettes from switching to less-harmful alternatives or even kicking the nicotine habit.
‘If Burke’s goal is to promote public health, restricting access to flavoring in e-cigarettes advances the ball in the wrong direction.
‘If Burke’s goal is to look like he’s doing something to gain accolades from the puritan anti-e-cig crowd without actually doing anything useful, then this is perfect.’
Meanwhile, Lindsey Stroud, state government relations manager at the institute, said the role of flavors in electronic cigarettes and vaping devices was crucial – and a motivating factor that had enabled thousands of smokers to quit combustible cigarettes, according to 72 percent of the respondents to a 2015 Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives study of 19,000 observations.
‘While attempting to “protect the children,” Alderman Burke ignores the role of tobacco harm reduction (THR) products for adults and is attempting to limit the choices available to help alleviate these individuals from cigarette addiction,’ said Stroud.
‘Rather than placing restrictions on products that have been proven to aid individuals who desire to quit smoking, policy makers should promote the unencumbered use of THR products.’Dokha sales limited
People in the UAE will soon be able to buy only limited amounts of dokha, while all such products will have to carry graphic health warnings, according to a story in The Khaleej Times citing new standards approved by the National Tobacco Control Program under the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP).
There was no mention in the story of what the limit would be and how sales would be policed. Dokha reportedly can be bought ‘anywhere’ at prices less than those of cigarettes.
Wikipedia describes dokha as a type of tobacco that is usually mixed with herbs and spices, and smoked in a Medwakh (pipe). Dokha is said to be Arabic for ‘dizziness’.
The new standards have been developed by the Emirates Metrology and Standardization Authority (ESMA) and approved by the ministry.
Graphic health warnings have been required on other tobacco-product packs since 2012.
“These regulations for dokha should be in place by the end of the year,” Dr Wedad Al Maidoor, director of the Primary Healthcare Center & National Program of Tobacco Control, told the Khaleej Times.
“These new standards are being put in place to control the unlimited use of dokha which is growing in popularity among the youth,” she said.
A draft of standards and specifications for electronic cigarettes is also ready with the ESMA but is still pending approval.
Results from a health screenings study carried out in Abu Dhabi in 2016 showed that almost 30 percent of Emiratis in their thirties smoked medwakh.World No Smoking Days
Philip Morris International is marking World No Tobacco Day, May 31, with a call to recognize it as ‘World No Smoking Day’.
PMI said in a note posted on its website that it was publishing informational advertisements highlighting that people who smoke deserve the opportunity to learn about smoke-free alternatives to cigarettes.
‘It is clear that despite the well-known health risks associated with smoking, many people continue to smoke,’ it said. ‘The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that there will be more than one billion people who smoke in 2025, about the same number as today.
‘Their best choice would be to quit – but many don’t. It makes sense that these men and women should have access to and information about less-harmful alternatives to cigarettes.
‘Why would anyone deny them this opportunity?’
PMI said it was calling for an additional, bold approach to public health.
“For people who will otherwise continue to smoke, WHO is in the perfect position to drive switching from cigarettes to sensible alternatives,” said André Calantzopoulos, PMI’s CEO.
“A policy that informs people about those alternatives – in essence, a World No Smoking Day – would reduce smoking prevalence to a far greater extent and at a much faster rate than the existing suite of tobacco-control measures alone.
“People who smoke deserve a sensible plan that takes full account of better alternatives to cigarettes.
“For our part, we’re determined to deliver a smoke-free future through innovations that stand up to scientific scrutiny and that meet consumer needs.”
PMI said it had already committed $4.5 billion in supporting a team of 400 world-class scientists, engineers and technicians who had spent years creating and testing a range of smoke-free products that offered a much better choice for the millions of smokers who didn’t quit.
It said that more than five million smokers worldwide had already completely abandoned cigarette smoking and switched to IQOS, PMI’s heated tobacco product, with 10,000 smokers switching every day. And PMI added that it was not the only company pursuing innovation as important to the world’s one billion smokers worldwide – the tobacco industry generally is beginning to move in this direction, to the benefit of men and women who smoke.
“Our short-term ambition is that one out of three of our consumers, 40 million men and women who smoke, will have switched to better alternatives by 2025,” said Calantzopoulos. “Ultimately, we want to be in a position to stop selling cigarettes entirely. However, we need the support of governments and the public health community to make this happen in as short a time as possible. I believe that instead of just designating one day as World No Tobacco Day, we should promote every day as World No Smoking Day.”
PMI said it was proposing that governments and authorities investigate thoroughly how scientifically substantiated smoke-free products could be used as a complementary public health strategy alongside smoking prevention and cessation. With appropriate government control and oversight, these products could have a meaningful and positive impact on public health, it added.
More information about PMI’s views on World No Tobacco Day is at: http://www.pmi.com/world-no-smoking-day-2018.Huge fall in smoking
The number of daily smokers in France fell by one million between 2016 and 2017, according to a story on euronews.com citing the results of a new survey by the country’s public health agency.
This fall, which meant that the incidence of smoking among people 18-75 years of age went from 29.4 percent to 26.9 percent, was reportedly described by Public Health France as historic.
The survey found also that, for the first time since 2000, there was a ‘notable decline’ in daily smoking among the ‘most disadvantaged’ smokers, including low-income earners and the unemployed.
French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn was quoted as saying that anti-smoking measures, including the so-called “sin” tax on nicotine, standardized packaging and health warnings, were largely responsible for the “encouraging” trend.
Sharing the news on Twitter, Buzyn wrote: “Good news that strengthens my commitment to the prevention and health of all”.
Buzyn plans to raise the price of a pack of cigarettes to €10 by 2020, up from almost €8 today after a series of hikes in recent years.
It was necessary “to continue this major fight against one of the biggest scourges of public health,” she said.
Meanwhile, according to an RFI story relayed by the US-based TMA, Buzyn said the so-called “sin” tax on nicotine was largely to thank for the trend, boosted by state-reimbursed cessation counselling and nicotine patches, standardized packaging and health warnings.
But the UK-based Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association earlier this month quoted Buzyn, as saying that: “Plain packaging did not contribute to the decrease of official tobacco sales”.Heated tobacco warning
A scientist and health advocate says it is important that the European Parliament is presented with the available evidence that heated tobacco products ‘remain both harmful and highly addictive’.
Writing an opinion piece in The Parliament Magazine, Professor Charlotta Pisinger said that no product that damaged the lungs and human health should be promoted to young people across the EU, especially in the ways these new products were presented.
‘As Chair of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Standing Committee on Tobacco Control, I will present my research findings to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the 30th May, alongside MEP Gilles Pargneaux and the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP), on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day,’ she said.
‘Independent research suggests that there is a substantially higher health risk than claimed by the tobacco industry.
‘I have discovered that tobacco companies have not informed the public that some harmful substances – such as particulate matter, tar, acetaldehyde (a carcinogen), acrylamide (a potential carcinogen) and an acrolein metabolite (toxic and irritant) – were found in high concentrations in their studies.
‘Some studies also found much higher concentrations of formaldehyde (a potential carcinogen) in heated tobacco products than in conventional cigarettes.’
New Heated Tobacco Products: No Smoke, No fire? hosted by MEP Gilles Pargneaux is due to be held from 13:30 to 15:30 on May 30 at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, room Louise Weiss N3.5. Registration is at: https://forms.ersnet.org/new-heated-tobacco-products.Fines threatened
Cambodia’s Ministry of Health will soon start fining people who smoke in public venues where tobacco smoking is banned, along with the owners of those venues, according to a story in The Khmer Times.
Ing Phirun, secretary of state at the Ministry of Health and permanent vice-chairman of the Tobacco Products Control Commission was quoted as saying that the ministries of health and justice would collaborate to fine those who violated rules against tobacco smoking in public areas such as restaurants and hotels.
“We have an inspection working group of more than 500 people to work on the sub-decree, and anyone who smokes in a prohibited area will be fined 20,000 riel [US$5] per time,” he said. “Moreover, if they are found smoking in a hotel or restaurant, the fine will be doubled for the owners of the premises.”
The government sub-decree banning smoking in workplaces and public places came into force in March 2016.
The sub-decree says public places refer to restaurants, workplaces, public institutions, hospitals, schools and public parks.
Fines of 20,000 to 50,000 riel will apply respectively to anyone who smokes in public and to venue owners who do not display notices drawing attention to the prohibition on smoking within their premises.Majority report
A tobacco smoking ban in pubs and restaurants that went into force a year ago in the Czech Republic is supported by 71 percent of Czechs, according to a Radio Prague story citing the results of a poll.
The poll, which was carried out by the Ipsos polling agency in co-operation with Charles University, found that 12 percent of respondents were vehemently against the ban.
More than 1,000 people were surveyed.
Surveys suggest that about a quarter of Czechs still smoke.
The Constitutional Court recently rejected a complaint against the smoking ban that was brought on the grounds that it restricted the rights of individuals and entrepreneurs.
And a recent move in Parliament to soften the ban also failed.China faces challenges
About 6.9 percent of Chinese teenagers smoke tobacco and 19.9 percent of them have tried smoking at least once, according to a story in The Global Times quoting a health department official and citing the news website chinanews.com.
The story said also that 180 million children in the country had been harmed by passive smoking, without defining what was meant by a child.
Habits acquired during teenage years could leave their mark on a person’s whole life, said Li Nong, deputy director of the publicity department at the National Health Commission. Efforts to control smoking among teenagers should be stepped up.
Eighteen cities had imposed smoking bans in public places, but controlling the habit in China faced challenges, Li said.
The country’s target of reducing the smoking rate among people over 15 years of age to less than 20 percent by 2030 still had a long way to go.
The deputy director of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, Liao Wenke, said innovative education methods, which teenagers could and were willing to accept, should be initiated to educate them about the harmful effects of smoking.
As of March 2018, the public-places smoking-incidence in Shanghai dropped by nearly nine percentage points (from 25.1 percent to 16.3 percent) after the introduction of a ban in all enclosed public spaces in March 2017.
