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** 6 December 2023
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** UK
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** Big Tobacco ‘actively undermining’ UK’s smoking ban plans, minister warns (#1)
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** Vapes could be prescription-only under Labour government (#2)
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** West Yorkshire: Regional health chiefs back plans to 'phase out' smoking (#4)
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** International
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** Alcohol taxes aren't high enough, says World Health Organisation (#5)
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** UK
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** Big Tobacco ‘actively undermining’ UK’s smoking ban plans, minister warns

Ministers have attacked the tobacco industry, accusing it of “actively undermining” attempts to introduce a smoking ban for the next generation, i can reveal.

A government consultation into banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 1 January, 2009 ends on Wednesday, ahead of plans to bring in fresh legislation in the New Year.

But writing exclusively for i, the public health minister, Dame Andrea Leadsom has warned that big tobacco is working behind the scenes to block the policy, which will make England the first country to ban smoking in the world.

“We know that the tobacco industry, on the other hand, is active in trying to undermine the policy,” she writes.

“The tobacco industry will talk about free adult choice, but we all know there is no freedom of choice once deadly addiction sets in. The industry has a long history of trying to obstruct and delay tobacco reforms. But we have absolutely no intention of going back on our word.”

Dame Andrea condemned how Big Tobacco seeks to get children hooked on nicotine, revealing that she started smoking when she was just 14 years old, but managed to quit the habit by the time she turned 20.

“I knew the dangers of smoking – we all do,” she writes. “However, at such a young age, the serious health repercussions of the habit didn’t seem all that real. Nicotine is seriously addictive, and the industry often cynically targets children.”

Research by Landsman Economics published by anti-smoking charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) suggested that if no one bought tobacco in England the total benefit to the economy in gross value added would be £13.6bn.

Conservative MP for Harrow East Bob Blackman backed the research, adding: “As a former local council leader and MP I’m acutely aware that smoking inflicts damage to the whole local economy, not just the NHS, with people unable to work and needing social care on average ten years earlier because of the diseases and disability caused by smoking.”

Source: The i, 5 December 2023

See also: Andrea Leadsom – The tobacco lobby will not stop us phasing out cigarettes ([link removed]) | ASH - New figures show smoking costs billions more than tobacco taxes ([link removed])
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** Vapes could be prescription-only under Labour government

Last week, the Australian government announced plans to ban the import of disposable e-cigarettes, under a plan to make all vaping illegal without a prescription.

Mr Streeting told The Telegraph that he was considering the same policy, having met with Mark Butler, the Australian health minister, who represents the country’s Labor Party.

He told The Telegraph: “I’m outraged at the extent to which this irresponsible industry has peddled itself as an altruistic smoking cessation service, at the same time as addicting a generation of children’s nicotine.

“I don’t want to hear any more crocodile tears from vaping industry leaders about the number of children who have taken up vaping, all the pearl clutching that’s going on there.”

Mr Streeting said: “I think this has been a deliberate strategy to increase consumer demand and the fact that you’ve got ‘Big Tobacco’ now weighing in behind vaping tells me that what they want is to addict people to nicotine through a new product.”

Mr Streeting said: “This whole business model is built on addicting people to one of the most addictive substances known to man or woman so we’re going to go hard on marketing selling to children, but I also want the vaping industry to go back to its roots as a genuine smoking cessation tool.”

“I’m looking very carefully at what Mark Butler and the Australian Labor government have announced. Their policy is in part driven by the evidence here in Australia that vaping has become a gateway drug to smoking. So I think we need to look carefully at what the UK evidence is on that front.”

Mr Streeting did not commit to any specific measures for a Labour health plan on vaping, saying: “We’ve got to have an evidence-based approach to this and I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

“I’ve always said vaping is better than smoking. So as a step-down service, from smoking to stopping smoking, I think vaping has a role to play.”.

On Tuesday, Andrea Leadsom, the health minister, said that the Government will bring forward its plans to restrict the sale of vapes to children “as soon as possible” in the new year, with the public consultation due to close on Wednesday.

In the Commons, Ms Leadsom said: “We all know it is an offence to sell vapes to children under 18, yet one in five children has tried a vape in 2023 alone. The numbers trying it have tripled in the last three years.

“We know the industry is targeting children quite cynically. It is unacceptable, so our Tobacco and Vapes Bill will restrict the appeal and availability of vapes to children.”

Among the Government’s other moves to clamp down on tobacco use are its proposals to create a “smoke-free generation”.

This would see the legal age of sale for tobacco products raised each year to prevent younger generations from taking up smoking.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have no plans to emulate the prescription-only vaping model being pursued in Australia.

“We are consulting on plans to reduce the availability, appeal and affordability of vapes to children, while ensuring adults who want to quit smoking remain supported.”

Source: The Telegraph, 5 December 2023

See also: ASH – Response to youth vaping consultation ([link removed])
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** West Yorkshire: Regional health chiefs back plans to 'phase out' smoking

Under Government proposals, it would be an offence for anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, to be sold tobacco products.

The new law would stop children who turn 14 this year or younger from ever legally being sold cigarettes in England, in a bid to create the first ‘smokefree generation’.

West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership has published an open letter in support of the plans.

Signatories include Cathy Elliott, chair of NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, and its chief executive officer, Rob Webster.

According to the partnership, around 252,000 adults in West Yorkshire smoke – a prevalence rate of 13.1 per cent, higher than the national average.

A partnership spokesperson says: "The harms caused by smoking are considerable. It increases the risk of cancer, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and stroke, with at least 19,000 hospital admissions and 8,900 deaths as a result every year in West Yorkshire alone.

"Reducing smoking rates supports many of the partnership's ambitions and could increase the years of life that people live in good health in this region, and reduce stillbirths and neonatal deaths. Other considerations include reducing the gap in life expectancy between people with mental health conditions, learning disabilities or autism and the rest of the population, cutting waste associated with smoking, and fewer people becoming unable to work through smoking-related ill health.

"Raising the age that people can legally buy tobacco products will also help delay smoking uptake and reduce the number of young people who start smoking in the first place.

"Our letter encourages the Government to take all action possible to ensure that the legislation introduced is robust, and welcomes a commitment to increase funding for tobacco enforcement."

Source: Keighley News, 6 December 2023

See also: West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership - Our response to the consultation on Stopping the Start ([link removed])
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** International
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** Alcohol taxes aren't high enough, says World Health Organisation

The World Health Organisation urged governments on Tuesday to increase taxes on alcoholic drinks and impose them on products that are currently exempt, such as wine in some European countries.

Sugary beverages should also be taxed at higher rates, the WHO said, adding that every year 2.6 million people die from drinking alcohol and 8 million people die due to unhealthy diets.

Rudiger Krech, director of health promotion at the WHO, said taxing such products at a higher rate creates healthier populations.

"It has a positive ripple effect across society - less disease and debilitation and revenue for governments to provide public services," Krech continued, adding that in the case of alcohol it also helps prevent violence and road traffic injuries.

Public health organisations like the WHO are increasingly turning their attention to the health impact of products like alcohol and sugary food, after making significant gains in highlighting the death and disease caused by cigarettes.

It says that most alcohol taxes are "low and not optimally designed" and that wine is not taxed at all in 22 countries, mostly in Europe, calling on governments to introduce higher rates and tax all kinds of alcohol.

Source: Reuters, 5 December 2023

See also: ASH – Holding us back: tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food and drink ([link removed])
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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