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** 1 November 2022
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** UK
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** Retailers want to see tougher laws on tobacco sales (#1)
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** Lung Cancer Awareness Month: Myths about lung cancer everyone needs to stop believing (#2)
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** FT opinion: Tougher junk food rules would do us all good (#3)
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** International
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** China bars celebrities from endorsing products to boost ‘traditional virtues’ (#4)
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** UK
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**

Most shopkeepers support existing tobacco laws and want the Government to go further in protecting people’s health, according to a new report from ASH. In a survey of 961 small tobacco retailers across the UK, it found people running newsagents, off-licences, convenience stores and petrol stations are in favour of more regulation, while many are worried about vaping sales to children.

Eight out of 10 (81%) agree there should be a mandatory licence scheme for selling tobacco to prevent sales to children, illegal sales, and to give local authorities more power. The same proportion also support mandatory age verification for anyone who looks under 25, which the report said would make enforcement in England easier. Only one in 20 shopkeepers oppose both these measures. The survey also found that more than half (54%) of retailers think the age for buying tobacco should be raised from 18 to 21. Meanwhile, 73% support a requirement for tobacco manufacturers to pay a fee to the Government for policies to help people quit and to prevent youngsters taking up smoking.

Although 51% of retailers think that money from tobacco products is an important part of their overall profits, 72% said they do not make much profit on a packet of cigarettes compared with other items. And only 13% said banning cigarette displays and the introduction of plain packaging had had a negative effect on their business.

Bob Blackman MP, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Smoking and Health, said: “Supporting small businesses is rightly a priority for Government – particularly corner shops, as they are at the heart of our local communities. That’s why the main argument used by tobacco manufacturers’ against tobacco regulations with politicians like me is that they would harm small shops. Tobacco regulations are supposed to be bad for the manufacturers, but this survey of nearly 1,000 shopkeepers proves they don’t think that regulations like those putting cigarettes out of sight in shops, or in standard packs are bad for retailers. Shopkeepers want Government to go further and implement tougher regulations – that’s what they think will be good for business, not de-regulation.”

ASH chief executive Deborah Arnott said: “To achieve a smoke-free 2030, the Government needs to ratchet up regulations to support smokers to quit and to prevent young people starting to smoke. Just like the public, the majority of retailers support key measures needed to bring smoking to an end, such as increasing the age of sale, introducing a tobacco licence, and making tobacco manufacturers pay to help smokers quit. Retailers aren’t anti-regulation; they know that good regulation can make their lives easier by ensuring there’s a level playing field. That’s why they want to see the gaping hole in retail regulation closed through the introduction of a mandatory tobacco licence backed up by stronger penalties for breaking the law.”

John Herriman, chief executive of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, said: “A mandatory licence to sell tobacco and age verification for anyone who looks under 25 would make it easier for trading standards to enforce the law, to the benefit of reputable retailers.”

When it comes to e-cigarettes, 51% of retailers said they expect them to become more important to their business in the next decade, but 69% support tighter controls in areas such as colours, cartoon characters and naming e-cigarettes after sweets – all of which appeal to children. Asked if they are interested in expanding the e-cigarette and vaping side of their business, 36% of the retailers surveyed in England said they are interested and 37% said they are not.

The report concluded: “Government in England should not be deterred from introducing new tobacco control measures because of concerns about their impact on local retailers. Among retailers, support for new measures far outweighs opposition, even for measures which will directly affect daily sales of tobacco products including the proposed increase in the age of sale from 18 to 21.”

Source: The Independent, 1 November 2022

See also
New report - Regulation is not a dirty word: Local retailers’ views of proposals for new tobacco laws ([link removed])
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November marks Lung Cancer Awareness Month. The Independent has spoken to lung cancer experts to debunk some of the common myths around it.

Lung cancer only affects older people: According to John Costello, pulmonologist at the Mayo Clinic, “Lung cancer is certainly more common in older people – the average age of diagnosis is 70 years. This may, however, just reflect more prolonged exposure to tobacco smoke.”

This does not mean you will exclusively get it if you are old. According to Lisa Jacques, lead specialist cancer nurse at Perci Health, “Most people develop lung cancer in their 60s and 70s, after many years of smoking, but occasionally people get lung cancer at a much younger age, even in their 20s and 30s.”

Lung cancer is always caused by smoking: Although smoking can increase your chances of developing lung cancer, it is not the only cause. “Smoking is the cause of most lung cancers and the biggest risk factor, but about 10% of people who get lung cancer have never smoked,” explains Jacques. Costello adds: “There are some lung cancers which are genetic and may not be smoking-related, and some others are caused by exposures to substances like asbestos, radon gas and passive smoking” – although he says these are “relatively uncommon”.

You can’t reverse lung damage from smoking: “Some of the damage and inflammation caused by smoking can be reversible, but in particular, emphysema is architectural destruction of the lung which causes extreme breathlessness and cannot be reversed,” Costello says. So quitting smoking might reduce your risk – but not starting at all is much better.

Lung cancer is always deadly: A diagnosis of lung cancer does not mean certain death, but it is still serious. “Lung cancer has a 65% survival rate for five years in people with localised disease,” says Costello. “If it has spread around the body at the time of diagnosis, the survival rate is only eight percent.”

However, he says there are “new techniques in screening for lung cancer, such as CT scans in smokers over 50 years with a serious tobacco background”. These “may pick up very small early tumours, which can be removed with up to a 80-90% five year survival rate”. So if you have concerns about a persistent cough, see your GP and get it checked out as soon as possible.

So, whether you smoke or not, look out for the symptoms of lung cancer – like a cough lasting longer than two or three weeks, recurring chest infections, breathlessness or aches and pains when breathing – and see your GP if you have any concerns.

Source: The Independent, 1 November 2022
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Judith Evans writes in the FT that it would be a major public health mistake for the new administration to delay or cancel restrictions on unhealthy products. A government reluctant to take “nanny state” measures on junk food to combat obesity will find itself on the hook for yet more than the estimated already £6.5bn yearly cost to the health service.

She describes that curbs on multibuy promotions for unhealthy foods are set to begin in England in a year’s time, as part of a series of anti-obesity measures pushed by former prime minister Boris Johnson. Scotland and Wales plan their own versions. The new rules include limits introduced this year on where unhealthy foods can be placed in stores, as well as planned curbs on TV and digital advertising, multibuy deals and soft drink refills. Yet Johnson’s government had already delayed the English reforms by a year from 2022 and his short-lived successor Liz Truss floated the idea that they could be scrapped altogether.

Companies highlight, for example, data prepared for Public Health England indicating that without supermarket promotions, a typical household would have to pay £634 more a year for the same food. Cancer Research UK has found promotions are biased towards unhealthy, “junk” categories, steering consumer towards these, while shoppers who take advantage of them suffer from poor nutrition.

Government impact assessments on each of its anti-obesity measures forecast only small daily calorie reductions for the average individual, but these fail to capture the disproportionate effect of both obesity and measures to combat it on specific, vulnerable segments of society. Nor do they take into account the future effects on children whose dietary habits may be set while they are young, Evans highlights.

Pressure from governments and investors has already prompted food companies to innovate, bringing out more healthy products. Walkers crisps launched lower fat, salt and sugar lines as the junk food restrictions approached. She states the success of government measures to cut the amount of salt in food in the early 2000s, combined with the threat of enforcement, and research found thousands of lives were saved as result.

Evans concludes, writing: “As low-income households grapple with a precipitous drop in living standards, a few relatively healthy bargains are the least a new administration can offer them. Food brands may complain, but they are capable of rising to the challenge.”

Source: Financial Times, 26 October 2022

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** International
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Chinese celebrities have been banned from endorsing a clutch of health and education services, signalling a new phase in President Xi Jinping’s campaign to overhaul the country’s corporate and social landscape. The rules, which ban entertainers and influencers from backing the products via social media, television commercials, live-streams and interviews, will constrict the lucrative world of star endorsements.

Private tutoring and health foods, as well as tobacco products, healthcare and medical equipment are among the targeted industries, according to a notice issued by Beijing’s top market regulator, the State Administration for Market Regulation, along with six other government agencies.

The rules stated: “Celebrities should consciously practise socialist core values in their advertising endorsement activities. Activities should conform to social morals and traditional virtues.”

The new product endorsement rules follow years of nationwide scandals and public outcry involving misleading celebrity-endorsed health and wealth management products as well as peer-to-peer lending platforms. Local media have long criticised lax regulatory oversight, especially from the National Medical Products Administration, China’s drug approval agency, which is part of the State Administration for Market Regulation.

Source: Financial Times, 1 November 2022
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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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