Hardcore smokers are softening over time

Cigarette smokers with high levels of psychological distress are often heavy smokers, and thus identified as a “hardcore” group who are less willing or able to quit than other smokers. However, a study by UC San Francisco researchers shows that over the course of 19 years, from 1997 to 2015, this hardcore group smoked progressively fewer cigarettes per day and tried to quit in increasingly greater numbers, along with every other group of smokers in the United States.

“Even though they smoke more than the general population, smokers with high psychological distress have been smoking less and trying to quit more, as the overall level of smoking has decreased,” said Margarete C. Kulik, a postdoctoral fellow with the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education (CTCRE) and the lead author of the study. “This shows that with effective tobacco control policies, even hardcore smokers will soften over time.”

The study, published on Oct. 10, 2017, in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, draws on data from the U.S. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) administered annually by the U.S. Census Bureau. Current smokers were asked how many cigarettes they smoked per day and whether they had tried to quit smoking for one day or longer in the past 12 months. Based on answers to the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, which is included in the NHIS, smokers were assigned to one of three categories: no distress, moderate distress and serious psychological distress. Responses from a total of 118,604 smokers were analyzed.

The researchers found that from 1997 to 2015, cigarette consumption declined significantly among all three groups. Among the no distress group, cigarettes smoked per day decreased from 16.3 to 11.2, while cigarette consumption in the high distress group decreased from 19.6 to 14.5. The proportion of smokers who reported trying to quit increased in all groups and was highest among those with serious distress.

“The finding that there were more quit attempts among smokers with the highest levels of distress might reflect the fact that although these smokers are motivated and willing to quit, they may need more help quitting successfully,” said senior author Stanton Glantz, UCSF professor of medicine and director of CTCRE. “This indicates that we should be encouraging our mental health providers to treat tobacco dependence along with other problems. Contrary to popular belief, treating nicotine addiction does not complicate the treatment of other substance abuse or mental health issues and in fact has been shown to improve outcomes among people in substance abuse treatment and recovery. Even smokers with the greatest psychological distress can be reached and helped to quit.”

Glantz added that the new findings, combined with earlier research that also showed softening among the general population, “seriously challenge the tobacco industry’s position that ‘harm reduction’ products such as e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn products are the only way out of the tobacco epidemic. These products are premised on the unproven assumption that there is an intractable hard core of smokers who cannot be reached using established tobacco control policies.”

The study was supported by funds from the UC Tobacco Related Disease Research Program and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education specializes in tobacco control research focused on policy change, smoking cessation, nicotine addiction, health disparities in smoking, novel tobacco devices and tobacco marketing. It also houses the Truth Tobacco Documents Library, a rich resource of previously confidential tobacco industry documents.

Source: University of California

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FSSAI asks states to strictly comply with SC ban on sale of gutka containing tobacco

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has directed all states to strictly comply with the Supreme Court order banning the sale of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine, saying some states were violating the order.

“It has come to the notice of FSSAI that the prohibited substances i.e. gutkha and pan masala containing tobacco and/or nicotine as ingredients are available for sale in some states and union territories despite those states having issued notifications banning the same,” said Rajesh Singh, director (regulatory compliance division), FSSAI, in a letter to the commissioners of food safety and officers-in-charge of food safety of all states and union territories. 

According to the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on sales) Regulations, 2011, issued by the FSSAI, under the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006, tobacco and nicotine shall not be used as ingredients in any food products.

The ministry of health & family welfare in December 2016 had issued a complete ban on the production, promotion and sale of food products containing tobacco and nicotine as ingredients across India. These included gutka, pan masala, zarda and tobacco-based flavoured mouth fresheners.

The move followed a Supreme Court order of 23 September 2016, banning chewing tobacco products. While Bihar, Karnataka, Mizoram, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh have issued orders in compliance of the apex court’s order, several states are yet to follow suit, officials at FSSAI said.

The apex Court had also directed the statutory authorities and secretaries (health department) of all states and UTs to file their affidavits on the issue of total compliance of the ban. The manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine or any other products with these ingredients is prohibited.

Tobacco use is the foremost preventable cause of death and disease in India and globally. As per the Global Audit Tobacco Survey—India (GATS) 2010, over 200 million Indians consume smokeless tobacco (through chewing for instance), making the burden of mortality and morbidity from these products very high in India.

Available evidence suggests that India has the highest incidence of oral cancer in the world.

Source: Mint

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Ban tobacco products outside schools: PIL in HC

The Delhi High Court today sought the response of the Centre and city government on a PIL seeking to enforce a complete ban on sale of tobacco and cigarettes near educational institutions in the national capital.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar also issued notice to the governments education department and all civic bodies here, directing them to file their status reports on the allegations raised in the PIL.

The bench said "it is a really important issue" and asked the authorities to place their stand before it by the next date of hearing on January 30 next year.

An NGO -- Doctors For You -- moved the court alleging that despite a ban on the sale of tobacco products near educational institutions, one can easily find a number of shops selling such products near schools in the city in violation of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2003.

As per section 6 of the COTPA, sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products within a 100-yard radius of educational institutions is deemed illegal.

The plea said the "sale of tobacco products within a 100 -yard radius of educational institutions is prohibited under COTPA. However, the norms linked to this Act are being openly flouted by vendors."

Seeking enforcement of the Act, the petitioner has sought a direction to the authorities to ensure that all the schools are "tobacco free".

It said there should be "no availability" of tobacco products in the campus and a committee should be set up to monitor compliance of the Act.

The NGO has also sought a direction to the education department to ask the schools to display information in and outside their premises like "no smoking area" and "smoking is an offence".

The petition said the authorities concerned should ensure that "tobacco products and its ancillary products are sold from registered/authorised shops and in compliance with the provisions of the COTPA."

It said that the Centre and the Delhi government shall ensure that there is no sale of cigarettes, beedies, cigars and any other tobacco products in single stick or loose. 

Source: India Today

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Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar may soon have to display anti-tobacco warnings

Digital streaming services like Netflix, Hotstar and Amazon Prime may soon have to display messages and warnings during scenes showing use of tobacco products.

The health ministry has written to the telecom regulator to issue an advisory to online movie and TV programme streaming companies to comply with anti-tobacco rules and display messages and warnings during scenes showing tobacco products or their use. The letter came after the ministry observed violation of anti-tobacco rules by these companies.

“While the rules are well implemented in films screened in movie theatres, the films and TV programmes streamed using internet like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Voot and Hungama among others are ‘not fully compliant’ to these rules,” the letter from the ministry of health and family welfare to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) stated. 

As per the rules, all films and TV programmes, while displaying tobacco products or their use, are required to run anti-tobacco health spots of minimum 30 seconds at the beginning and middle of the programme, the letter further said.

Also, the rules mandate display of anti-tobacco health warning as a prominent static message at the bottom of the screen during the period of display of the tobacco products or their use in the television programmes.

The letter also mentioned that they are also required to submit a strong editorial justification explaining the necessity of display of tobacco products or their usage in the film to the Central Board of Film Certification.

An audio visual disclaimer on the ill-effects of tobacco use in the beginning and middle of the film or television programmes is also necessary. They should be of minimum 20 seconds duration each, the letter stated.

The Union health ministry notified the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce,Production, Supply and distribution) (second amendment rules) 2011 and 2012 to regulate the depiction of tobacco products or their use in films and TV programmes.

Earlier this year in February, noticing that television programmes were breaking rules under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), the Union ministry along with the ministry of information and broadcasting had said that they are planning to put in place a mechanism to monitor telecast that display tobacco products or their use.

Source: LiveMint

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Clinical psychologists call for creating a brand of tobacco free educational institutions in Kerala

Clinical psychologists of Kerala attached to the Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists (IACP) have called upon the Government to make tobacco free educational institutions a brand in the state. Parents should be able to send children to educational institutions without any apprehension of their falling for dangerous tobacco use at a tender age, they aver.

In the wake of the recent Global Burden of Disease Study that said smoking killed 7.1 million in 2016, the 600-member-strong IACP-Kerala feels that the state can be a worthy example to the rest of the world by creating a brand of tobacco free educational institutions. It has called for a combination of measures including enforcement and stakeholder involvement to achieve this public health-friendly goal.

Dr Sany Varghese, President of the Association said, “In our day-to-day clinical practice, we are witness to unfortunate cases of children going astray following addiction to tobacco use. Criminal tendencies and even suicidal tendencies are reported in some students.”

Licenses of shops selling tobacco products near educational institutions should be cancelled to cut out supply of these products, Dr Sany pointed out.

Association Secretary Dr Gitanjali Natarajan said, “Youngsters have told us how they sneak in tobacco products to schools without the knowledge of their parents and teachers. What initially starts as an entertaining pastime, many a times ends up in loss of youthful years to disease.”

Dr S.Satheesh Nair, Former President of IACP Kerala and President of Government Clinical Psychologists Association noted, “Parents should inculcate a culture of asking children how they spend their pocket money. Tobacco free educational institutions are a must if the future of our state and country has to be rid from the life-long burden of tobacco-induced maladies.”

The President also extended a helping hand to educational institutions that need counselling support to wean off youngsters hooked on to tobacco use.   

Photo Courtesy: Asianetnews

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In 9 years, over ₹16 crore collected in fine for public smoking

Nine years after the implementation of rules against smoking, which came into effect on October 2, 2008, ₹16,99,05,469 have been collected by the government as fines for violating the norms.

This, as per information given to the Parliament by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

According to the data available, challans were issued to and fines collected from 12,74,638 people during the period from April 2013 to March 2017 for violating Section 4 of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA, 2003), i.e smoking in public places.

Warning signs

The law defines ‘public place’ as any place to which the public has access, whether as of right or otherwise, and includes all places visited by the general public. Boards containing the warning ‘No Smoking Area — Smoking Here is an Offence’ has to be displayed prominently at the entrance of public places.

Fines were also collected under various other Sections, including illegal advertising/sale around educational areas. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently issued a notification banning the use of hookah services in dining areas. It also issued a letter to all State Chief Secretaries of the State on developing a mechanism to provide permission/authorisation through Municipal Authorities by making a provision that retail shops authorised for selling tobacco products cannot sell any non-tobacco products.

COTPA rules

“The COTPA, enacted in 2003, is applicable to the entire country and is aimed at discouraging the consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products by imposing progressive restrictions and to protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke. The implementation of COTPA is best done when the system/mechanism is institutionalised,” said a senior official in an anti-tobacco advocacy group.

Prohibition on smoking in public spaces and all forms of direct/indirect advertisement, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products, ban on sale of tobacco products to minors and within a radius of 100 yards of educational institutions, and mandatory depiction of specified health warnings on all tobacco products are the major provisions of COTPA.

As per the Section 12 of COTPA, any police officer, not below the rank of the sub-inspector can take action against these violations.

Source: The Hindu

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