Greatest increase in non-cigarette tobacco in past decade was among young adults, researchers say
The number of people smoking pipes, shisha and cigars in the UK has risen fivefold over a decade, and experts say this could lead to a rise in smoking-related cancers such as mouth and lung cancer.
Last year there were about 772,800 exclusive non-cigarette tobacco users, compared with 151,200 in 2013, according to a study published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.
Continue reading...Doctors admit helping patients quit vaping is a ‘new experience’ ahead of a near-total ban coming into force on 1 July
GPs are preparing for a rush of patients seeking prescriptions for vapes or help to give up smoking, with a peak doctor’s lobby admitting it is a “new experience” for some medical experts ahead of new government vaping crackdowns and a near-total ban on electronic cigarettes from July.
The health minister, Mark Butler, says there is a need to “upskill” some GPs to help Australians off vapes. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) says doctors are well-equipped to handle the looming changes, which will outlaw vapes without a prescription, but the head of the Australian Medical Association says it may be a difficult task.
Continue reading...Professor says vaping stores need to be shut down for people to realise supply is being regulated
Australians are concerned about the widespread availability of illegal vapes and many support a ban, new research has found.
A study published in the February edition of the international medical journal BMJ Open saw researchers consult with 139 Australians aged 14-39 living in Sydney and Melbourne about vaping regulations. Interviews were conducted across 16 focus groups.
Continue reading...Plans to make vaping less appealing also to include restricting fruity flavours and introducing plain packaging
Ministers are to ban disposable vapes as part of a UK-wide drive to curb youth vaping.
The government is also seeking to make vaping less appealing to children by restricting sweet and fruity flavours, introducing plain packaging and making displays less visible in shops, under newly announced powers. The changes are expected to come into effect towards the end of this year or early 2025.
Continue reading...Ads gave misleading impression that recycling vapes is easy and can be done at home, says watchdog
Adverts for the vaping company Elf Bar have been banned after using the slogan “recycling for a greener future” over concern they were misleading because of the environmental damage of discarded vapes.
A study by Material Focus shows that 260m disposable vapes were thrown away in the UK in 2022, making them a leading cause of the rise in plastic pollution in recent years.
Continue reading...Public parks, forests and areas near schools will also become smoke-free as part of nationwide move
France is to ban smoking on all beaches, as well as in public parks, forests and near schools, after Emmanuel Macron promised to create “the first tobacco-free generation” by 2032.
“From now on, no-smoking areas will be the norm,” said the health minister, Aurélien Rousseau.
Continue reading...Health experts say axing plan to block sales of tobacco products to next generation will cost thousands of lives
New Zealand’s new government will scrap the country’s world-leading law to ban smoking for future generations to help pay for tax cuts – a move that public health officials believe will cost thousands of lives and be “catastrophic” for Māori communities.
In 2022 the country passed pioneering legislation which introduced a steadily rising smoking age to stop those born after January 2009 from ever being able to legally buy cigarettes. The law was designed to prevent thousands of smoking-related deaths and save the health system billions of dollars.
Continue reading...Net migration to the UK in 2023 is estimated at 672,000, and the PM says a more ‘sustainable’ level is needed. This live blog is closed
When Nigel Farage was leading the Brexit party, it was considerably influential for a party with no MPs, winning the European elections in 2019 and helping to push the Conservative party into a harder position on Brexit. After the 2019 election it was renamed Reform UK, Richard Tice took over as leader and it became much more marginal. But in an interview on the Today programme this morning Tice claimed that the government’s failure to bring down immigration was presenting it with an opportunity. He told the programme:
The British people voted to control immigration, and the government have betrayed the people’s promises. And that’s why so many thousands of people, former Tory members, are joining us. Our polling numbers – we got record polling last week, four different polls where we’re in double figures. This week, we’ve had Tory donors joining us. Frankly, I fully expect Tory MPs who are furious and angry with the government to be calling me next week.
[Cleverly] has made the point that he says that it was not aimed at a particular place. Knowing James well, he’s not the sort of person, in my opinion, who would have made that kind of remark in that kind of context.
But he has accepted that this was certainly unparliamentary language and he has rightly apologised.
Continue reading...Representatives for convenience and grocery stores tell Senate inquiry details of any funding were commercial in confidence
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Lobby groups representing convenience and grocery stores have refused to tell a Senate inquiry how much they receive in tobacco and vaping industry funding.
The failure to disclose industry funding follows public hearings into the public health (tobacco and other products) bill earlier in November and comes as concerns are raised about one lobby group having a parliamentary access pass.
Continue reading...Harmful habits are worsening public health, says report, as groups urge crackdown on ‘irresponsible’ industries
Firms are earning £52.7bn a year from UK sales of tobacco, junk food and excessive alcohol, and their consumption is contributing to Britain’s rising tide of illness, a report says.
The figures prompted a coalition of health, medical and children’s organisations to demand an urgent crackdown on “the irresponsible behaviour of health-harming industries”.
NHS hospitals admit 2.5 million patients a year for treatment of diseases directly linked to being overweight (1.02 million), drinking (980,000) or smoking (506,000).
About 459,000 people cannot work because they are too ill to do so as a result of their smoking (289,000), alcohol consumption (99,000) or being morbidly obese, with a body mass index over 40 (70,000).
People who smoke or drink at harmful levels are more likely to be jobless and earn less than those who do not – a “wage penalty” for their unhealthy lifestyles.
That wage penalty, together with unemployment and lost productivity due to smoking, drinking and obesity, costs the UK £31bn a year.
Continue reading...More than a third of young adults are vaping and many of them are doing it even though they know vapes contain nicotine, Cancer Council data shows
More than one-third of young adults are using e-cigarettes, and almost three-quarters of parents suspect their child is vaping, a new study has found.
Young people can easily access vapes and availability is leading to a perception products are not harmful, according to public health experts.
Continue reading...Dramatic findings point to Conservatives losing every red wall seat that they secured at the last election
Labour is currently on course to win a landslide victory on the scale of 1997, according to dramatic new modelling that points to the Conservatives losing every red wall seat secured at the last election.
The Tories could also lose more than 20 constituencies in its southern blue wall strongholds and achieve a record-low number of seats, according to a constituency-by-constituency model seen by the Observer. Deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, defence secretary Grant Shapps and leadership contender Penny Mordaunt are among those facing defeat. Some 12 cabinet ministers face being unseated unless Rishi Sunak can close Labour’s poll lead.
Continue reading...Prime minister says HS2 move will release £36bn, that he will raise smoking age by one year, every year and announces five-subject qualification
Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, has been giving interviews about HS2 this morning. He told BBC Breakfast that cancelling the link to Manchester would show that the north of England did not get the same priority as the south. He said:
It just proves there’s still so many people in politics, many of them in the Tory party, that think they can treat the north of England differently to the way they treat other parts of the country. It’s just so wrong.
I’ve been in politics 30 years, I’ve never seen a party come to a conference and leave an axe hanging over the place they’re in for the whole week. And then actually drop it on that place.
I’ve had so many contacts over the past few hours from people who are concerned as I am that we are using this culture war battleground to no good effect at all and we’re actually hurting people.
And we shouldn’t be doing that as Conservatives. That’s not the Conservative party I joined and I think we’re better than that.
Luckily that’s not going to happen … because I believe in the ultimate common sense of the party. Also, I very much hope that Suella Braverman learns about the power of her words and moderates her tone.
Continue reading...PM’s aim to gradually increase age at which people can buy cigarettes described as ‘incredibly positive step forward’
Banning growing numbers of people in England from buying cigarettes is a bold move that will save lives and create the country’s first “smokefree generation”, health charities have said.
The plan, first reported in the Guardian and which Rishi Sunak formally unveiled in his leader’s speech at the Conservative party’s annual conference, will also help relieve the strain on the NHS, experts said.
Continue reading...Lithium-ion batteries embedded in the products have been blamed for an increasing number of hazardous fires at landfill sites
Campaigners are calling for a national strategy to force vape manufacturers, importers and retailers to take responsibility for the industry’s waste, given the threats it poses to the environment and human health.
Clean Up Australia says consumers are confused about how to responsibly dispose of their used products, which are variously classified as electronic waste or hazardous waste depending on where someone lives in Australia.
Continue reading...Companies skirting regulations by labelling e-cigarettes as ‘nicotine-free’ despite them containing the drug
The federal health minister, Mark Butler, has criticised the proliferation of vape stores, which continue to open despite reforms that will mean only pharmacies can import and sell the products in future.
“We know these vaping stores are increasingly opening in a very deliberate way just down the road from schools, because they realise that is their target consumers,” Butler told Guardian Australia.
Continue reading...Exclusive: transparency advocates condemn arrangement as ‘appalling’ while health department refuses to say how much consultancy was paid
The Victorian government paid a consultancy firm that has spent decades working for big tobacco to lead the state’s consultation on changes to tobacco and vaping laws, before the process was abandoned.
The state’s health department has repeatedly declined to say how much KPMG was paid for the work this year and did not answer questions about whether the international firm’s long association with big tobacco and its ongoing work for the industry were declared.
Continue reading...Ministers said to be planning to legislate against the devices because of concerns about children’s health
Leading doctors and councils have welcomed reports that ministers are preparing to ban single-use vapes in the UK, but others have expressed fears a ban could lead to a “flood” of illegal products on the market.
The reports of plans to stop the sale of disposable e-cigarettes come as fears grow about their environment impact and the health risks they pose to the large number of teenagers taking up vaping.
Continue reading...Ban follows similar measures in Germany, Australia and New Zealand amid concern over health effects
Disposable vapes will be banned in France as part of a national plan to combat smoking, the prime minister said on Sunday.
Élisabeth Borne told the broadcaster RTL that the government would “soon present a new national plan to fight against smoking with, in particular, the prohibition of disposable electronic cigarettes, the famous ‘puffs’ which give bad habits to young people”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: study finds 26% of individual responses to TGA vaping reforms contained text from template provided as part of ‘astroturfing’ campaign
More than one-quarter of submissions from individual e-cigarette users made to the Australian government’s vaping reforms consultation featured text from an “astroturfing” campaign led by the tobacco and vaping industry, “bypassing conflict-of-interest” declaration requirements, a study has found.
The World Health Organization defines astroturfing as the faking of a grassroots movement that in reality is being controlled by a hidden multinational company or organisation, in this case tobacco and vaping companies.
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