UK Preparing for Stoptober 2015

Smokers in the UK are invited to join national Stoptober campaign aimed to help them quit the habit. The campaign is organized each year in October. Data demonstrates that 20.3% of adult people across Yorkshire and The Humber are smokers. Thus Public Health England is encouraging them to participate in Stoptober, the quit smoking campaign

UK: Fewer Kids Exposured to Secondhand Smoke at Homes

New study reveals that in the UK kids exposure to secondhand smoke was significantly reduced since 1998. The results of the study may be found in the scientific journal Addiction. In the new study the researchers found that in England, kid’s exposure to secondhand smoke has declined by around 80 percent since 1998. These are

Nottingham’s Old Market Square May Become Smoke-free

In English city of Nottingham there was proposed to prohibit smoking on Old Market Square, and if the idea gets necessary support it will be adopted in form of an ordinance. The proposal also includes smoking ban in city’s hospitals and playgrounds. In the UK, the first city to prohibit tobacco use on its two

Cigarettes to be banned to create outdoor 'smoke free zones'

SMOKING is set to be banned in city parks and playgrounds and outside Hanley’s new bus station. Stoke-on-Trent City Council is looking at creating the outdoor ‘smoke free zones’ to try to encourage the city’s 55,000 smokers to give up fags.

The Smithfield development – which includes the council’s controversial HQ – is also being considered for the smoking ban. It has been illegal to smoke in enclosed public places – including pubs – in England since 2007. But London Mayor Boris Johnson is looking to ban smoking in the capital’s parks and other local authorities are considering the idea.

The plan has divided residents. Bus passenger Alf Beswick, aged 61, smoker of Kent Nanotek Infina http://www.buycigarettes.eu/kent/nanotek-infina, said: “What a ridiculous idea. The smoke will just blow away in the open air anyway.” But campaigners believe an outdoor smoking ban will help more people to kick their habit. They are backing Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s idea to create a number of ‘smoke-free zones’.

Council leaders are looking at introducing the ban in parks and playgrounds, outside Hanley bus station and at the city centre Smithfield development. It comes as around 55,000 adults smoke in the Potteries – which is 28 per cent of the population and well above the England average. Anti-smoking charity Ash today welcomed the potential ban.

Information manager Amanda Sandford said: “If the council proposed to ban smoking in children’s playgrounds then I can’t see why anyone would be against that, apart from maybe tobacco companies. Even smokers don’t want their own children to take up smoking. We would also support creating smoke-free zones outside bus stations and council buildings. “While the health benefits would be limited, as it is outdoors, it can make a place seem less inviting if there are people stood outside smoking. It will also help to reduce littering.

“Smoke-free zones will help to de-normalise smoking. But it is important that the council consults people first. If it has public support and people are aware of it, it could be that the ban becomes self-policing.” The idea of smoke-free zones is being explored by the city’s Tobacco Control Alliance (TCA), which is chaired by senior councillor Adrian Knapper.

Vote expected in U.K. on plain packaging for cigarettes

The latest government attempt at plain cigarette packaging in the United Kingdom is sparking a fierce response from two British tobacco manufacturers. However, industry analysts and marketing officials said Friday they doubt there will be a spillover effect in the United States despite a similar push by anti-tobacco groups.

According to several UK media reports, Parliament members are expected to vote on plain packaging by March 30. The initiative is based primarily on regulations enacted in Australia in 2012 that have produced mixed results to date. If the British proposal is enacted, it would go into effect in May 2016. It would ban brightly colored packs and require packs to be uniform in size, shape and design and to carry large picture health warnings.

British health minister Jane Ellison said plain packaging was a "proportionate and justified response" because of the health risks associated with smoking, according to The Guardian newspaper.

British American Tobacco Pic, owner of 42 percent of Reynolds American Inc., said the plain packaging proposal "is a serious error of judgment given the clear evidence from Australia that plain packaging has not achieved any of its public health objectives and has increased illicit trade to its highest level in seven years."

The main plain-packing arguments expressed by Australia government leaders are that the packaging would help reduce overall smoking rates, reduce youth smoking rates and increase the effectiveness of health warnings. According to media reports, youth smoking rates have risen in Australia since 2012 and overall smoking rates have been flat.

A similar plain packaging proposal has been pushed among U.S. anti-tobacco advocates and Food and Drug Administration officials since 2009. However, advocates' biggest goal - requiring graphic warning labels on the top half of packs - has been stuck in neutral for nearly two years. Two separate federal courts are split on whether graphic warning labels violate tobacco companies' free-speech rights under the First Amendment.

U.S. tobacco companies increasingly rely on cigarette packaging to build brand loyalty and grab consumers - one of the few advertising avenues left to them after the government curbed their presence in magazines, billboards and TV They argue the proposed warnings went beyond factual information into anti-smoking advocacy.

Imperial Tobacco Group Ltd. has agreed to spend $7.1 billion to buy all of Lorillard Inc.'s operations outside its Newport brand in a three-way deal involving Reynolds, the maker of Camel Black cigarettes. Imperial offered similar comments to BAT on the plain packaging proposal, saying "it is regrettable that this issue has been caught up in knee-jerk electioneering at the expense of evidence-based policy making."