168 countries signed a World Health Organization treaty to ban tobacco advertising completely. One of the newest endeavor was proposed by Britain and now, all eyes are on Westminster to see if the government will accept its Department of Health’s proposal to make cigarette package plain. The Health Department reasons that youth will not find the packs attractive if the branding of the cigarette is cut out, leaving just the manufacturers’ names and selling them in black and white boxes … something like this.
Honestly, I have doubts that monochrome advertising will make a great difference. The impact is likely to be negligible because smoking is due to peer pressure and hip factor, more than cigarette advertising. However, with rising fuel price impacting on all things imported, the increased price of cigarette is a better deterrent. A higher price tag may actually help people to cut down on smoking.
“An increase in the real price of cigarettes and mass media campaigns broadcast at sufficient levels of exposure at regular intervals are critical for reducing population smoking rates,”
~ Professor David Hill, director of Cancer Council Victoria.
You can read more about the rising cost of cigarette in Australia here.
There are 15 million underage smoklers in the country. According to a Health Ministry report, around 40 million of the country’s 130 million teenagers aged between 13 and 18 had tried smoking. It said that between 66 and 88% of those who had tried smoking had tried tobacco products has smoked their first whole cigarette by the time they turned 13 - a 15% point increase from 1998.
China has about 350 million smokers, nearly a quarter of its population and one-third of the world’s smokers according to the official records of China.
The ministry reports said cigarette advertising was partly responsibled for the rising rate of young tobacco addicts because they target the youth by associating smoking with independence and sex appeal. Of course, easy access to cigarettes is also the cause. Though the law prohibits seliing of tobacco product to those under 18, the kids were not refused when making a purchase.
China has taken some steps to curb smoking since 1 May 2008 (even before the World No Tobacco Day), for example, smoking in public places in Beijing is restricted, with restaurants, bars and hotels having to separate smoking and non-smoking areas.
“As for my tastes, I enjoy my food, hate the taste of any kind of alcohol, have tried and tried to like smoking, but can’t manage it.”
- Agatha Christie, Author
Britain ’s Department of Health intends to make smoking less tempting to children. It has released proposals that would ban cigarette companies from putting any kind of logo or branding on their cigarette packets.
That’s because research shows that kids are attracted to brightly brand and link smoking to being cool. This means that cigarettes would have to be sold in plain black and white boxes with nothing except health messages (or warnings) on them.
This proposed ban is part of a consultation documentation on tobacco control from the department that marks the start of a 12-week debate on how to cut the number of people smoking in Britain. The objective is to protect children from smoking. So talks about banning smoking vending machines and stopping the sales of cheaper packs of 10 cigarettes instead of 20.
This new consultation was launched to mark World No Tobacco Day on 31 May 2008. About a quarter of adult population in Britain smokes and rates are dropping very slowly.
Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo was quoted by Telegraphy as saying: “Protecting children from smoking is a government priority and taking away temptation is one way to do this. If banning brightly coloured packets, removing cigarettes from display and removing the chepat option of a pack of 10 help sae lives, then that is what we should do.
In a cross-cultural survey in Scotland and Singapore, only 1 in 3 respondents was aware that smoking can cause blindness!
The survey was conducted by a group at Scotland’s Ninewell Hospital and Singapore’s Alexandra Hospital from November 2007 to February 2008. Researchers polled 112 participants from Scotland and 163 participants from Singapore to compare their awareness of various smoking-related conditions as well as attitudes towards the use of graphic health warning labels printed on cigarette packs.
85% in both countries knew the risk of lung cancer, heart disease, mouth and throat cancer (oral cancer) and stroke but only about one-third of the respondents knew about smoking causes blindness.
According to Associate Professor Au EongKah Guan, head and senior consultant, department of ophthalmology and visual sciences of Alexandra Hospital and an investigator of the study: “Cigarette smoking increases the risk of age-related macular degeneration by 3-fold to 4-fold and cataract by 2 to 3-fold. Age-related macular degeneration is a deterioration in the health of the most sensitive part of the retina known as macula. A cataract is clouding of the normally clear crystalline lens in the eye.”
Currently the Singapore investigation study team is talking to its Health Promotion Board to add the warning “Smoking causes blindness on cigarette packs. Graphic warning labels have been circulation in in Singapore since 2004 and were later modified in 2006. You can see the graphic labels published at HPB to your left here. However, Australia is the only country so far to carry the graphic warning label which reads “Smoking causes Blindness”.
Incidentally, Britain is considering to get cigarette manufacturers to pack the cigarette in plain black and white box so that they look less attractive to youngsters.
Info Source: Mind Your Body, 4 June 2008
Well, if increased risk of cancer, heart diseases and other respiratory illness are not good enough reasons for smokers to quit smoking, perhaps this will.
According to The New York Times, epidemiological studies looked at more than 600 men and women, with 50% of them being smokers. After controlling for variables, researchers found a significant and consistent link between smoking and early greying. Scientists have long speculated that cigarette smoke may accelerate hair loss and premature greying. The association was largely due to toxins in smoke that can harm hair follicles and damage hormones.
Last year, another team studied the link in a group of 740 men in Taiwan aged 40 -91 years. After controlling for age and family histories, the researchers found a greater rate of hair loss among the smokers, a risk that grew with increasing smoking.
Whether the link is a result of tobacco toxins affecting the scalp or f smoking is causing severe disease that speed up aging, the point is smoking can lead to premature greying and hair loss.
By the way, if you are not aware, smoking causes blindness too. This has been confirmed by a joint study by hospitals in Scotland and Singapore. You can read it here.
