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NZ SmokeLess e-News 2:10
2 October 2007
Cigarette free
within ten years: ASH and Coalitions sign on
The countdown
begins: Policy and product update
Leadership from Government has been excellent, with
an increased allocations for research since 2005, and for programmes in the
2007 budget, and from Ministry of Health (Dr Ashley Bloomfield) and Health
Sponsorship Council (Iain Potter CEO) has ensured good coordination of
research, programme and policy efforts.
Cheap roll your own cigarettes – no. 1
problem. Smokers are
switching on to RYOs instead of quitting smoking.
NZMA chair Peter Foley chaired the Smokefree
Coalition’s Death and taxes seminar in Auckland on September 3, exposing two Health
Select Committee MPs (Marian Street and Jackie Blue) to the fact that RYO
smoking is half cost smoking.
Rob Cunningham from Canadian
Cancer Society pointed out that Government was missing out in hundreds of
millions of tax dollars. In Canada, RYO tobacco is realistically taxed on
the basis that 0.45 g = one cigarette, and attracts just as much tax as a
manufactured cigarette (instead of about half in New Zealand) Dr Laugesen
for SmokeLess NZ, said that the current flat tax
needed to be risk based instead, and assured MPs that the different risks
of different tobacco products were well known.
The relative toxicity of RYO
smoking will be researched in Christchurch later this year by Health New Zealand
Ltd. Smokers like to believe that smoking RYOs is
safer than smoking manufactured cigarettes.
New Smoking cessation guidelines free up use of
NRT
These guidelines approve the use
of NRT in combination, for longer, with less contra-indications
and in higher dose than previously. A wide array of experts and groups
supported by Clinical Trials Research Unit were funded by Ministry of
Health, which is now looking to improve training for smoking cessation workers.
Varenicline (Champix) This
new product is rated the most effective and the most expensive.
More media dollars and Quitline
capacity for quitting smoking. The 2007 budget is now kicking in with more
allocations for media advertising and more capacity for fast quitline responses, ready for the new health warnings
to come on stream in February 2008.
Giving NRT before the quit date. Recruitment of volunteers is
proceeding at the Quitline for this major
clinical trial by Clinical Trials Research Unit. Smaller trials suggest NRT
before Quit date improves quit rates.
Reduced nicotine cigarettes before Quit date. This randomised controlled trial will
start recruiting smokers in 2008 with CTRU and Quitline
cooperating. Half the smokers will use a nicotine free cigarette for six
weeks, along with nicotine from patches before and after the quit date.
Nasal snuff. Available from selected tobacconists at the competitive
price of $3.50. Sales are miniscule,
partly because no advertising of any kind of tobacco product is permitted,
and Ministry of Health has not publicised its availability and relative
safety.
Swedish Snus Despite a Health Ministry-commissioned report
showing it is much safer than smoking, it is only available via internet for
personal use only. Shipments cost $15 per can due to tax out of proportion
to its risk. Professor Chris Cunningham made a strong plea at the Oceania
Conference to permit snus to be sold – which requires a law change –
to assist the most addicted Maori smokers. Dr Marewa
Glover told the Gravitas conference of sector experts back in June she
wants snus to be on sale for this group. No substantial research has been
approved for evaluating snus so far.
Fast acting nicotine (www.niconovum.com ) Principal investigator Dr Hayden McRobbie of Clinical Trials Research Unit, University of Auckland, will present the findings to the
2008 Annual Conference of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
in Portland, Oregon, USA. Commercialisation is some distance
away.
The e-cigarette. (www.healthnz.co.nz/coynews.htm)
Clinical Trials Research Unit, University of Auckland (Principal Investigator Dr Hayden McRobbie) subject to permission from Medsafe, plans to complete testing of this device by
March 2008. This product has already sold a million units in China, so the only delays will be due to the
research and registration for sale.
Cigarette free
within ten years – ASH, and Smokefree
Coalitions sign on NZ
PA 12 September 2007.
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Smokefree-free NZ within 10 years –
ASH
Anti-smoking
campaigners are calling for New Zealand to be cigarette free within 10 years.
At the Oceania Tobacco Control
Conference in Auckland today the groups said the priority was to get rid of
cigarettes and smoked tobacco.
Among steps they advocated were the
removal of retail displays, plain packaged cigarettes, increased tax on
tobacco products, more support for people quitting, more alternatives to cigarettes and the staged removal of cigarettes from
sale.
ASH NZ director Ben Youdan
said their priority was getting rid of cigarettes and smoked tobacco by
looking for alternatives, especially for those most addicted.
Current options such as nicotine patches
and gum were one option but Mr Youdan wanted to see more innovation in this area.
Massey University professor Chris Cunningham suggested to the conference
that more research be done into the use of a type of chewing tobacco,
known as Snus, as an alternative for Maori smokers.
Mr Youdan agreed there might be a
possibility of chewing tobacco helping people to give up smoking.
"Chewing is not necessarily the
future but there are viable options to help people stop smoking and
reduce the number of deaths."
Prof Cunningham looked specifically at
Maori smokers because they had the "dubious distinction of being
amongst the highest smoking populations in the world today".
He also highlighted the problem of some
smokers who have tried repeatedly to quit and keep going back.
"I want to raise the question of
whether harm minimisation is something we
should look at on the way to being tobacco free."
Snus is a Swedish product. It is tobacco
that is smokefree and has had the carcinogens
removed. Its use has been shown to substantially reduce the incidence of
lung cancer and research shows no increase in tongue or mouth cancer Prof
Cunningham said.
Snus is popular throughout Scandinavia. It is
packaged in small bags which can be placed under the tongue or inside the
cheek and easily disposed of in its wrapping after use.
Prof Cunningham agreed Snus use may not
fit in with the New Zealand culture but believes the option should be explored.
There are currently around 750,000
smokers in New Zealand and each year only 10,000 quit. With expanded quitting programmes Prof Cunningham believed the number of
people quitting could be increased.
Chief executive of the Ministry of
Pacific Affairs Colin Tukuitonga told the
conference more research needed to be done into Pacific Islander smokers.
One in three New Zealanders of Pacific Island descent smoke.
Language and cultural barriers were
preventing Pacific Islanders from making use of current quitting programmes, Dr Tukuitonga
said.
"Unless we launch an effective
attack on Pacific people's rates of smoking, we will never address the
unequal status of their health compared to other New Zealanders."
A new tool for people trying to quit
smoking was launched at the conference. The Quit Group announced their
new email support service.
Quit Group spokesperson Hayden Sanders said
the emails were a series of useful tips sent out over eight months. They
will include tips on dealing with stress and coping with cravings.
- NZPA Wednesday, 5 September 2007
For a
list of organizations supporting the cigarette phase-out, see www.smokeless.org.nz/orgs.htm
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