‘Don’t Let Big Tobacco Take Your Life’ Say Young Campaigners in Wrexham

Young people will campaign in body bags at Yale College in Wrexham on March 20th to urge their friends not to become the tobacco industry’s next generation of smokers.

Local students will join campaigners from the Filter, Wales’s only smoking cessation service for 11-25 year olds, to encourage young people to ‘stand out, speak up and seize control’ against Big Tobacco as part of Kick Butts Day – a global campaign that gives young people a chance to speak out against the industry that sees them as the ‘replacement’ smokers of the future.

Rhys Simmons, Youth Development Officer at the Filter said: “Kick Butts Day is about empowering young people to have the confidence to just say ‘no’ to smoking and protest against the way they’re targeted by the tobacco industry.

“15 people a day die in Wales each year because of smoking related diseases – that’s one person every 90 minutes. We don’t want young people facing that reality anymore,” he said.

“We’ll be at Yale College in Wrexham offering advice to young people who want to quit, talking about what support is out there and also hopefully persuading others that it’s just not worth the risk starting.”

The Filter is Wales’s only dedicated service for young people offering advice and support about smoking and how to quit. The service offers training to professionals working with young people and works with young people themselves to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco.

As well as a quitline, the Filter communicates with young people via social media, a dedicated website and text message and encourages them to become involved in local campaigning and peer support.

‘Quit the Ash, Keep the Cash’, say young campaigners on No Smoking Day

Young campaigners from the Filter, Wales’s only dedicated smoking cessation service for 11-25 year olds will gather at Aberystwyth University on March 13th to encourage students to quit the ash and keep their cash.

To mark national No Smoking Day volunteers from the Filter, which is run by ASH Wales, will offer support to students wanting to quit smoking and show them how much they can save if they take the decision to quit on March 13th.

ASH Wales is supporting the British Heart Foundation which runs No Smoking Day to highlight the impact of smoking not only on health, but on increasingly tight budgets.

The Filter has worked out a handy guide to illustrate what quitting can save you and what you could spend the money on instead…

  • 20 a day over a month could cost you up to £225 which can buy a Netbook for all your social networking
  • 10 pack a day over a year will set you back £1,387 – which can buy you an all-inclusive two-week getaway for 2 to Egypt
  • A pack of 20 every weekend for a ‘social smoker’ will cost £390 per year – why not treat yourself to an ipad mini instead?
  • 20 a day over a year will cost you £2,730 which can buy a pretty decent 3-year old Ford Ka

The Filter is Wales’s only dedicated service for young people offering advice and support about smoking and how to quit. The service offers training to professionals working with young people and works with young people themselves to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco. As well as a quitline, the Filter communicates with young people via social media, a dedicated website and a textline.

Jamie Jones Mead, manager of the Filter, said:

“No Smoking Day is a great opportunity for people across Wales to take the plunge and quit. Even if you’ve tried many times before it usually takes several attempts before you’re successful, and there’s support out there if you’re ready. We’ll be in Aberystwyth on March 13th to talk to students about smoking and the impact it has on them, and to encourage them to see the long term benefits of quitting smoking, not only for their health but their pockets too!”

Smoking during pregnancy – mum’s regret

We were doing an interview with a midwife who specialises in substance misuse. She introduced us to two women who had smoked during pregnancy. Both had had premature babies, and were staying in hospital until their little ones were well enough to go home. Mum one had a little girl, she was so small she wasn’t able to eat properly and had to be fed through a tube up her nose by a nurse. This mother had tried to give up smoking whilst she was pregnant but the stress of every day life stopped her. She said she wished there was an equivalent of alcoholics anonymous for smoker’s who want to quit.

The second mother we spoke to was heart breaking, her little boy was so small he was being looked after upstairs in an intensive care unit and she sat in a darkened room alone worrying about her baby. This mother had managed to cut down from 40 cigarettes a day to just two, which is an amazing achievement, but you can tell she blames herself and her smoking for her baby being so small and poorly and she’s wracked with guilt.

The benefits of quitting smoking when you find out you’re pregnant are massive, for both baby and mother, and it’s not just health that’s improved. The money saved by not smoking can be put towards things needed for the family or even saved up for a treat or a special occasion. The trouble is that people forget smoking is an addiction, so we give pregnant smokers a lecture we just tell them to ‘stop’, and we ignore just how hard that can be.

If the focus was more on supporting pregnant women to give up, making sure her home is smoke-free environment, and helping her get through the challenges of quitting, more women might be able to face that challenge and succeed.

Wales Tobacco Control Alliance Calls for Increased Drive in Delivering National Action Plan

The Wales Tobacco Control Alliance has warned it intends to hold key agencies, including the Welsh Government, to account on its responsibilities in the national tobacco strategy, which includes improving smoking cessation services and reducing the harm caused by second hand smoke, particularly to children.

The Tobacco Control Action Plan for Wales, which was published by the Welsh Government in February 2012, sets out a raft of measures to bring smoking rates down from 23% to 16% by 2020, and a Delivery Board has been set up to monitor the Plan’s progress.

Meeting at the Senedd this week to mark the first anniversary of the strategy, members of the 30- strong Alliance, which is led by ASH Wales, delivered a firm message to ministers that “we cannot afford to miss the 2020 target”.

ASH Wales young ambassador Carys Williams told AMs: “We have come a long way in Wales but we must do more in 2013 if we are to have any chance of achieving the target”.

She called on all local authorities in Wales to ban smoking in their playgrounds and the Welsh Government to ban smoking in cars carrying children immediately. She also said that the UK must introduce plain packaging of tobacco following its implementation in Australia. “No more pink packets, no more shiny boxes that look like perfume boxes, and no more packs that say ‘vogue’ on the front,” she told AMs.

Respiratory physician and ASH Wales board member Dr Keir Lewis told AMs of the “carnage” he sees every day as a result of tobacco and called on the Welsh Government not to weaken Wales’s smoke-free legislation by granting exemptions to any industry.

The event, which was sponsored by Labour AM for Cardiff North Julie Morgan was attended by AMs from all parties including the Presiding Officer Rosemary Butler and chair of the Assembly’s Health and Social Services Committee Mark Drakeford.

ASH Wales young ambassadors were also there to meet and greet Assembly Members and to showcase the work of the newly launched smoking cessation service for 11-25 year olds in Wales, The Filter.

ASH Wales has produced a short film about the benefits of smoke-free spaces across Wales through the eyes of young people. We are asking all local authorities in Wales to make their playgrounds smoke-free to protect children from the harm of second hand smoke. With everyone working together we believe we can make smoking history for our children:

ASH Wales Welcomes ‘Landmark’ Ban on Displays of Tobacco

Public health charity Action on Smoking and Health in Wales has welcomed the new law that comes into force today banning the display of tobacco in supermarkets and other large shops in Wales.

From Monday December 3rd large retailers will no longer be allowed to have cigarettes and other tobacco products on display. Tobacco price lists will also have no branding or logos.

The law will extend to smaller shops, including specialist tobacconists, in April 2015.

Displays of cigarettes at the point of sale has been one of the ways in which tobacco companies have been able to advertise their products.

Chief Executive Elen de Lacy said:

“Today represents a significant step forward in making tobacco less accessible, and less visible, for children and young people. De-normalising tobacco in everyday settings is vital if we are to have any chance of reducing the take-up of smoking among our young people.

“Point of sale displays have been a highly influential advertising space that has a major effect on young people’s awareness of tobacco products and can also result in impulse purchasing among young people and ex-smokers.

“Research after point of sale displays had been banned in Ireland showed that compliance was high among retailers, young people became less confident that they would be able to buy cigarettes from shops, and were less able to recall brands, with a drop from 80% to 22% after it was implemented.”

In England, point of sale displays were banned in large shops in April 2012 and will also be banned from smaller shops from April 2015. Scotland and Northern Ireland are also pursuing a point of sale ban.

Notes

The Health Act 2009 gave the devolved Governments the power to introduce regulations to prohibit marketing and advertising of tobacco products at the point of sale. Since the ban on tobacco advertising in 2003, and the forthcoming ban on tobacco vending machines (including machines displaying any tobacco advertising), the point of sale is one of the few ways in which tobacco companies can advertise and tobacco companies have used their current right to increase the size and scale of tobacco displays within shops.

A systematic review found that point of sale displays increased susceptibility to smoking and uptake of smoking among young people(1), and they can also facilitate a relapse among ex-smokers and those attempting to quit(2).

Large-scale longitudinal research between 1999 and 2006(3), on behalf of Cancer Research UK, found that by 2006, the point of sale was the way in which young people were made most aware of tobacco brands, with 46% of young people aware of tobacco marketing at the point of sale.

Around 14,000 young people aged 11-15 take up smoking each year in Wales (Welsh Government 2011)

(1) Paynter, J. And Edwards, R. (2009) ‘The impact of tobacco promotion at the point of sale: A systematic review.’ Ni Tob Res: 11: 25-35.

(2) Wakefield, M. (2007) ‘The effect of retail cigarette pack displays on impulse purchase.’ Addiction: November 2007.

(3) Hastings, G. Et al. (2008). Point of Sale Display of Tobacco Products. Centre for Tobacco Control Research: University of Stirling and the Open University.