ASH Wales Welcomes Decision To Regulate E-Cigarettes

Action on Smoking and Health in Wales (ASH Wales) has welcomed the announcement by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) that e-cigarettes sold in the UK are to be regulated by the MHRA.

Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health in Wales Elen de Lacy said, “We welcome the MHRA’s decision to regulate e-cigarettes as it is vital to ensure their safety and efficacy. Licensing them will allow adult smokers to continue to be able to access them to help them cut down or quit smoking tobacco, but will ensure that they cannot be marketed at children or non-smokers.”

MHRA press release: http://www.mhra.gov.uk/NewsCentre/CON288102

To find out more about e-cigarettes, visit our topic page here.

ASH Wales Welcomes High Profile Smokefree Playground Launch in Swansea

Swansea have taken the bold step of banning smoking in their playgrounds to protect children from the harm of second hand smoke and the perception that smoking is a harmless activity.

The official launch will take place on Friday 6th June, 2.30pm at The Phoenix Centre Playground, Powys Avenue, Townhill with school children who have helped campaign for smokefree play areas and designed their own signs. The launch will coincide with Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot who are set to launch on the 14th and have been working on this initiative together.

The new sign which will be displayed at play areas around Swansea.

A survey by Yougov in 2013 for ASH Wales revealed that 77% of Welsh adults now believe that smoking should be banned in areas where children play. Currently 11 out of 22 local authorities have smokefree playgrounds in their area – this is due to expand to 17 by the end of 2013.

Elen de Lacy, Chief Executive of ASH Wales, welcomed the launch of the smokefree playground initiative in Swansea and praised the partnership working of all the agencies involved:

“It is excellent news that playgrounds across Swansea will now be safer environments for children as a result of this decision to make play areas smoke-free. Children and young people have a right to play and meet with their friends in a clean environment, free not only from the dangers of second hand smoke but also cigarette litter. We hope that members of the public will help enforce the ban and bring about a change of attitudes towards smoking around young people. We want to see smoking banned in every play area in Wales and we urge other councils to follow their lead.”

Opportunity Lost to End Tobacco Marketing Aimed at our Children

ASH Wales has expressed deep disappointment that the UK Government has decided not to pursue standard packaging for tobacco in its legislative programme.

Standard packaging, which has already been introduced in Australia, makes cigarettes look less attractive, increases the effectiveness of health warnings and removes the positive association of glossy marketing with a deadly product.

Responding to the Queen’s Speech on May 8th, Chief Executive of ASH Wales Elen de Lacy, said:

“The UK Government has lost a vital opportunity to end tobacco marketing aimed at our young people.
“There is plenty of evidence that glossy packaging has an influence on children and if the tobacco companies don’t think so, why do they spend millions of pounds on this sort of marketing every year.

“Standard packs have been successfully introduced in Australia and will be soon in New Zealand and Ireland. It is a sad indictment that the UK Government has decided to side with the tobacco industry rather than future generations of children.”

For more information about the case for standard packs click here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/may/04/cigarette-lobby-plain-packs

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lynton-crosby-david-cameron-aides-1873333

‘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.