Breathe Happy

Anti-tobacco laws targeting young smokers have been tightened by Euro MP's today. The intention is to dissuade youngsters from beginning smoking but there are some measures which do not go as far as was hoped.

A European Commission proposal which would have seen e-cigarettes treated as medicinal products was rejected. This will come as a relief to manufacturers as the move would have placed restrictions on sales. There will be a ban on flavoured cigarettes to be implemented by 2022 but with a delay of five years for menthol. Slim cigarettes escape a ban.

It had been hoped that plain packaging would be voted for but instead there will now be health warnings on 65% of each pack not 30% as is currently the case, rather than the 75% which was proposed. Packaging which is designed to look like lipstick or perfume containers will now be banned. Later on this month the UK House of Lords will debate the possibility of introducing standardised packaging for cigarettes. Research shows that the standard sized packets make health warnings stand out much more.

Italy and the UK now join the other EU states in banning packs of ten cigarettes which are popular among young smokers with the minimum pack size now becoming twenty. Small packs of roll-your-own tobacco will not be banned.

Further proposals include a ban on the terms; light, mild and low tar as these are considered misleading.

There have been mixed reactions among MEPs and although the measures have been broadly welcomed, some have accused MEPs of pandering to the powerful tobacco companies by voting for a watered down version of the proposals. There has also been criticism from the pro-tobacco organisation, Forest which maintains that banning products will merely drive them onto an unregulated black market.

E-cigarettes

E-cigarettes continued to court controversy. Campaigners allege that vaping undermines decades of anti-smoking efforts and could actually encourage children and those who currently don’t smoke to take up the habit which could lead to nicotine addiction and ultimately to smoking tobacco.

It seems that a lack of scientific evidence about the health implications of using e-cigarettes is the reason for the cautious approach to their regulation. Until such time as their effect on public health, harmful or otherwise, can be proven the debate will no doubt continue to rage on.

 An estimated 180,000 smokers in the UK have joined the national campaign funded by Public Health England to encourage people to go through 28 days in October without a cigarette. It’s a strategy base around group support, intensive social media campaigning and practical support offered through information packs, text messages, mobile apps and daily emails. Stoptober’s Twitter feed already has over 13,000 followers so there are certainly plenty of other would-be quitters out there to share experiences with.

The Stoptober app is pretty good. It offers daily tips and badges that reward users for each day without a cigarette. It has a motivation function allowing you to carry a picture, video or audio clip around reminding you why you want to quit, a savings calculator to tot up all of the money you’re saving and a help button with content and games to distract you if you feel that you’re about to give into the cravings.

Does Stoptober really work though? The campaign states that over 160,000 UK smokers succeeded in the 28-day challenge last year, but is less forthcoming with data on how many of these successes carried on to quit for good – or for the last twelve months at least. My own view is that whilst quitting for 28 days certainly won’t do any harm, the focus on just reaching a set target of days is unhelpful. It’s a bit like giving up drinking for a month in January as a health kick – by 1st January most participants are desperate for a binge drinking session and spend the first few days of February in an alcoholic haze!

That said, I’m giving it a go. Research suggests that people who crack the four week target for going without a cigarette are five times more likely to quit permanently and the National Council for Smoking Cessation and Training argues that moral support is also an effective motivational tool. It’s been a while since I made a concerted effort to stop and it’s a method I haven’t tried before. I’m writing this post after dinner on day two, and it’s so far so good….

*Image courtesy Flickr creative commons.

Scandal rocked the advertising industry and threatened to place major obstacles in the way of the newly emerging e-cigarette industry recently when an advertising campaign for E-Lites electronic cigarettes was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK. Read more