June 2016
World No Tobacco Day: Ukraine advocates for more effective pictorial warnings

This year Ukraine celebrated World No Tobacco Day by advocating for bigger and more effective pictorial health warnings. On 31 May Ukrainian physicians, public activists, tobacco control experts and MPs held a street action near the Ukrainian Parliament and organised a press-briefing in the Ukrainian Parliament.

Last year NGO Advocacy Center LIFE initiated the bill #2820 introducing "amendments to Ukrainian laws on the protection of public health from the harmful impacts of tobacco products". The new initiative demands an increase in the size of health warning labels from 50% to 65%, and for labels to be located both on principal display areas as well as on the upper part of the pack.

Read more..

"Refillable e-cigarettes could be harmful to health" concludes a report from the European Commission

On 20 May 2016, the European Commission adopted a report for the European Parliament and the European Council on the dangers of refillable e-cigarettes. The report fulfilled the Commission's commitments under article 20 of the TPD.

The reports highlighted that the use of e-cigarettes and exposure to e-liquids containing nicotine poses a number of risks to public health. These include poisoning, skin irritation and reactions due to untested blending of liquids. The Commission concludes that further studies on refillable e-cigarette products are needed even if the Tobacco Products Directive and national legislation sets out a proportionate framework for mitigating health risks.

Read more..
Norway introduces tobacco control bill

Last year, the Norwegian government held consultations on the introduction of amendments to the Tobacco Control Act. On 10 June 2016 the government introduced a bill on tobacco control proposing the following amendments:

  1. Introduction of requirements for standardised packaging of tobacco products.
  2. Lift of the current ban on the sale of e-cigarettes. The government proposes to make e-cigarettes available to smokers who need them as harm-reduction alternatives.
  3. Bans on flavourings in cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco, a ban on additives such as vitamins and caffeine in tobacco and e-cigarettes and prohibition of deceptive labels and information on the packages.
  4. New reporting requirements for the tobacco industry and a system to keep record of remote sales of tobacco products.
The Government further proposed that the age limit and the ban on visible display at points of sale do not apply to candy shaped like tobacco products (liquorice pipes for example).

Read more..
International coalition of think tanks and taxpayer associations challenge
plain packaging

On 3 June 2016, an international coalition of 47 think tanks and taxpayer associations sent a letter to WHO Director Margaret Chan criticising WHO’s support of plain packaging, opposing and condemning the measure as an attack on intellectual property rights.

In its letter, the group claims the human right to own property, whether it is physical or intellectual: “
The right to own property is a fundamental human right. Thus, the protection of property rights, physical and intellectual, is critical (...) Plain packaging prohibits the use of trademarks and therefore significantly erodes the value of this intellectual property.

Pascal Diethelm, President of OxyRomandie, a Tobacco Control NGO based in Switzerland, reacts to the letter: "I have looked at the signatories of this letter. They are all very similar and most of them are ultra-liberal think-tanks which are members of Atlas Network, a US organisation whose mission is “to litter the world with free-market think-tanks” and which received considerable funding from Philip Morris."

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ENSP and ERS urge EU Commission Vice-President Georgieva to refrain from renewing agreement with PMI
Last week, the ENSP and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) have reiterated their common position for the non-renewal of the European Commission-Philipp Morris International agreement. In 2004, the European Commission signed an agreement with Philipp Morris International (PMI) on cigarette smuggling which expires in July 2016.

This follows a letter from the European Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for Budget and Human Ressources Kristalina Georgieva sent to both organisations, where she declared that the PMI agreement has effectively met its objective of reducing the prevalence of PMI contraband on the illicit EU Tobacco market and that the Commission has not taken its final decision on the renewal yet.

Read more..
Successful ENSP-ERS Joint Conference on World No Tobacco Day
On 31 May, ENSP and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) organised the event “Plain packaging to protect our youth: Progress made, Challenges ahead” with the participation of EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis.

Commissioner Andriukaitis noted that it was a great pleasure to celebrate World No Tobacco Day and highlighted the particular cause for celebration in 2016 with the coming into force of the Tobacco Products Directive. Andriukaitis mentioned that the Directive announces a new era for the fight against risk factors and strong tobacco control in Europe and presents a significant achievement of which the EU should be proud.

Dr Francisco Lozano, ENSP President, Spain, thanked the participants of the conference for supporting this cause and for their work on the TPD. He explained that TPD is a very effective health measure and noted that in what concerns plain packaging he is 100% convinced of its effectiveness to reduce the importance of tobacco, especially among the younger generations.

Read more..

See all the pictures from the event..

Source: The European Respiratory Society and the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention event

Subject: Plain packaging to protect our youth: progress made and challenges ahead

Date: May 31 2016

Visit the new TackSHS project website

TackSHS is a new research project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Its aims to improve our understanding of second-hand tobacco smoke and e-cigarette emissions and find ways of tackling the health burden caused by exposure to these aerosols.

The TackSHS project website, www.tackshs.eu, is a communication tool used by coordinators and partners to publish all details concerning the project, its progress, implementation and research findings.
14th Conference of Pulmonology
Iasi, Romania 16-18 June 2016

At the 14th conference of Pulmonology in Iasi (Romania), ENSP is hosting a symposium on Congruence in Romanian and European tobaccology.

The symposium involves panels on the following themes:
  • Prospects in current European and Romanian rates of smoking cessation
  • Belgian experiences in addressing tobacco use
  • Smoking cessation in patients with COPD, diabetes and cadiovascular diseases
Read more [Romanian]..
Why publish your article in Tobacco Prevention & Cessation, the official Journal of the ENSP?

Tobacco Prevention & Cessation
is a unique online scientific journal. It covers all aspects of the prevention of tobacco use and the support of smoking cessation. It offers a platform for the publication of research, that would lead to a tobacco free society. Due to the competitiveness of other journals in the field, a lot of excellent regional and international research is not published. This is therefore a “missed opportunity” for tobacco control and its community. Hence, editorial decisions are based on research and policy implications of an article.

Here are some of the reasons for publishing your article in Tobacco Prevention & Cessation:
  • No Article Processing Charges for 2016
  • It’s an Open Access journal – you retain copyright
  • Fast and Professional Peer Review
  • Automated publishing platform
New Published Articles

Implementation of an indoor smoking ban and an advertising/ sponsorship ban in Lebanon: a baseline cross-sectional study
Monique Chaaya, Rima Nakkash, Rima Afifi, Guillermo Adame, Nadia Fanous, Nabil Tabbal, Dahlia Saab

Editorial: Welcoming the transposition of the European Tobacco Products Directive
Francisco Rodriguez Lozano

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