Symposia Submission - deadline 15 December
Key Note Lecture Submission - deadline 15 December

ENSP Members, partners and local stakeholders from the Baltic region gathered for a Capacity Building Event organised in Tallinn, Estonia on 14-15 November.

The programme opened with the overview of the tobacco control in the Baltic region and presentation from WHO/Europe Programme Manger for Tobacco Control Kristina Mauer-Stender. The plenary sessions were complimented by the workshops on a variety of topics including plain packaging, smoke free environments, taxation and illicit trade.

On the second day a number of international experts shared their knowledge on novel tobacco products and further focused on the topic of industry interference discussing ways to counter its strategies. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids organised a "mapping" exercise that would help participants gather intelligence on the tobacco companies in their respective countries, find their strengths and weaknesses in order to plan and implement effective advocacy actions.

ENSP would like to thank once again all the contributors and look forward to seeing you at our future activities!

The final conference of TOB-G project took place in Athens, Greece on 21-22 November. TOB-G project aimed to develop and implement an innovative and cost effective approach to prevent chronic diseases related to tobacco dependence.

The event opened with the press conference, gathering local journalists and stakeholders. The Conference attracted a lot of media attention and resulted in multiple publications in the following days (the full list of articles is available via this link).

On the second day project partners presented the latest updates for each work package, including project progress, pilot implementation and dissemination activities. The main focus was on the outcomes of TOB-G - the “Tobacco Cessation Guidelines for High Risk Populations” and the E-learning Course for Health Professionals.

In the evening of 22 November the event was open for healthcare professionals and the wide public interested in the topic. Project partners presented the guidelines and the results of pilot studies.

The specialised guidelines for high risks groups were developed according to ENSP’s evidence based and good practices in tobacco cessation. High risk populations are considered those who suffer from cardiovascular diseases, COPD, type 2 diabetes, adolescents & pregnant women.

On the basis of the guidelines, project partners developed an E-learning platform. These online training sessions will be offered to a minimum of 100 health professionals on how to successfully implement the Tobacco Cessation Guidelines and support their patients.
Download the guidelines...
Get access to E-learning TOB.g course...

The EU Health Policy Platform is a collaborative initiative to ease the communication between the Commission services and health stakeholders. It is aimed to be inclusive and to reflect geographical and professional diversity of the participants. The Platform provides a framework for dialogue between the Commission and stakeholders and ensures transparency in the health policy dialogue. It operates in two ways: through an IT Platform - to enable online discussion and collaboration; and through face-to-face meetings - to host targeted thematic discussions.
Read more...

Despite alarming figures, the European Commission does not plan specific targets or a harmonised approach for the prevention of COPD.

"Progress has been made on tobacco products health warnings but the next round of graphic labelling should also mention the less-known chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which happens to be the second cause of death worldwide," MEP Karin Kadenbach told EURACTIV.com. She is the one who proposed the declaration on chronic respiratory diseases that was signed by a third of all MEPs.

MEP Kadenbach is sure that "t he EU cannot hide behind the lack of health competence to act. We can adopt EU policies under our responsibility and positively affect COPD, like tobacco control measures, air pollutants levels, research, or healthy ageing policies."
Read more...

Dr Rachel Melsom tells in an interview to "Svenska Dagbladet" about the work towards tobacco free pension funds in Sweden. Billions of the Swedes’ pension money are being invested in the tobacco industry. Dr Rachel Melsom wants to put an end to that. In her opinion, the Swedish Match company should totally quit snus production.

A year ago AP4 (a part of the Swedish National Pension Fund) disinvested all of its shares in tobacco companies. The woman behind that decision is Rachel Melsom, medical doctor and European head of Tobacco Free Portfolio.

"Many say that tobacco has been a good investment. Tobacco companies have had high profits and a stable cash flow because the product is addictive. But this is no longer true and the business model is more and more questioned," says Rachel Melsom visiting Stockholm.

The former CEO of the AP4 was convinced that the tobacco companies will no longer be able to increase their profit. But AP1, AP2 and AP3 still have 5.2 billion of Swedish Pension money invested in companies like the snuff producing Swedish Match and global tobacco giants Philip Morris and British American Tobacco.

Answering a question on a giant market value of Swedish Match, Rachel Melsom mentioned she is aware of studies that say snuff or e-cigarettes are less dangerous than regular cigarettes. But she points out that no tobacco use is without risk. Thus, she urges Swedish Match and others to stop the production of tobacco. "Nobody needs such a product. For investors there are alternatives that will give as good or better profit," says Dr Rachel Melsom.
Read more...[in Swedish]

The tobacco companies’ sponsorship money provided to the ILO goes to the programme on child labour in poor countries, but ironically the companies keep making huge profits purchasing tobacco leaves at low prices from Indonessia and Philippines where child labour persists.

The tobacco Control community worldwide is urging ILO to stop this unethical collaboration with the tobacco industry, which was expressed in a letter to the ILO Governing Body and Secretary General Guterres signed by more than 180 NGOs from the labour, health and development sectors.
Read the letter...

A network is only as strong as the members holding it together. That is why the ENSP board and Secretariat would like to extend our thanks to all members and friends of the ENSP network for your contributions to a tobacco-free Europe, and introduce you to each other, your organisations and current priorities in tobacco control in a series of interviews with ENSP members from across Europe.

This month we are pleased to share a bit of information about Clémence Cagnat-Lardeau and her work as the Director of the French coalition Alliance contre le tabac.

Back in France, I wanted to get involved in the activities of an NGO, in the field of public health. I was fortunate to find an opportunity in the fight against smoking when the smoking ban was introduced in public places.

I have been working for tobacco control for almost 10 years now and have been involved in project implementation, coordination and inter-associative relations, as well as public relations and the promotion of new measures based on good practices recommended by the FCTC.

What are the biggest challenges in tobacco control in France?

France has one of the most comprehensive tobacco control regulations in more than 40 years, but tobacco consumption stagnates at around 30% of daily smokers and is slow to decline. In Europe, France has one of the highest levels of consumption and French youth are among the biggest smokers. Moreover, smoking prevalence is particularly worrying among healthcare professionals and women (especially during their pregnancy) ; with an increase in social inequalities and social costs.

The high prevalence in our country is not inevitable and the measures taken over the last few years should finally pay off, but the commitments and initiatives are still too timid and the emphasis is not on measures that are efficient (enforcement, strengthening of controls, use of taxation as a public health tool, implementation of article 5.3)

What are you most proud of (your achievements)?

The French situation, after a period very unfavorable to tobacco control between 2002 and 2012, has changed considerably. Until 2014, tobacco control policies suffered from a lack of steering and were not a priority.

Indeed, a certain political will to tackle tobacco was established: the reduction of tobacco consumption and its social cost (estimated at 120 billion euros) became one of the main objectives of the third cancer plan launched in 2014

The French Alliance against Tobacco solicited all of its members and compiled their recommendations. The basis of these proposals was used to develop Action #10 of the Third Cancer Plan, and the National Tobacco Reduction Programme was built, with 10 measures divided into three components:

• Helping smokers
• Protecting young people
• Tackling the tobacco economy (to protect the public health policies from the pro-tobacco lobby)

Since 2014, our country has shifted from juxtaposed policies to a comprehensive and coordinated tobacco control strategy. The government of our new President (elected in May 2017) seems to have taken this public health problem very seriously with the launch imminent a new tobacco control programme.

What are the next steps/projects?

The government of the new president (Emmanuel Macron) seems committed to this ambitious policy of reducing the number one cause of preventable mortality in France (73,000 deaths per year) with the imminent launch of a new tobacco control programme, the use of tax leverage and the provision of a tobacco control fund.

The Alliance will submit a number of proposals to contribute to the new plan:

• enforcement,
• strengthening of controls,
• involvement of health professionals,
• application of Article 5.3 of the Framework Convention,
• etc…

Why did you become an ENSP member?
France initiated the creation of the ENSP, and our former vice-president, Prof. Albert Hirsch, a founding member of our association, was the first president of ENSP. Our national coalition has always been involved with the European Network, even during the most difficult episodes. Today, we are pleased to have one of our founding members at the ENSP Board. We intend to make a difference in the European coalition by being more active than in recent years. It is really very important to be able to relay our positions at European level, to support the efforts of our European partners, and to be able to contribute to strengthening the implementation of the FCTC good practices.

Thank you Clémence!
Read more about the work of Alliance contre le tabac... [in French]

EURACTIV.com has published an article on an idea recently introduced in France to ban smoking in films in order to make smoking less glamorous, which was immediately supported by the European Commission. “The Commission welcomes all measures taken by EU countries that deglamorise smoking, and reduce uptake, particularly amongst young people,” said the Commission spokesperson Anca Paduraru.

The initiative was discussed in the French Senate on 16 November. Socialist Senator Nadine Grelet-Certenais delivered a statement against French moviemakers claiming that they promote tobacco advertising. She pointed out that 70% of French movies have scenes of smoking. Further to that, French Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn said she was ready to take “firm action” to fight against smoking and ban it in French films. Minister Buzyn promised that she would talk to Culture Minister Françoise Nyssen about the issue in an effort to “denormalise” the image of tobacco in society in accordance with the government’s second plan to fight against smoking.

Dominick Nguyen from ENSP Sectreatriat provided a comment to EURACTIV stating that such a move would be a “major step” forward in the denormalisation of smoking, especially amongst young people. “In France, more than one in four 15-year-olds are regular smokers and any initiative to prevent them from being targets of the tobacco industry is beneficial in protecting them from a life of addiction,” he explained.
Read more...

November 6-17, 2017, NGO "Life" conducts a campaign to support the draft law #4030a in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The main purpose of the action is to draw attention to the problem of tobacco smoking among children and ban the advertising of tobacco products in stores.

The law includes the provision for both smoked and smokeless (nasvai) tobacco. It guarantees 100% smoke-free environments, regulates sales, promotion, packaging etc. The new law prohibits the use of waterpipe and Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) indoors including bars and restaurants. The law will now formally regulate nasvai as a tobacco product, which will lead to rules on packaging, labeling, and sales that will help to decrease overall availability.

Morever, the Government of Tajikistan offers stage-by-stage increase in an excise tax on tobacco products. Cigarette prices are expected to rise three times as much beginning on January 1, 2018.
Read more... [in Russian]

On 20 November, six American public health organisations, including the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund, published a press release concerning the "corrective statements" that major American tobacco companies will run every week as of 26 November. This campaign is not a concious act of the industry but a court order based on Judge Kessler's 2006 final opinion on the case.

According to the health groups, court-ordered newspaper and television advertisements will tell the American public the truth about the deadly consequences of smoking and secondhand smoke, as well as the companies’ intentional design of cigarettes to make them more addictive.

The case was initiated by the U.S. Department of Justice back in 1999, the decision on "corrective statements" was taken by the federal court in 2006 but only after long 11 years of appeals from tobacco companies these statements are finally running in the media.

Judge Kessler ordered the tobacco companies to publish corrective statements on five topics on which they had deliberately deceived the public:

• the adverse health effects of smoking;
• the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine;
• the lack of significant health benefit from smoking “low tar,” “light,” “ultra light,” “mild” and “natural” cigarettes (products that have been deceptively marketed as less harmful than regular cigarettes);
• the manipulation of cigarette design and composition to ensure optimum nicotine delivery; and
• the adverse health effects of exposure to secondhand smoke.

Five full-page print ads in the Sunday (or Friday) editions will run over a four-month period in more than 50 newspapers specified by the court. The ads will also be featured on the newspapers' websites.

The TV ads will air on the major networks for one year, Monday through Thursday, between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. The tobacco companies must also publish the corrective statements on their websites and cigarette packs, but the implementation details are still being finalised.
Read more...

The programme for the 17^th World Conference on Tobacco or Health is now online. The 39 abstract sessions, 45 symposia and plenary sessions present the latest issues in tobacco control. Top experts from around the world will address the toughest challenges in public health today including tobacco industry interference, taxation and new nicotine products through innovative session formats.

The programme explores the conference theme, Uniting the World for a Tobacco-Free Generation, through five scientific tracks:

• Track 1. The future: views from the mountain Blue-sky presentations on pioneering projects that are working towards a tobacco-free generation.

• Track 2. Tobacco governance, sustainable development and policy advocacy Exploring leadership in tobacco control, international networks for countering tobacco industry interference, and strategic developments for funding.

• Track 3. Demand reduction measures and the regulatory science Covering MPOWER measures and core tobacco control policies.

• Track 4. Tobacco products, prevalence, health and cessation studies Considering new nicotine products, tobacco-related disease and new tools for assessing policy impact.

• Track 5. Social justice, the under-served and vulnerable populations For the first time, this conference track focuses on these vital issues.

You can register for the conference and search the programme by track on the conference website. Follow the conference on social media: @wctoh2018 and facebook/wctoh2018.

The tobacco industry and its allies claim that action on smoking is the first step on a slippery slope that will affect many other products, industries and behaviours. In reality, it is simply untrue to claim that tobacco control is part of a broader anti-industry push. Tobacco is the only product which, when used precisely as intended, kills half of its consumers, and this fact provides sufficient reasoning for its unique strict regulation.

Key messages summarising the facts to counter the TC's "slippery slope" argument:

• Tobacco is uniquely harmful, requiring unique approaches.
• There are some similarities with other preventable health problems and harmful behaviours, but also differences.
• Action recommended by health authorities is evidence-based, proportionate to the magnitude of the problem and will prevent millions of unnecessary deaths.
• There is no prohibitionist, anti-industry agenda. Any such claims are fabrications.

Read more in the WHO Tobacco Control Playbook.