The Network: Happy New Year 2017, ENSP International Conference on Tobacco Control 2017, The ABC to lead actions on Chronic Respiratory Diseases in Europe, EU Health Commissioner Andriukaitis: Hybrid tobacco products should be treated with caution, New study: Low-intensity smoking increases all-cause mortality, Successful TOB.g workshop: “Smoking Cessation during Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period”, WHO Tobacco Control Playbook: Smokefree legislation does not harm the hospitality industry, ENS

Join ENSP for the International Conference on Bridging the Gap between Science and policy for better tobacco control strategies in Athens on 24, 25 and 26 May 2017. The conference will gather ENSP members and advocates of tobacco control for three days of in-depth sessions. Conference topics include the FCTC Article 20 on Research, Surveillance and Exchange of Information and its translation into strong policy decisions, FCTC Article 14 on Smoking Cessation as well as national implementation of the EU Tobacco Products Directive.

Submission of abstracts for oral and poster sessions is now open. Submit your abstract online until 15 February 2017.

"The ABC to lead actions on Chronic Respiratory Diseases in Europe"
Event and free CO breath test at the European Parliament, Brussels

On 11 January, ENSP and organising partners, EFA, ERS and EAACI, held the event "Act. Believe. Care. The ABC to taking action on chronic respiratory diseases" followed by free CO breath tests in the European Parliament, Brussels.

The event was the final milestone in the #BreatheMission campaign for signing the Written Declaration on Chronic Respiratory Diseases, which calls for better prevention, access and research in chronic respiratory diseases in Europe.

Presenters addressed the need for focusing on chronic respiratory diseases by means of the written declaration, the impact of investments in major chronic respiratory diseases, such as asthma and COPD, on sustainable healthcare, as well as the European Commission's research priorities in the field. MEP Karin Kadenbach (S&D) highlighted the need to value and promote legislation on chronic respiratory diseases and promised to work hard on gaining momentum for the topic in the course of 2017.

You can help to get the Written Declaration signed by sharing it with your national MEPs and among your networks until 24 January 2017. Read more about the campaign and see which MEPs have already signed.

EU Health Commissioner Andriukaitis:
Hybrid tobacco products should be treated with caution

vaping360.com/iqos-philip-morris//e-cigarettes/ (Vaping360)

Hybrid tobacco products are on the rise in Europe and globally. The heated-not-burned product IQOS, manufactured by Phillip Morris International, has been launched in Japan, Italy, Switzerland and since November 2016 also in the UK.

In his answer to a written question from Member of the European Parliament Frédérique Ries (ALDE), EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, underlines that the new products should be treated with caution as their impact on health is yet unknown. He notes that the products should be treated as regular tobacco products under the Tobacco Products Directive:

“…with regard to the sale, presentation and manufacturing of [new tobacco products, including “heated not burned” tobacco products] within the European Union, the relevant provisions of the Tobacco Products Directive [1] apply and should be enforced.”

Read more..

Photo credit: vaping360.com/iqos-philip-morris//e-cigarettes/ (Vaping360)

New study: Low-intensity smoking increases all-cause mortality

A recent study by JAMA Internal Medicine finds that low-intensity smoking over the lifetime was associated with a significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality, including deaths from lung cancer and cardiovascular disease than those who never smoke. Former smokers who had consistently used fewer than 1 or 1 to 10 cigarettes per day, but who had quit smoking, had progressively lower risks with a younger age at cessation.

The study evaluated a cohort of 290 215 older adults identifying the associations of long-term low intensity smoking with all-cause and cause-specific mortality compared with never smoking cigarettes. The results provide further evidence that there is no risk-free level of exposure to tobacco smoke.

Read the full study abstract.

Successful TOB.g workshop:

“Smoking Cessation during Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period”

On 15 October 2016, the TOB.g Project (Tobacco Cessation Guidelines), held a successful 1-day workshop “Smoking Cessation during Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period” with the participation of almost 60 midwives in Athens, Greece.

The purpose of the training was to improve attitudes and knowledge of midwives and to provide them with the necessary skills in order to provide smoking cessation intervention to pregnant women who smoke. The training provided an overview of the TOB.g guideline recommendations including a review of the health risks of tobacco use to fetuses and new
borns, issues affecting ability and motivation to quit in woman smokers and best practices
for supporting cessation. The instructors further provided training in best pratice techniques for advicing pregnant woman who smoke to quit, provided skills training in motivational interviewing using case studies and role play activities.

TOB.g project aims to develop and implement an innovative and cost effective approach to prevent chronic diseases related to tobacco dependence. The specialized guidelines for high risks groups are being 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.

WHO Tobacco Control Playbook:

Smokefree legislation does not harm the hospitality industry

In September 2016 the WHO Regional Office for Europe launched the Tobacco Control Playbook with the aim to provide a single source of information explaining how tobacco industry players act and how governments and the public health community can respond to their arguments.

To disseminate this important work carried out by WHO Europe, the Network features each month key arguments from the Playbook of relevance to ENSP members and stakeholders in the tobacco control community. Read more about the positive or neutral effects of smokefree legislation on the hospitality industry:

ARGUMENT:
"Smokefree legislation does not harm the hospitality industry"

Smokefree legislation has a positive impact on the hospitality industry. Damage to the industry is a myth: rigorous studies have shown that these measures have a positive or neutral effect, discounting industry claims that are mostly based on poorly designed studies . Key arguments for implementing smokefree legislation include:

Guidelines for implementation of Article 8 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on protection from exposure to tobacco smoke ^[17] state that all indoor public places should be completely smokefree. The Guidelines also state that industry-proposed so-called solutions such as partial smoking bans and ventilation systems have repeatedly proven to be ineffective ^[16].
Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control ^[18] states that the development of public health policy should be protected from the commercial and vested interests of the tobacco industry. This includes the industry’s manipulation of the hospitality sector and use of front groups to delay, dilute or avoid comprehensive smokefree legislation.

Read more about the arguments for pictorial health warnings on Tobacco Control Playbook.

ENSP recruits a Communication and office assistant

ENSP is currently recruiting a Communication and office assistant to support the Secretariat with activities related to the daily running of the Brussels office.

Read the full job description and send your application to cornel.radu@ensp.org before 16 January 2017.

New Study: TTIP and Issues for Tobacco Control

Tobacco products are unique: they cause chronic diseases for their active and passive consumers (cancer, cardio-vascular and respiratory diseases); they prematurely kill one in two loyal consumers (700 000 annual deaths in the European Union(1), 480 000 in the United States(2)); the cost of tobaccorelated diseases weighs considerably more than the tax revenues from tobacco products and productivity losses related to tobacco are far from negligible.

To maintain its business activities in spite of governments' reactions against the harm of tobacco consumption, the tobacco industry channels its interests through trade or investment treaties. Among the draft treaties, the tobacco industry is particularly interested in the TTIP, which has the ambition to create a free-trade and free-investment zone between the United States and the European Union.

A newly published study realised for ENSP outlines the three central elements of the future TTIP and of trade and investment agreements in general, which are of potential concern for tobacco control and public health.

Read the full study TTIP: Issues for Tobacco Control

1. Impact Assessment of the Tobacco Products Directive
2. Tobacco Free Kids, Toll of Tobacco in the United States of America

Two pre-doctoral positions for TackSHS and EUREST-PLUS

The Tobacco Control Unit (UCT) at the Catalan Institute of Oncology offers two PhD (pre-doctoral) fellow positions under the H2020 (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions) – “LaCaixa” doctoral fellowship programme INPhINIT. Read more here.

Monograph: The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control

On 10 January, the National Cancer Institute and the World Health Organisation has published the comprehensive monograph “The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control”.

Topics covered in the monograph include:

Patterns of tobacco use by time, region, and country income group
The economic costs of tobacco use, including health care costs and lost productivity
The impact of tax and price on demand for tobacco products

In 17 chapters, the monograph presents extensive new evidence from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and highlights the unique challenges of implementing tobacco control measures in these countries. It examines global tobacco control efforts since the 2003 adoption and 2005 entry into force of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and discusses new infrastructure issues ranging from privatization to trade liberalization and evolving trends in tobacco use and the tobacco product market.

The research summarized in the monograph confirms that evidence-based tobacco control interventions make sense from an economic as well as a public health standpoint.