SmokeSignals
Summer
2011-12
Latest Tobacco News Online from ASH Australia
A
monthly update from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Australia
– to keep health
professionals and others in touch with the latest tobacco issues and
developments.
Suggestions and comments
welcome - please email us at staffords@ashaust.org.au
See other RESOURCES
FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS - guidelines, reports, useful sites.
2011
A MEMORABLE YEAR FOR TOBACCO-FREE ACTION
Some
highlights from 2011:
·
Passage
of the world’s first tobacco plain packaging laws by Federal
Parliament – to take full effect by the end of 2012.
·
The
national smoking rate continued to fall, to 16.6% smoking at least
weekly.
·
Nicotine
replacement therapy became available subsidised on the PBS for
concession card holders from February 2011.
·
All
jurisdictions except NSW, Victoria and SA will now have all or most
public dining areas smokefree from next year.
·
Queensland
put tobacco products out of sight in retail outlets with no exemptions.
The whole of Australia will now have tobacco out of sight in general
shops by early next year.
·
Tasmania
approved smokefree public dining areas, bus shelters, sports events and
children's playgrounds from March 2012.
·
ACT banned
smoking in cars carrying children under 16 – leaving only the NT yet
to do this.
·
Australian
universities continued to extend smokefree policies and ban campus
tobacco sales.
GOVERNMENT
WILL FIGHT BIG TOBACCO’S COURTROOM “PLAIN PACK ATTACK”
Nicola
Roxon, promoted from Health Minister to become Australia's first female
Attorney-General, has
promised
to use her legal skills "take the fight up to big tobacco" in
defending the plain packs
legislation
against the industry's legal challenges. Japan’s JTI has joined
Australia’s “Big 3” in
mounting
legal challenges.
Latest
on Plain
packaging
SMOKY
ALFRESCO STATES URGED TO CATCH UP
The NSW Government has been urged by local councils, health, employee
and child welfare groups to catch up with other states and make outdoor
food service areas smokefree by law. NSW, Victoria and SA are the only
states yet to protect diners (including children) and staff in these
crowded workplaces. But NSW local councils continue to act - Parramatta
and Griffith among those recently voting to make footpath alfresco
dining smokefree, with more on the way.
Smokefree
workplace news and
Outdoor
areas
TOBACCO
POLITICAL DONATIONS REFORM TOO HARD FOR FEDERAL PARTIES
December
2012: "Disappointing" and "a missed opportunity"
best describe the latest federal inquiry report into funding of
political parties and election campaigns. The Joint Standing Committee
on Electoral Matters made 30 recommendations but avoided recommending
bans on corporate donations and caps on party financing. While the
report did support some minor measures to improve transparency and
accountability, including reducing the disclosure threshold from $11,500
to $1,000 pa, it included two dissenting reports and no real agreement
on how to fix the problems. While
other jurisdictions including NSW have taken action to ban donations
from tobacco, alcohol, gambling and property development industries,
agreement between the major federal parties has proved "a bridge
too far". Latest
on Political
donations
ASH
LAUNCHES NEW GUIDE FOR SMOKEFREE MULTI-UNIT HOUSING
A man who
developed lung cancer after repeated exposure to secondhand tobacco
smoke has launched a push for stronger legislative and other action for
smokefree multi-unit housing. Barrister, surf champion and lifelong
non-smoker Peter Lavac on December 16 launched ASH Australia's online
resource Smokefree
multi-unit housing: a guide for owners, tenants, agents, authorities and
governments – which
calls for legislative, policy and practice reforms to prevent smoke
drift into people’s homes. ASH
media release 16/12/11
ARE YOU INVESTING IN TOBACCO COMPANIES?
Millions
of people are unknowingly investing in lethal addictive tobacco products
that kill over five million people a year - through pension funds, super
funds and government investments funds. This unethical investment can
and should end if fund managers and governments sign and adopt UN
Principles for Responsible Investment and divest tobacco stocks. Sign the change.org
petition
LATEST
TOBACCO INDUSTRY TACTICS IN AUSTRALIA
The
tobacco industry continues to interfere with health policies – with
legal threats, lobbying of MPs, misleading claims and telephone
promotion masquerading as “consumer surveys”. The World Health
Organization has nominated tobacco industry interference as the theme of
its World No Tobacco Day on May 31, 2012. Tobacco
industry watch - latest
tactics under “What are they up to lately?”
AUSTRALIANS
HONOURED IN TOBACCO CONTROL AWARDS
The American Cancer Society has given three of its Luther L. Terry
Awards for Exemplary leadership in Tobacco Control to Australian
recipients: Professor Mike
Daube (Curtin Uni, ACOSH, PHAA) for Distinguished Career; Dr Melanie
Wakefield (Cancer Council Victoria) for Outstanding Research
Contribution; and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing for
Exemplary Leadership by a Government Ministry. Congratulations to all
– and we look forward to seeing awards next year for our Asia-Pacific
colleagues who continue to battle the tobacco industry in a hostile
environment. Awards
background
FACEBOOK PAGES / GROUPS
ASH
Facebook page
Our own page of latest tobacco news, views and links for action.
Global
Tobacco Control Network “Closed”
international discussion group on tobacco control.
Tobacco
Free Australia From our
WA-based partners ACOSH.
THANK
YOU ALL AND SEASON’S GREETINGS
Anne
and Stafford would like to thank our ASH supporters and the many others
working with us during the year to reduce tobacco’s toll of deaths,
diseases and costs. We look forward to more successes next year and we
wish you a very happy holiday season and a terrific 2012!
GUIDELINES,
PRACTICE
Tasmanian smoking
cessation program for health professionals
March 2011: A program to help health
professionals develop knowledge, skills and confidence to deliver a
brief smoking cessation intervention with clients. Clinical Nurse
Specialists deliver education to health professionals based on the fast
and easy "ABC" prevention model developed in
New Zealand. Face to face education and an interactive online learning tool. See
the
program
Tobacco addiction
neglected in mental health settings
2010 study of over 1,000 Australian psychiatric
hospital patients shows documentation of nicotine dependence very low, treatment
"negligible". Authors urge
"Considerable system change and staff support.... to provide an
environment where a primary prevention approach such as smoking care can
be sustained." See abstract
Code of practice on
tobacco control for health professional organisations
WHO's 14-point code adopted 2004 by informal meeting of health
professional bodies. See
WHO
code
Guidance for implementing
smoke free mental health facilities in NSW
2009 practical guide for CEOs and key personnel in
NSW Area Health Services wanting to implement NSW Health smokefree
workplace policy in public hospital, residential mental health
care and drug and alcohol facilities used by mental health
consumers. Available from
NSW
Health website
-
Smoking and mental
health: myths busted
Debate continues on how smoking should be handled in mental
health settings. Smoking is a serious problem for people with mental
illness: it worsens health,
shortens lives and imposes financial hardship - and does NOT relieve
stress. See 2008 report Smoke
and Mirrors from the Cancer Council NSW and Mental Health
Coordinating Council NSW which explodes several popular myths.
Cessation training by
e-learning
"Implementing lifestyle change" modules (2009) including
one on smoking cessation - from the Heart Foundation, RACGP and
GPlearning. Helping patients to quit and stay quit. See
GPlearning site
See similar resource from NZ
Tobacco-free health care
facilities
2009 guide prepared by the International Union Against Tobacco and
Lung Disease on developing and maintaining 100% tobacco-free healthcare
facilities. See the
guide
Guide for the management of nicotine-independent inpatients
Innovative strategy from NSW Health (revised 2008) for identifying and providing suitable
treatment options for all smokers entering departmental health services. See
their slideshow.
and see what the NSW
North Coast Area Health Service (NCAHS) has done:
Physician
survey highlights difficulties in treating smoking
2006 report on international survey of physicians' attitudes,
presented at World Congress of Cardiology, with some useful insights and
suggestions on how to approach smoking patients.
National
Tobacco Strategy 2004-2009
Includes links to resource materials and funding guidelines.
Let's Take a Moment: quit
smoking brief intervention - a guide for all health professionals
2005 NSWhealth guide to the processes of
ask-advise-assess-assist-arrange followup. Help for health professionals
wanting to provide good routine evidence-based advice to smoker clients. See guide
and desktool
diagram. Both are available from NSWhealth.
Referring patients or
clients to Quit help
New referral guide for professionals, from NSWhealth
- including referral
flowchart and fax
referral steps.
The Gold Standard: A
practical guide to providing smoking cessation services in pharmacy
Comprehensive guide for Australian pharmacists looking for best
cessation results. From the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia,
Pharmacy Guild of Australia and Pharmacia Australia Pty
Ltd. 2 pdfs: Full
guide Quick
guide
Smoking
cessation guidelines for Australian GPs
Advice, strategies and
supportive background to help General Practitioners encourage and
support patients in quitting. A Federal Government/universities/health
groups effort. In pdf.
REPORTS
Cigarette
smoking among women and girls
2002: Including trends for pregnant women, indigenous women, attitudes
to
passive smoking, quitting.
Asthma
in Australia
Comprehensive 2003 report from the Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare. For tobacco's impact, see Chapters 4.1 and 4.2, pp. 51-57.
USEFUL
SITES
Treatobacco
Useful international site for health professionals, policymakers,
regulators. Research, health effects, interventions,
economics, policy. Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
with input from WHO, World Bank, more. Includes "Ask the Experts" on
new quit medications and evidence.
Tobacco Control
A quarterly scientific journal that considers all aspects of tobacco
prevention and control. Includes published articles, papers and links.
ASH online
tobacco resources
Sites, reports, factsheets, publications -
Australia/overseas, government/non-government.
GLOBALink
Join an International
Tobacco Control Network and stay in touch with developments worldwide.
Explore our ASH
site
Check our latest media
releases
|
ASH Australia: Information for health
professionals