Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

News and Notes

2009; Wiley; Volume: 104; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02528.x

1360-0443

Peter Miller, Molly Jarvis, Louisa Strain,

Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet

The Youth Access to Alcohol Committee of the National Association of Attorneys General, led by Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe and the City Attorney of San Francisco has forged an agreement with MillerCoors to end the Sparks brand of caffeinated alcohol. Major companies like MillerCoors put millions of young Americans in harm's way by adding caffeine to sweetened, high-alcohol-content malt beverages and marketing them to young people via word-of-mouth and web sites. The Center for Science in the Public Interest filed a lawsuit against MillerCoors to stop the sale of the drink in September 2008. Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors have now each agreed separately to discontinue caffeinated alcoholic drinks. The historic agreement negotiated by the Attorneys General, also includes curbs on MillerCoors’ marketing to youth. Source: http://cspinet.org/ The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a nonprofit health advocacy group based in Washington, DC, that focuses on nutrition, food safety, and pro-health alcohol policies. CSPI is supported by the 900,000 U.S. and Canadian subscribers to its Nutrition Action Healthletter and by foundation grants. The Guardian reports that Britain's tobacco giants have been accused of ‘dirty’ tactics after it emerged that they orchestrated and funded a supposedly ‘independent’ campaign group for small retailers to lobby against government restrictions on the promotion of cigarettes in shops. The Save Our Shop campaign claimed proposals to remove large displays of cigarettes in stores would result in costly refits and see many small retailers go out of business. The campaign inundated MPs with postcards bearing the Save Our Shop logo, urging them not to back the government's proposals. The cards stated: ‘As my local MP, I hope you will protect our independent local shops by opposing this proposal.’ However, the campaign was the brainchild of the Tobacco Retailers’ Association (TRA), an offshoot of the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association, which represents the interests of three tobacco companies: BAT, Gallaher and Imperial Tobacco. Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/dec/14/tobacco-industry-small-retailers The Sunday Mail reports that cigarettes are being sold at high-end clothing stores and hair salons, in a ‘tricky and desperate’ tactic to lure new young smokers. Imperial Tobacco is lavishing trendy Adelaide stores with cash incentives and corporate entertainment in return for stocking Peter Stuyvesant brand cigarettes in specially designed cigarette dispensers. Marketing kits distributed by the tobacco giant to fashion retailers describe cigarettes as being safe and fashionable: ‘It used to be extremely dangerous. Now the only danger is you're not the coolest cat on the block.’ An investigation by the Sunday Mail found practices such as cash incentives of up to $2000 a year, free cigarettes for stockists and a swish cruise with boozy lunches for businesses which sell the brand. Imperial Tobacco has subsequently announced it will withdraw all cigarettes from boutiques. Source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,,24796954-2,00.html NIDA's 2008 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey shows that cannabis use has remained stable and that downward trends in cigarette and alcohol use continue. The MTF survey is a series of classroom surveys of eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders now in its 33rd year. The 2008 survey indicates that cannabis use, which has shown a consistent decline since the mid-1990s, appears to have levelled off with 10.9 percent of eighth graders, 23.9 percent of tenth graders, and 32.4 percent of twelfth graders reporting past year use. Heightening the concern over this stabilization in use is the finding that, compared to last year, the proportion of eighth graders who perceived smoking cannabis as harmful and the proportion disapproving of its use have decreased. Cigarette smoking is at the lowest rate in the history of the MTF survey although still more than one in ten high school seniors say they smoke daily; 5.4 percent smoke more than a half pack a day. While drinking continues a slow downward trend, close to 25 percent of seniors report having five or more drinks in a row sometime in the two weeks prior to the survey. The survey indicates a continuing high rate of prescription drug abuse among teens, with little change seen in the past six years. Nearly 10 percent of seniors reported past year nonmedical use of Vicodin, and 4.7 percent report abusing Oxycontin, both powerful opioid painkillers. In fact, seven of the top 10 drugs abused by twelfth graders in the year prior to the survey were prescribed or purchased over-the-counter. The MTF Web site is http://monitoringthefuture.org A University of Sheffield report, commissioned by the UK Department of Health to help Government Ministers decide future alcohol policy, shows that policies which lead to price increases reduce alcohol consumption and can have significant effects on reducing alcohol-related harm. The findings, published by the Department of Health in December 2008, are the results of the second phase of an independent review. As part of the review the Sheffield researchers examined the potential effects of different pricing policies on patterns of alcohol consumption and the resulting impact on the nation's health, crime, absenteeism in the workplace and unemployment. The research analysed over 40 separate policy scenarios to examine how policies affect alcohol purchasing and consumption by different population groups, including moderate, hazardous, harmful and underage drinkers both in the on-trade (such as pubs, clubs and restaurants) and the off-trade (supermarkets, off licenses) sectors. The results also show that targeting price increases at cheaper types of alcohol would affect harmful and hazardous drinkers far more than moderate drinkers. Other major findings include: a minimum price policy targets the drinkers causing the most harm to both themselves and society whilst having little effect on the spending of adult moderate drinkers; banning only buy-one get-one free offers has very little effect on consumption and harm; bans on discounts only for lower-priced alcohol (less than 30p per unit) are not effective in reducing consumption; effects of advertising may be cumulative over time, and may work through influencing attitudes and drinking intentions rather than consumption directly, and; that the majority of the policies appraised have estimated total reductions in harm valued over £500m and some are valued higher than £5billion over a ten-year period. A full copy of the report can be found at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publichealth/Healthimprovement/Alcoholmisuse/DH_4001740. A linked cohort study published in the BMJ reports that consuming caffeine during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of fetal growth restriction [1]. For 100–199 mg caffeine a day the odds ratio was 1.2 (95% confidence interval, 0.9 to 1.6), for 200–299 mg a day it was 1.4 (1.0 to 2.0), and for over 300 mg a day it was 1.5 (1.1 to 2.1). One cup of coffee contains about 100 mg of caffeine and a cup of tea about half of this amount; the exact amount varies according to cup size, brewing methods, and brands of coffee or tea. Caffeine is also present in cola, chocolate, cocoa, and some drugs. Most of the caffeine that adults consume comes from coffee, but in this study 60% of the caffeine that pregnant women consumed came from tea. The authors propose that every effort should be made to stop pregnant women consuming caffeine or to reduce intake greatly, because the association between fetal growth restriction and caffeine is reduced for those consuming less than 100 mg a day. Commentators in the BMJ suggest that these results will probably reopen the debate on what advice should be given to women who are or intend to become pregnant [2]. Harm Reduction 2009: IHRA's 20th International Conference, 19–23 April 2009, Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, Bangkok, Thailand. Website: http://www.ihra.net/Thailand/Home Society of Behavioural Medicine 30th Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions, 22–25 April 2009, Palais des congrès de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Website: http://www.sbm.org/meeting/2009/ Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum (CINP) Thematic Meeting on Major Psychoses and Substance Abuse, 25–27 April 2009, Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Scotland. Contact: email cinp2009@glasconf.demon.co.uk. Website: http://northernnetworking.co.uk/CINP_thematic_meeting.htm The American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence National Conference, 25–29 April 2009. Hilton New York, New York City, USA. Website: http://www.aatod.org/aatodnational.html SRNT 15th Annual Meeting—Joint Conference of SRNT and SRNT-Europe, 27–30 April 2009, Citywest Hotel Conference Leisure and Golf Resort, Saggart, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Website: http://www.srnt.org/meeting/2009/index.html American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) 40th Annual Medical-Scientific Conference, 30 April–3 May 2009, New Orleans, USA. Website: http://www.asam.org/AnnualMeeting.html 31st Substance Abuse Librarians & Information Specialists (SALIS) Conference, 5–8 May 2009, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Website: http://www.salis.org/conference/conference.html 6th UK/European Symposium on Addictive Disorders, 14–16 May 2009, Millennium Gloucester Hotel, Kensington, London, UK. Website: http://www.ukesad.org National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers Annual Conference, 17–20 May 2009, PGA Resort, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA. Website: http://www.naatp.org/conferences/annualconference.php 35th Annual Alcohol Epidemiology Symposium of the Kettil Bruun Society, 1–5 June 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark. Website: http://www.kbs2009.dk 12th European Federation of Therapeutic Communities Conference, 2–5 June 2009, World Forum Convention Centre, The Hague, The Netherlands. Website: http://www.eftc-bepartofthesolution.eu National Conference on Tobacco or Health, 10–12 June 2009, Phoenix Convention Centre, Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Website: http://www.tobaccocontrolconference.org/2009/ The College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) 71st Annual Meeting, 20–25 June 2009, John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino Resort, Reno/Sparks, Nevada, USA. Website: http://www.cpdd.vcu.edu/index.html 2009 UK National Smoking Cessation Conference, 22–23 June 2009, Novotel London West Hotel and Convention Centre, UK. Website: http://www.uknscc.org 19th Annual Symposium of the International Cannabinoid Research Society, 8–11 July 2009, Pheasant Run Resort, St. Charles, Illinois, USA. Website: http://cannabinoidsociety.org/SYMPOSIUM.2009/index.html International Narcotics Research Conference, 12–17 July 2009, Benson Hotel, Portland, Oregon, USA. Website: http://www.inrcworld.org/2009/2009mtg.htm International Society of Addiction Journal Editors (ISAJE) 2009 Meeting, 24–26 September 2009, Hotel Riviera & Maximilian's, Trieste, Italy. Website: http://www.theoffice.it/isaje09 News and Notes welcomes contributions from its readers. Send your material to Peter Miller, News and Notes Editor, Addiction, National Addiction Centre PO48, 4 Windsor Walk, London SE5 8AF. Fax +44 (0)20 7848 5966; e-mail louisa@addictionjournal.org Conference entries should be sent to Molly Jarvis at molly@addictionjournal.org. Subject to editorial review, we will be glad to print, free of charge, details of your conference or event, up to 75 words and one entry only. Please send your notification three months before you wish the entry to appear.