Tobacco
Recent figures from the Department of Health show that smoking during pregnancy has fallen from 23 per cent to 18 per cent in the last five years. The Smoking Kills white paper aims to reduce this figure to 15 per cent by 2010. Recent studies have further emphasised the dangers of pre-natal tobacco exposure, showing that stillbirth and infant mortality incidence nearly doubles among mothers who are smokers.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between 46 states of the US and the tobacco industry has failed to reduce children’s exposure to tobacco advertising. The settlement agreed that deliberate targeting of youths would not be permissible. However subsequent magazine advertising has not shown awareness of or validation of the settlement and cigarette advertising in youth-orientated magazines has not declined.

The first study ever to examine the efficacy of nicotine replacement therapy in young people is being carried out in Nottingham. The study will take place at The Zone, a youth project based on one of the most disadvantaged estates in Nottingham, which is used by 250 young people every week, the majority of whom are smokers. The Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund are supporting this study, which will take the form of a consultation and questionnaire, followed by the offer of NRT to those who want to quit, administered as part of a controlled randomised trial. Counselling will form an integral part to those taking part in the trial, and success rate will be monitored via carbon monoxide testing. Professor John Brittton, of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in Nottingham, is co-ordinating the trial.