Call for cigarette packaging to be changed over risk posed to women

HEALTH experts have made urgent calls to change the way cigarettes are packaged after a study found that women smokers were more at risk of heart disease.

The calls come after a report which analysed previous studies involving more than four million people found the increased risk of developing heart disease from smoking is 25% higher for women compared to men.

It is thought that the physiological differences or cigarette smoke toxins could have a more potent effect on women.

According to the Welsh Health Survey in 2009, 22% of Welsh women over the age of 16 smoke.

Elen De Lacy, chief executive of ASH Wales, said: “The results of this research are quite alarming for the future health of women and for our young girls in Wales. We already know that smoking is highly addictive and that the younger a person starts to smoke, the harder it is for them to quit.

“More needs to be done to protect children and young women in Wales from starting to smoke in the first place and ensure that the very best support, advice and treatment is available to those who want to quit.

“We also need to ensure that the regulations to ban behind-the-counter displays of tobacco and the sale of tobacco from vending machines are implemented in a timely fashion which will be effective in denormalising and reducing the attraction of smoking amongst young girls.”

Women, on average, smoke fewer cigarettes per day than men, and in many countries the smoking epidemic in women has been much shorter in duration.

The British Heart Foundation described the figures as alarming and said tobacco companies were increasingly trying to target slim women with their packaging.

Ellen Mason, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “It’s alarming to see such a large study confirm that women are so much more at risk of heart disease from smoking than men.

“There is free support widely available on the NHS to help both men and women quit, but more effort needs to be made to encourage women not to smoke in the first place, particularly the many young women who take up this addictive and harmful habit up every day.

“This is particularly timely research as tobacco companies are increasingly targeting women with slim brands and slick packaging. Introducing plain packaging would help to increase the effectiveness of health warnings and reduce the attractiveness and appeal of tobacco products.”

Jane Landon, deputy chief executive of the National Heart Forum, said: “In many countries around the world, women are viewed as a growth market by tobacco companies.

“Government plans for plain packaging of tobacco products are urgently needed to stop the cynical marketing that particularly targets young women with slim cigarettes in small, attractive packs in appealing textures and colours.”

The latest research was a meta-analysis of 86 different studies and was published in the Lancet.

The report, by Dr Rachel Huxley of the University of Minnesota and Dr Mark Woodward of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, says: “The finding that, among smokers, the excess risk of coronary heart disease in women compared with men increases by 2% for every extra year of study follow-up lends support to the idea of a patho-physiological basis for the sex difference.

“For example, women might extract a greater quantity of carcinogens and other toxic agents from the same number of cigarettes than men. This occurrence could explain why women who smoke have double the risk of lung cancer compared with their male counterparts.”

“Physicians and health professionals should be encouraged to increase their efforts at promotion of smoking cessation in all individuals. Present trends in female smoking, and this report, suggest that inclusion of a female perspective in tobacco-control policies is crucial.”

The Welsh Government said it was not within their powers to direct how cigarettes are packaged but would be interested to see the proposals from the Department of Health.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We are already investing in measures to discourage children from starting smoking and we are providing help and support to smokers who want to quit. The Welsh Government supports a number of services to help people give up smoking such as Stop Smoking Wales and the Smokers Helpline Wales. The introduction of the smoke-free legislation is further helping to protect non-smokers and has acted as a stimulus for many to give up.

“One of the key themes in Our Healthy Future, Wales’ strategic framework for public health, is further reducing smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke. We recently consulted on a Tobacco Control Action Plan to take this forward. We are currently considering the responses to the consultation on the draft Action Plan and will launch the revised Plan in the autumn, making further recommendations to reduce the harm from smoking.”

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “In March we published our plans to help drive down smoking rates and reduce the harms from tobacco over the next five years.

“Our plan is clear that we want local areas to develop and implement evidence-based local tobacco control strategies and work in partnership across their communities to encourage smokers to change their behaviours.”