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Category Archives: Editorial

LETTER: RADU: All tobacco is not equally harmful

Your recent editorial endorsed a tax increase on tobacco products other than cigarettes, but it was based on some sweeping statements that are not scientifically accurate or credible (“The ‘other’ tobacco tax,” Jan 20).

LETTER: Reader’s view: Dusseau column struck a nerve with tobacco industry

Apparently the useful public service opinion piece by Susan Dusseau, “Smokeless Tobacco — The New Norm?,” hit a little too close to home for the tobacco industry, as evidenced by no less than two articles printed on the editorial page of the MDN on Sunday, Nov.

LETTER: E-cigarette makers have devised smoking substitute that works

THE DEC. 3 editorial “Banned in Boston, for now” blames manufacturers of e-cigarettes for resisting “efforts at regulation by the federal Food and Drug Administration by labeling e-cigarettes as devices for smoking pleasure, not therapeutic devices for nicotine replacement.” Why would the Globe want manufacturers to misrepresent the intended purpose of the products

Drug Laws Fail To Protect Children

“Would legal regulation and control of drugs better protect children?” is a question posed by former President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso in an editorial to be published in the January issue of Elsevier’s International Journal of Drug Policy (IJDP)…

Stimulant Abuse On Our Campuses

Universities and colleges need to do more to protect young adults from the dangers of illicit stimulant use and to educate them about harms, argue the authors of an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Students use stimulants to keep them alert to enhance their academic performance, although the perceived benefits are questionable…

News & updates July 2011: wine strength stronger than labelled; Licensing and industry news; Public Health reforms & PbR updates

Wine makers “systematically” understate the strengths of wines , according to a Guardian report . A study found that that 57% of the wines analysed were stronger than on the label; average ABV content was found at 13.6% but the average labelled strength was 13.1%. The analysis also revealed that strength of wine across the world has risen by almost once per cent in recent years

The Alcohol Industry Needs More Scrutiny

The influence of “Big Alcohol” in the health arena deserves as much scrutiny as Big Pharma and Big Tobacco, especially in light of evidence of bias in funded research, unsupported claims of benefit, and inappropriate promotion and marketing by the alcohol industry, says a new editorial in this week’s PLoS Medicine…

MP Calls For New Measures To Protect Children From Alcohol Advertising

Next week, Sarah Wollaston MP will put forward a private member’s bill urging the government to adopt a new approach to protect UK children from alcohol advertising. In an editorial published on bmj.com today, Professor Gerard Hastings and Dr Nick Sheron set out why we urgently need to tackle the excessive drinking of our young people and their massive exposure to alcohol advertising…

Binge Drinking: Too Prevalent And Hazardous – Editorial

Binge drinking, an activity that many young people engage in, has associated adverse health risks and we need to do a better job of controlling overall alcohol usage, states an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). “Given the many stakeholders involved in the sale and consumption of alcohol, we need a national strategy for controlling overall alcohol use,” write Drs…

DDN reports on Alcohol Concern 2010 conference ‘Is drinking damaging childhood?’

The latest Drink and Drugs news includes a feature report on the recent Alcohol Concern conference 'Is drinking damaging childhood?' The DDN editorial reads: This issue’s cover story makes a very good case, not just for intervention, but early enough intervention.