Smoking is a recently established risk factor for colon cancer. This study wants to explore the hypothesis that women may be more susceptible to smoking-attributed colon cancer than men as one of the possible explanations for the high colon cancer risk of Norwegian women.

Authors: Roger E Thomas, Julie McLellan and Rafael Perera

The primary aim of this review was to determine whether school smoking interventions prevent youth from starting smoking and also which interventions were most effective. This included evaluating the effects of theoretical approaches; additional booster sessions; programme deliverers; gender effects; and multifocal interventions versus those focused solely on smoking.

Author: The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)

The major features of the European drug landscape have remained relatively stable in recent years. Drug use remains high by historical standards, but positive changes can be seen, with record levels of treatment provision accompanied by some signs of erosion in injecting, new heroin use, cocaine consumption and cannabis smoking. Any optimism, however, must be tempered by concerns that youth unemployment and service cuts could lead to the re-emergence of ‘old’ problems.

Moreover, a closer examination suggests that the drug situation may now be in a state of flux, with ‘new’ problems emerging that challenge current policy and practice models: new synthetic drugs and patterns of use are appearing, both on the illicit drug market and in the context of non-controlled substances.

Full title: Minimum Alcohol Prices and Outlet Densities in British Columbia, Canada: Estimated Impacts on Alcohol-Attributable Hospital Admissions

Authors: Tim Stockwell, Jinhui Zhao, Gina Martin, Scott Macdonald, Kate Vallance, Andrew Treno, William Ponicki, Andrew Tu and Jane Buxton 

This study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, shows the relationship between minimum alcohol prices and rates of different kinds of alcohol attributable hospital admission in British Columbia (Canada).

Author: Jonathan Gornall (freelance journalist)

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) published an in-depth article on the GAPA-WHO Statement of Concern issued on February 2013. This BMJ piece received a very positive supporting statement in the form of a rapid response from WHO Director General Dr. Margaret Chan, which you can see in the following link:

http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f1889?tab=responses

On October 8th 2012, thirteen of world’s largest alcohol producers issued a set of commitments to reduce the harmful use of alcohol worldwide, ostensibly in support of the World Health Organization’s 2010 Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol.

The Global Alcohol Policy Alliance (GAPA), as an independent coalition of public health professionals, health scientists and NGO representatives, submitted a public Statement of Concern to the WHO Secretariat in response to the activities of the global alcohol producers. Discussions on industry involvement at the AMPHORA project final conference have contributed to this document.