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Because anti-smoking groups aren’t just fighting the tobacco companies these days. They have fractured over tobacco harm reduction — the idea that people who cannot or will not quit smoking should be provided with alternatives, notably e-cigarettes, which deliver nicotine without burning tobacco. They argue that e-cigarettes will lead to a new generation addicted to nicotine, even if they are not smoking. It focuses largely, but not entirely, on reduced-risk nicotine products, a category that includes e-cigarettes, oral tobacco, and “heat not burn” products that warm up tobacco without burning it. There are no safe tobacco products; all fall along what’s called a continuum of risk.

Persons: Cliff Douglas, Philip Morris, Douglas, “, ” Douglas, Bloomberg Philanthropies, American Heart Association —, Michael Bloomberg, that’s, General’s, ”, Charles Gardner, Joanna Cohen, Ellen MacKenzie, Yolonda Richardson, Deborah Arnott, “ I’m, Michael Cummings, they’ve, Marc Gunther Organizations: Foundation, Philip, Philip Morris International, American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, Centers for Disease Control, Bloomberg, Tobacco, American Heart Association, Truth Initiative, Rockefeller, UBS Optimus, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Campaign, Reuters, FDA, Centers for Disease, Medical University of South, Associated Press, Philanthropy, AP Locations: United States, – California , Massachusetts , New Jersey , New York, Rhode, San Francisco, —, British, Medical University of South Carolina, vaping

LONDON (AP) — Measles deaths globally spiked by more than 40% last year and cases rose after vaccination levels dramatically dropped during the pandemic, leading health agencies said Thursday. The highly infectious disease triggered epidemics in 37 countries last year, versus 22 countries in 2021. “The increase in measles outbreaks and deaths is staggering, but unfortunately, not unexpected given the declining vaccination rates we’ve seen in the past few years,” said CDC's John Vertefeuille, said in a statement. Two doses of the measles vaccine are highly protective against the disease. ___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group.

Persons: ”, CDC's John Vertefeuille, Andrew Wakefield Organizations: World Health Organization, U.S . Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, WHO, CDC, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, India, British, London

☆ British health agency warns of fake Ozempic pens linked to hospitalizations
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Amanda Musa | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Britain’s health agency is warning the public not to buy pre-filled pens claiming to contain the weight loss drugs Ozempic and Saxenda without a prescription, after a small number of people were hospitalized. Ozempic is used to treat adults with type 2 diabetes, and is used off-label for weight loss. More than 350 potentially fake Ozempic pens have been seized since January of this year, according to the MHRA. The agency has also received reports that patients have obtained fake Saxenda pens in the UK through “through non-legitimate routes.”No fake weight-loss pens were seized before January 2023, the agency says. The maker of both drugs, Novo Nordisk, told CNN Thursday that it is aware that counterfeit pens are being circulated.

Persons: Ozempic, ” Allison Schneider, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, Alison Cave, ” Ozempic, “, Meg Tirrell Organizations: CNN, Medicines, Healthcare, Agency, Novo Nordisk, “, “ Novo Nordisk, General Pharmaceutical Council, Get CNN, CNN Health, European Medicines Agency, European Union Locations: Ozempic, “ Novo, Novo, Germany, Europe

☆ Meet the typical Hong Kong millennial: They're supporting their parents, can't afford to buy homes, and have zero interest in moving to mainland China
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Faye Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

He earns 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars a year, or $191,000, including the base salary and three months' bonus — well above the average annual salary in Hong Kong. A protester on June 12, 2019 in Hong Kong when crowds gathered in central Hong Kong as the city braced for another mass rally. Anthony Kwan/Getty ImagesThe Hong Kong protests took place between 2019 and 2020, with many students and adults taking to the streets to fight back against the government's decision to introduce an extradition bill between Hong Kong and China. University of Hong Kong was ranked 31st and Chinese University of Hong Kong was 45, on the World University Rankings in 2023. Hong Kong millennials struggle to prioritize well-being, according to a survey run by British health insurance company Bupa.

Persons: Hong Kong's, Ken Ho, Hong Kongers, Ho, Kongers, —, hasn't, Summer Ng, Tau Kok, Ng, Hong, Kong's, Getty, Hong Kong millennials, it's, Aniqah Bhatnagar, Bhatnagar, Wilson Ho, Wilson Ho Wilson, Kai Tak, Anthony Kwan, Xu Huang, Huang, millennials, Gen Zs, Morgan McKinley, Zurine Lau, I'm, Yuen Long, Lau, Nick Shin Nick Shin, Tai Koo, They're Organizations: Service, University College London, Imperial College London, Fidelity Investments, Hong, HK, BBC, Property Management, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Deloitte Global, Statistics Department, University of Hong Kong, University of Hong, World, Family Planning Association, millennials, Hong Kong Free Press, CNN Locations: Hong Kong, Wall, Silicon, Kennedy Town, Kowloon Bay, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong's, United Kingdom, People's Republic of China, British, Asia, Hong, millennials, India, Kowloon, Kai, China, Singapore, Sydney, South America, ymgerman, South Korea, Hong Kong . Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong, New Territories, Tai

An aerial view shows the Bibby Stockholm barge moored at Portland Port, near Poole, Britain, August 7, 2023. Britain began moving the asylum seekers onto the Bibby Stockholm, a barge anchored off Dorset on the south coast, earlier this week as part of its high-profile strategy to deter people from arriving in the country on small boats. Ministers said they wanted to reduce the cost of accommodating asylum seekers in hotels, while human rights campaigners compared the barge to a prison ship and said its use was in inhumane. "Environmental samples from the water system on the Bibby Stockholm (barge) have shown levels of Legionella bacteria which require further investigation," a spokesperson at the Home Office, or interior ministry, said. "As a precautionary measure, all 39 asylum seekers who arrived on the vessel this week are being disembarked while further assessments are undertaken."

Persons: Bibby, Toby Melville, Rishi Sunak's, Sunak, Muvija M, Andrew MacAskill, Kate Holton, Frances Kerry Organizations: REUTERS, Bibby, Ministers, Home Office, UK Health Security Agency, Conservative Party, Labour Party, Thomson Locations: Portland Port, Poole, Britain, Bibby Stockholm, Dorset

☆ UK's BMA union willing to cancel strikes for suitable pay offer
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Junior doctors hold placards during a strike, amid a dispute with the government over pay, in London, Britain April 11, 2023. REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska/File PhotoJuly 3 (Reuters) - The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents about 45,000 junior doctors in England, said on Monday its members were willing to cancel strikes if the government presented them with a suitable pay offer. Separately, BMA's consultants committee also called on the government last month asking for a credible pay offer, to avoid strikes on July 20 and 21. The consultants committee said it is willing to cancel strikes if a suitable offer is presented. The BMA has said the latest pay offer of a 5% increase for 2023/24 was not credible since it was "nowhere near addressing pay erosion over the last 15 years."

Persons: Maja Smiejkowska, Vivek Trivedi, Rishi Sunak, Vishal Sharma, Steve Barclay, Barclay, Lavanya Ahire, Robert Birsel, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: REUTERS, British Medical Association, BMA, BMA Junior, British Health, Times, of Health, Social, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, England, Bengaluru

☆ Check out the 18-slide pitch deck Lindus Health used to convince Peter Thiel to back its clinical trials platform
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tech billionaire Peter Thiel has invested in British health tech startup Lindus Health. Check out the 18-slide pitch deck Lindus Health used to raise the fresh funds below. Billionaire Peter Thiel has invested in a startup that aims to dramatically speed up clinical trials, bringing its total funding raised to $6 million. The British Medical Journal estimates that clinical trials in the UK have fallen by 41% between 2017 to 2021. With the cash injection, Lindus Health will focus on growing its commercial team, and expand its trials globally.

Persons: Peter Thiel, Michael Young, Thiel, Young, Firstminute, Hambro, Peter Thiel's, Sifted Organizations: Tech, PayPal, British Medical, Lindus Health Locations: London, Berlin, Germany, Europe

☆ UK government says it is meeting with food bosses over high prices — but denies it will impose caps
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The government is reportedly in discussions with supermarkets over voluntary price caps on some items. "The government is not considering imposing price caps. Any scheme to help bring down food prices for consumers would be voluntary," a government spokesperson told CNBC by email. "We know the pressure households are under with rising costs and while inflation is coming down, food prices remain stubbornly high. That's why the prime minister and the chancellor have been meeting with the food sector to see what more can be done."

GMB's backing means the offer has been accepted by four unions representing National Health Service (NHS) workers whose members include midwives, physiotherapists and ambulance workers. The NHS Staff Council, which includes representatives from NHS employers and trade unions, is due to meet on May 2 to vote on whether to accept the offer. The GMB's leadership said it would now vote in favour of the pay offer, after 56% of its members who voted in a ballot accepted the deal. "This new pay offer would not have happened without the strike action taken by ambulance and other GMB health workers," said Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary. "Our members recognise that progress has been made - from the government originally offering nothing, health workers will be thousands of pounds better off."

☆ UK health minister says he will seek court order to block nurses' strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 21 (Reuters) - British health minister Steve Barclay said on Friday that he intends to pursue legal action against the Royal College of Nursing's upcoming strike action. "Following a request from NHS Employers I have regretfully provided notice of my intent to pursue legal action to ask the courts to declare the Royal College of Nursing's upcoming strike action planned for 30 April to 2 May to be unlawful," he said. "Bullying nurses and dragging us through the highest courts would not be a good look for government," the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said in a response to his statement. Last week, nurses in England rejected an offer of a 5% pay rise and set out plans for further strikes. Reporting by Shivani Tanna in BengaluruOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fact Check-UK's Matt Hancock did not threaten legal action over fake serial killer image
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Former British health minister Matt Hancock has not threatened to sue any Twitter user who shares a fabricated image of him superimposed next to serial killer Harold Shipman. A screenshot of a Twitter message that appears to show Hancock making that threat was from a parody account. But it was clearly marked “@HattMancockMP” - a parody account which has since been suspended (twitter.com/hattmancockmp). The MP’s real Twitter account has the handle “@MattHancock” (twitter.com/MattHancock). A Twitter account parodying MP Matt Hancock posted the tweet threatening legal action for a graphic picturing the politician alongside serial killer Harold Shipman.

☆ UK healthcare strikes to intensify as junior doctors vote to walk out
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Junior doctors agreed in 2019 to an annual 2% pay rise as part of a four-year deal but say that is now inadequate in light of much higher inflation. "This vote shows, without a shadow of a doubt, the strength of feeling among most of England’s junior doctors," the BMA said. The BMA describes junior doctors as those who are qualified in clinical training and have up to eight years' experience working as a hospital doctor or up to three years in general practice. Another trade union for doctors, the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association, said its junior doctor members had also voted to carry out strike action in a separate ballot. More than 10,000 ambulance workers were on strike on Monday, while the nursing trade union last week announced a fresh 48-hour strike from March 1.

☆ Thousands of UK ambulance staff to stage more strikes in January
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Thousands of British ambulance workers will stage two further strikes on Jan. 11 and 23 in an escalating dispute over pay and staffing, the Unison trade union said on Thursday, after a similar walkout by staff on Wednesday. While Wednesday's strike, which also involved workers affiliated to two other trade unions, lasted 12 hours, the two Unison strikes next month will last 24 hours each, Unison said in a statement. "No health workers want to go out on strike again in the new year." The strikes come as an already pressured health system faces further strain this winter, with nurses also going on strike in a separate pay dispute. British health minister Steve Barclay said meeting unions' pay demands would mean taking money away from frontline services.

☆ Fact Check-Photo of Matt Hancock smiling and holding book titled ‘How To Get Away With Murder’ is digitally altered
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A photo of former British health minister Matt Hancock smiling and holding a book, titled ‘Matt Hancock: How To Get Away With Murder’, is being shared online. One Facebook user, whose post has been interacted with hundreds of times (here), uploaded the photo, without adding a caption. The original is on Hancock’s verified Facebook page (here), where he can be seen holding his newly released ‘Matt Hancock: Pandemic Diaries – The Inside Story of Britain’s Battle Against COVID’. Deep in the comments of the original Facebook post, the person who uploaded the photo said they edited Hancock’s smile. Matt Hancock’s smile and the title of the book have both been edited.

☆ UK health unions offer to pause NHS strikes if government joins pay talks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 10 (Reuters) - British health unions have offered to suspend a wave of planned strikes in health services over Christmas and the New Year if the government agrees to open serious discussions over pay. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and Unison said they would consider calling off the strikes if Britain's health and social care minister Steve Barclay agrees to host serious negotiations. "I will press pause on it when the health secretary says he will negotiate seriously on our dispute this year," RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said in a statement. "Rather than scare the public about the consequences of strikes, the health secretary should table genuine plans for improving wages," said Unison general secretary Christina McAnea in a statement. "Ministers have had constructive talks with unions, including the RCN and Unison," a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said in a statement.

☆ Former UK health minister Hancock to quit at next election
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Farouq Suleiman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Former British health minister Matt Hancock, who was forced to resign in 2021 for breaching his own social distancing rules during the pandemic, said on Wednesday he would not run again for parliament at the next general election. Hancock was at the centre of the British government's fight against COVID-19 and was heavily criticised for the response to the early stages of the pandemic. Hancock said in his resignation letter that the party had made it clear he would be re-admitted "in due course", but he said that would now not be necessary. In his resignation letter, Hancock said he was proud of his achievements during his nine years in government, including the response to the pandemic. Reporting by Farouq Suleiman; editing by William James and Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ British nurses to stage first strikes on Dec. 15, 20
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jacob King/Pool via REUTERS/File PhotoLONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Thousands of British nurses will go on strike on Dec. 15 and 20 for more pay, their union said on Friday, adding to a winter of industrial action and putting further pressure on the state-run health system. The strikes are the first of possibly several walkouts by National Health Service (NHS) nurses, which come after the government refused to meet demands for pay rises of 5% above inflation. He said the NHS had plans in place to minimise any disruption from the strikes and ensure continuity for emergency services. "Why on Earth is the Health Secretary refusing to negotiate with nurses?" "Patients already can’t get treated on time, strike action is the last thing they need, yet the Government is letting this happen."

☆ UK minister does not recognise report government wants Swiss-style ties with EU
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - British health minister Steve Barclay said on Sunday he does not recognise a report that the government wants to move towards a Swiss-style relationship with the European Union. Switzerland has negotiated access to the European single market, but in return has to accept conditions including allowing freedom movement of workers from EU countries and payments into the bloc's budget. Simon Clarke, a former minister, was among those to criticise any suggestion that Britain could pursue a Swiss-style deal. Britain is currently locked in talks with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol, the part of the Brexit deal that mandated checks on some goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom due to the province's open land border with EU member Ireland. Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UBS says disinflation is on the way — and shares 8 global stocks to play it
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

After a year of double-digit inflation in many countries, UBS is now forecasting "sharp" disinflation in 2023. The bank screened for stocks it expects to be positively impacted in such an environment. The table below shows two stocks across four regions that UBS says will benefit the most from disinflation. British healthcare companies Genus and Hikma Pharmaceuticals ranked highly among the stocks UBS says will benefit from disinflation in the United Kingdom. "The negative payoff from getting our disinflation call wrong is large," strategists led by Arend Kapteyn warned.

☆ Britain's Boots to recruit 10,000 workers for Christmas period
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - British health and beauty retailer Boots said on Monday it planned to recruit more than 10,000 temporary workers, as competition for staff for the Christmas trading period heats up. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe British arm of German discounter Aldi said this month it aimed to recruit 3,000 workers before the festive period. John Lewis said in August it would recruit 10,000 Christmas staff for its department stores, Waitrose supermarkets and online operations. Boots is offering staff 45% off own brand products, while John Lewis is offering free meals. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by James Davey; Editing by Edmund BlairOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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