-Caveat Lector-
>From www.theherald.co.uk/news/
Doctors lobby for smokers' droop warning
ALAN MacDERMID, Medical Correspondent
CIGARETTE packets may soon have to carry a warning that male smokers risk flopping in
bed.
Up to 120,000 men aged 30 to 49 have rendered themselves impotent through smoking, the
British Medical Association and Action on Smoking and Health said yesterday.
Both groups are lobbying the UK Government and the European
Commission to have impotence and impaired fertility added to the list
of compulsory health warnings carried on tobacco packaging and
advertising.
They hope the idea that a cigarette drooping from the lips could lead
to a droop elsewhere might carry more weight with young men than
fears of heart disease and cancer many years ahead.
The link between smoking and impotence is well established - it
damages the blood vessels of the penis in much the same way it does
the rest of the vascular system.
But a MORI poll conducted for Ash showed that 88% of smokers failed
to make the connection - in Scotland the proportion was 91%.
Some of the damage will be permanent, but smoking-related impotence
is not one of the disorders which render sufferers eligible for
Viagra on the NHS.
Ms Maureen Moore, chief executive of Ash Scotland, said: "There is an
obvious and urgent need for education campaigns focusing on men's
sexual health and tobacco use. We will be writing to the Health
Education Board for Scotland to encourage them to address this gap."
In a report, Smoking and Erectile Dysfunction in Men, the two
organisations say smoking increases the risk of impotence by around
50% for men in their 30s and 40s. It also damages sperm.
Dr Bill O'Neill, tobacco adviser to the BMA, said: "I think a stark
warning on cigarette packets could really play an important part in
motivating male smokers to give up cigarettes. Young men are
notoriously resistant to health warnings and think they will have
given up smoking long before cancer or heart disease catches up with
them. But the prospect that they could also wreck their sex lives
might just make them stop and think."
Mr Clive Bates, director of Ash, said: "We reckon there are lots of
men who would prefer to give up smoking rather than risk losing
something as precious as their erection. But it appears that most
smokers are unaware of the risk, and that's why we think new warnings
are needed.
"Impotence may not be as serious as cancer or heart disease, but it
might be a more important and immediate reason for men in their
twenties to quit smoking. It's also a reality check on all the style,
sex and glamour that is supposed to be associated with smoking.
Despite the hype about cigarettes, the truth is sad, embarrassing and
banal."
- June 2
Belgian chicken ban starts new food scare
RORY WATSON, European Correspondent
EUROPEAN consumers are facing another food scare after the Belgian
government yesterday ordered the country's wholesalers not to sell
any items containing egg or chicken ingredients.
The ban ranges from basic foodstuffs such as pasta, biscuits, and
pastries, to luxury items like paté and Belgian chocolates.
The decision follows an earlier move on Friday, when supermarkets
were asked to clear home-produced chickens and eggs from their
shelves after scientific tests found poultry from more than 400 farms
in Belgium contained high levels of dioxin after being given
contaminated feed.
Although officials refused to make any comparison with the BSE crisis
on the consequences for human health, there are fears if dioxin is
consumed in sufficient quantities over a long period it can cause
cancer.
The Ghent-based company at the centre of the dioxin scare sold
contaminated feed, suspected of containing motor oil, to France,
Germany, and the Netherlands. In addition, Belgium has been gradually
expanding export markets for its niche luxury foodstuffs.
Senior scientists from across the European Union will decide in
Brussels today whether to insist the ban be applied more widely
Strathclyde East MEP Ken Collins, the outgoing chairman of the
European Parliament's environment committee, demanded an immediate
sales ban across Europe.
He insisted the search for contaminated products should be "tracked
down to the last chocolate" and called on the EU's consumer
protection department to "swing into action immediately and be in
there inspecting the inspectors in Belgium".
As far back as January, the authorities began to notice hundred of
chickens were falling ill. However, the source of the sickness - the
contaminated feed - was not identified until the end of April and it
was only this week that the Commission, which could have alerted
governments around Europe, was notified.
"If a member state has a problem, it should notify the Commission
immediately and it can then notify other countries. That is European
law," said a spokesman.
The impact on the Belgian poultry industry is as devastating as it
was when the former Conservative Junior Health Minister Edwina Currie
advised people not to eat eggs in the UK.
The Flemish Farmers' Federation has accused the government, which
goes to the polls on June 13, of electioneering.
It claims public health minister Marcel Colla overreacted by calling
for the ban when only 416 of the country's 6000 chicken farms have so
far been found to have used the contaminated feed. - June 2 1999
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