British people unaware of pollution levels in the air they breathe – study

People across the UK are underestimating the impact of the air pollution crisis in their local areas, according to a new survey.

Almost two thirds of respondents said they were concerned about the issue of air pollution, but only one in 10 said they thought the air they breathe is bad.

Last week the Guardian revealed that there are 802 educational institutions in the capital where pupils as young as three are being exposed to illegal levels of air pollution that can cause serious long term health problems.

And government statistics show 38 our of 43 UK “air quality zones” breach legal limits for air pollution.

Friends of the Earth, which carried out the latest survey, said that despite the growing evidence many people – particularly outside London – were still unaware of the dangers of air pollution.

“With only 1 in 10 British adults rating their air quality as poor despite swaths of the country breaking legal limits for air pollution, it seems the message about the scale and danger of air pollution isn’t getting through,” said Oliver Hayes, a Friends of the Earth air pollution campaigner.

“Often you can’t see it or smell it, but it’s there – and air pollution is risking the health of an entire generation of children.”

To coincide with the findings Friends of the Earth has launched what it says will be the “biggest ever citizen science air pollution experiment”. People can apply to the charity for clean air kits, enabling them to test the air quality where they live, and FoE will provide tips on how to avoid air pollution and what people can do to help support the campaign for clean air.

Hayes said: “Our clean air kits help people to find out about the air quality in the places they care about most: on the street where they live, where they work, where their children go to school and at the heart of their communities.

“The results will help us build up a localised picture of the state of our nation’s air to really bring home why everyone, from individuals to businesses and politicians, must do all they can to make the air we breathe safer.”

Air pollution is linked to heart disease, lung cancer, worsening asthma and poor lung development in children and leads to the premature deaths of around 40,000 people every year in the UK.

The Friends of the Earth report coincided with a separate study for the Greater London Authority which found a much higher awareness of air pollution in the capital.

It found that nine out of 10 people in London believe air pollution is at crisis levels and two thirds describe air quality in their local area as bad.

It also found that every London borough has recorded illegally high levels of air pollution in the last two years.

Hayes said: “Whilst Londoners are starting to understand the air pollution crisis, in part due to welcome attention from politicians and the media, outside of the capital it’s a very different story.”

Friends of the Earth said it hoped thousands of people will join in the charity’s experiment so it can create a comprehensive national air pollution picture. It said the data generated will feed into a national map which will help create a “state of the nation” report on air pollution.

British people unaware of pollution levels in the air they breathe – study

Half of GPs unaware of drug"s use in cancer prevention – study

A “worrying” number of family doctors are not offering at-risk patients a preventive breast cancer drug, a charity has said.

A study found that only half of GPs were aware the drug tamoxifen could be used to reduce the risk of breast cancer.

In 2013 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) recommended that women deemed to be at moderate or high risk of breast cancer should be offered chemoprevention drugs including tamoxifen.

But the new research found that just over half of GPs knew the medication could be used in this way. The study, published in the British Journal of General Practice, also found that three-quarters of GPs were not aware of the Nice guidelines.

Delyth Morgan, chief executive of the charity Breast Cancer Now, said: “It is extremely concerning that many women at an increased risk of breast cancer are still not being offered the choice of taking tamoxifen to reduce their risk. Given the current debate on the increasing patient demand on the NHS, it is essential that we make the most of low-cost preventive measures such as tamoxifen.

“This study highlights that greater support needs to be offered to GPs in prescribing off-patent drugs in new uses. Ultimately, while not all women will want to take tamoxifen as it has side-effects as well as benefits, it’s imperative that they are offered the choice and given all the information they need to make an informed decision.”

The study involved online responses from 928 family doctors from England, Northern Ireland and Wales. The researchers presented respondents with a series of scenarios in which a healthy patient was seeking a tamoxifen prescription. They found 51% of the GPs knew the drug could reduce breast cancer risk, and 24% said they were aware of the relevant professional advice.

They found GPs were more comfortable discussing and more willing to prescribe or recommend these drugs if supported by hospital doctors. Cancer Research UK (CRUK) called for better support for GPs.

The tamoxifen study formed part of a CRUK report that also looks at other cancer-preventing drugs. The report says 73% of GPs know that aspirin could reduce the risk of bowel cancer in people who are at high risk.

Among GPs who had heard of the Lynch syndrome – a genetic condition that can increase a person’s risk of bowel cancer, cancer of the womb and some other cancers – just under half knew that aspirin could reduce the risk of cancers linked to the syndrome.

The report makes a number of recommendations to ensure cancer-preventing drugs are routinely discussed with and offered to patients who may benefit.

Its author, Dr Samuel Smith, a CRUK fellow at the University of Leeds, said: “Our report helps us to understand GP attitudes towards the use of cancer-preventing drugs. It’s clear that more needs to be done to promote the evidence and guidance associated with these drugs, particularly as research reveals GPs are lacking the support to discuss effectively the risks and benefits of preventive therapy.”

Prof Arnie Purushotham, CRUK’s senior clinical adviser, said: “Cancer-preventing drugs have the potential to have a huge impact by reducing the risk of cancer developing in the first place. This report reveals that it’s vital that GPs are given the right support and information so they are confident to explore the value of these drugs with those who would benefit from them, wherever they are in the UK.

“While this study focuses on reducing cancer risk, chemoprevention can also be used to reduce the risk of some cancers returning or spreading. It’s essential that the NHS provides a clear steer to doctors to ensure all patients have equal access to treatments that could benefit them.”

NHS Digital data shows there were 662,264 prescriptions dispensed for tamoxifen in 2015.

Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “The benefits of using long-term medication to lower the risk of developing cancer are becoming clearer as new research findings become available, and it’s important that this informs official clinical guidelines and that GPs and our teams are aware of them.

“But with clinical guidelines rightly being updated so frequently and given the incredibly broad spectrum of knowledge GPs need to have, it’s understandable that family doctors often take cues from our specialist colleagues in hospitals, so improved communication channels between primary and secondary care would certainly be helpful.”

Half of GPs unaware of drug"s use in cancer prevention – study

Cancer Council unaware tobacco giant behind FOI request on child smoking habits

Cancer Council Victoria says it had no concept a British American Tobacco worker was behind a freedom of details request for information on the tobacco use and acquiring habits of 1000′s of school children.

For the past 30 years, the council has surveyed youngsters aged among 12 and 17 about their age, gender and location, accessibility to income, alcohol and tobacco consumption and getting habits, and preferred brands.

The director of the Victorian Cancer Council, Todd Harper, stated a attorney had requested the survey information underneath the Freedom of Information Act, but the request was rejected since it was not in the public interest to release it.

Relevant: Australian teens major charge in eschewing consuming and smoking

It was not right up until Fairfax Media reported the lawyer had appealed towards the determination to Victoria’s Civil and Administrative Tribunal, that the council became mindful the attorney was an employee of the tobacco giant, Harper said.

“We had no idea that British American Tobacco was behind the request,” he said. “All we knew was it was an person from a law firm who wanted the information. I’m disappointed that the tobacco firm wasn’t upfront about its involvement.”

Harper stated the council was concerned that, as soon as manufactured public, the data could be utilized by tobacco and alcohol firms to acquire insight into the purchasing and drug consumption routines of younger folks, as nicely as the varieties of brand names that appealed to them.

The information is utilized by the Cancer Council to assist it recognize exactly where and how to direct publishing health messaging, as effectively as for scientific scientific studies. When mothers and fathers consented to their young children finishing the survey, the did so believing the information would be used only in the curiosity of public health, Harper explained.

Fairfax Media also exposed that the identical attorney utilised the Freedom of Information Act to get info from surveys of adult smokers in that state, which integrated queries about their attitudes toward smoking.

“The Cancer Institute NSW was compelled to give tobacco survey information requested underneath the NSW Government Info [Public access] Act,” its chief cancer officer, David Currow, told Fairfax.

A spokeswoman for British American Tobacco advised Guardian Australia the Victorian data request “wasn’t about children”.

“This is about plain packaging,” she stated. “We did not look for any individual data or info in respect of youngsters. We’ve asked for figures by way of a standard freedom of info request because we want to discover out if plain packaging, a measure introduced with out evidence and that straight influences our business, is possessing the effect the Australian government claims it is.”

In a globe very first, Australia passed plain packaging legislation in 2011, requiring all cigarette packaging to be stripped of marketing and branding, apart from the organization name and health warnings. All tobacco now comes in olive green cardboard containers with graphic overall health messages.

In a series of papers published by the Cancer Council in the BMJ journal Tobacco Control in March, plain packaging was related with an enhance in the variety of men and women pondering about quitting and trying to quit. The investigation also identified kids aged in between twelve and 17 found standardised packaging much less attractive.

An appeal date for the freedom of details request is nevertheless to be set.

Cancer Council unaware tobacco giant behind FOI request on child smoking habits