Science Media Centre

Martin Johnston writes in the New Zealand Herald about research from Victoria University suggesting that roll-your-own cigarettes (rollies) might be more expensive than their ‘tailored’ counterparts. This could be due to rollies having a higher tar/nicotine ratio, with tar also containing a number of addictive elements. An excerpt: (read in full here) “Dr Lewis said [...]

Research published today in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, suggests children of  mothers who smoke heavily during pregnancy are more likely to become career criminals. Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health in the USsurveyed 3,700 mothers between 1959 and 1966 on their smoking habits during pregnancy. In 2000, criminal record checks [...]

Samantha Hayes reports that a University of Otago study has found that despite an international ban on tobacco advertising, YouTube has a great deal of tobacco-related advertising and pro-tobacco video clips. Researchers looked at five different brands, including Malboro, and tobacco-related video clips tended to involve celebrities, movies and sports. An excerpt: (read in full [...]

Prominent psychiatrist Professor David Nutt has been touring New Zealand giving lectures about his view that illegal drugs should be classified according to the harm they cause. Professor Nutt was sacked last year from his position as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), after publishing a paper claiming that alcohol [...]

CRI Taskforce set to give its verdict The CRI Taskforce, set up by the Government to review the structure of the country’s Crown Research Institutes, is set to release its recommendations after presenting them to the Minister for Research, Science and Technology, Dr Wayne Mapp on February 15. Taskforce chairman Neville Jordan said the review [...]