ASH Daily News for 18 August 2008

Millions of fake cigarettes seized en route for Burnley

Customs officials have seized nine million fake cigarettes worth £1.57m in duty, which were destined for the streets of Burnley.

The massive haul of cigarettes was made on August 5th when UK Border Agency (UKBA) officers swooped on the port of Felixstowe, Suffolk.

The cigarettes, which arrived in containers from Namibia, were described as charcoal but when officers opened the load, they found it packed with Benson and Hedges Gold cigarettes.

Mr Jim Jarvie, deputy director for central region UKBA, said: "This is a large seizure of illegal cigarettes that without the intervention of UKBA officers working alongside HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC) colleagues would have flooded our streets.

"A vital part of UKBA and HMRC's work is to protect the interests of honest shopkeepers by preventing commercial smuggling and the onward transport and sale of illegal cigarettes."

Mr Dave Gostelow, a HMRC spokesman, added: "UKBA and HMRC are keen to work closely with local people and business communities in the fight against cigarette fraud."

Source: Thhe Burnley Express, 15 August 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/5b2bcd

Home smoking bans prevent teenage tobacco experimentation

Results from a study show that teenagers are less likely to experiment with cigarettes if their parents ban smoking in the family home.

"This basic intervention - implementing a household smoking ban - has the potential to promote anti smoking norms and to prevent adolescent smoking," said lead researcher Dr Alison Albers, from Boston University School of Public Health in Massachusetts, USA.

To investigate the effects of smoking bans in the home on the attitudes of teenagers towards smoking, Dr Albers and team interviewed 2217 adolescents, aged between 12 and 17 years, and monitored them for 4 years.

The researchers found that teenagers who lived in households that did not ban smoking were significantly more likely to view smoking as a socially acceptable habit than those with parents who banned smoking at home.

Among teenagers with non smoking parents, those who lived in homes without a smoking ban were 1.9 times more likely to experiment with cigarettes than teenagers who lived in homes without a ban.

Teenagers with parents who allowed smoking at home also tended to believe that a higher percentage of adults in their town smoked, compared with those living with parents who banned smoking.

Writing in the American Journal of Public Health, Dr Albers and team conclude: "Home smoking bans may promote antismoking attitudes among youths and reduce progression to smoking experimentation among youths who live with non smokers."

Commenting on the findings, Dr Mary Hrywna, from New Jersey School of Public Health in New Brunswick, USA, who was not involved with the study, added. "These bans send a strong message to teens that it's not okay to smoke, and in the face of so many other external factors that may influence teens to smoke - peers, advertising - a home smoking policy is one thing that parents can control to some extent."

Source: Medwire News, 15 August 2008  
Link: http://tinyurl.com/56vaao

Scotland: Number of pubs rises since smoking ban

Scotland officially now has more pubs than before the smoking ban.

The Scottish Government yesterday reported the number of current public house licences had risen by nine in 2007, the first full year after the 2006 crackdown.

There are now 5186 pubs in the country, roughly one for every 1000 people.

Publicans, however, drew little or no comfort from the official figures yesterday and insisted they are still facing some of their toughest challenges in a generation, and not just from the ban.

"Pubs have become far more diversified," said Patrick Browne, of the Scottish Beer and Pub Association.

"Fifteen to 20 years ago they relied entirely on selling alcohol. Now they are serving food, providing entertainment, diversifying."

One example of the new breed of publican is Ryan Barrie, 33, who converted part of the old Glasgow Sheriff Court building in the city's Merchant City, which had lain derelict for more than 10 years.

Mr Barrie said: "It's the type of place where you can come in, get a bottle of wine, grab a sofa and let the night disappear."

Big chains, however, are also moving in, finding it easier to see out the tough days than smaller rivals in rural areas. Industry research, cited by Mr Browne, shows 450 pubs have closed since the smoking ban, although there are no statistics on how many have opened up in the same period.

Paul Waterstone of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, which tends to represent independents, is not convinced by the official figures. "There are whole villages where there are no pubs," said Mr Waterstone.

"These were the heart of their community. Now we have whole areas of the country with no banks, no post offices and no pubs."

The real threat to the licensed trade, however, comes not from the smoking ban, industry experts believe, but from off-licences and supermarkets.

There are 6232 premises licensed to carry out off-sales - up from 4899 in 1980. Supermarkets are now believed to account for nearly half of all alcohol sales.

Alcohol is much cheaper in the supermarket. In an economic slow down, more people appear to prefer a cheap drink at home to an expensive drink out.

In many areas, drinkers have no choice but to stay at home. "We heard of villages in Moray where people had to be driven 12 miles to get a drink," said Mr Browne

Source: The Herald, 16 August 2008  
Link: http://tinyurl.com/5shf6f

Nigeria: Group seeks probe of smoking parties 

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has urged the federal government to investigate on-going parties, organised by British American Tobacco Nigeria to promote its Pall Mall cigarette brand.

It said the parties were being used to induce under-age persons into smoking.

ERA/FoEN, in a statement issued in Lagos, alleged that BAT has staged secret smoking parties in Sokoto, Kano, Ilorin, Ibadan while plans to stage the next party in Akure, Ondo state have been concluded.

The group’s Programme Manager, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said, "It is outrageous that BAT is still conducting itself this way just weeks after a BBC documentary revealed how the corporation had been marketing cigarettes to children across Africa and how it had used parties and concerts to lure people to smoking."

Its investigation revealed that invitations cards were given out secretly to youths in secondary and tertiary institutions, adding that while there were no checks at the gate on age limits, young people, especially the girls, were encouraged to attend.

‘Free cigarettes were given out at the gate and young people compelled to light and smoke cigarettes before entering, while there were many more sticks given out during the course of the party. There was also dancing competition with an iPOD being the star prize while other consolation prices include packs of Pall Mall cigarettes and lighters and no one was allowed to enter the venue with a camera."

We were shocked to discover that people holding the invitation cards were compelled to light up before entering the event venue after which the invitation cards were withdrawn and confiscated. There were also young girls handing out free cigarettes. Most of the girls were less than 18 years old. It is outrageous, this is not what we want for our youths," Oluwafemi added.

It claimed that despite all the secrecy that BAT built round the smoking parties, there was foolproof evidence of the secret smoking parties.

The group urged government to begin immediate investigation particularly why a corporate organisation is organising secret parties for youths and under-age persons.

ERA warned that Nigeria could not continue to condone such disregard for law and order and asked the government to take necessary steps to protect Nigerian youths from tobacco marketing and addiction by taking the necessary disciplinary measures against the company.

In July, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcast a one-hour documentary which revealed how BAT has been marketing cigarette to African youths. The smoking parties, it was gathered, were secretly planned to shore up the sale of the Pall Mall cigarette, it noted.

Source: All Africa, 15 August 2008  
Link: http://tinyurl.com/5cozsv

Australia: NSW: Banned confectionary cigarettes creep back

Confectionary cigarettes designed to appeal to children are making a return to stores in New South Wales (NSW), despite being banned in the state almost a decade ago.

The French Catcher "cigarettes", made from chocolate, individually wrapped in white cigarette paper and packaged in retro-style soft-top cartons similar to those used for real cigarettes, are being imported and distributed by a Hornsby company, Universal Candy.

Under NSW legislation, the distribution and sale of all confectionery, toy and trick cigarettes have been prohibited since 1999. But there are no laws against the products' sale in Victoria and Queensland.

Universal Candy's owner, said he stopped importing Catcher months ago. However, consignments may have been distributed to wholesalers in the states where the ban does not apply and sent back to NSW.

A spokesman for the minister with responsibility for tobacco legislation, Verity Firth, said NSW Health was aware of Universal Candy but would not say whether the department was investigating.

The Opposition said products that glamorise tobacco use to children should be recalled.

A study from University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in the United States, published last year, found a history of candy cigarette use was associated with increased risk of smoking as an adult

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 August 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/6e9vsu