ASH Daily News for 29/11/2004

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ASH Daily News

29 November 2004

HEADLINES

Maggie may be suffering husband Denis's a 60 day habit
Hi-tech smoke screen
Danger: Fake cigarettes will kill you (even quicker!)
Ireland: Up in smoke
Ireland: Cigarette sales plummet as smoke ban bites
BAT to force out minor shareholders



FULL TEXT

Maggie may be suffering husband Denis's a 60 day habit

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher could be "dying from passive smoking", reports the Sunday Mirror.

Head of Cancer Research Alex Markham has blamed her faltering health on her late husband's 60-a-day cigarette habit. Professor Markham dismissed claims made in a TV debate by pro-smoking campaigner and artist David Hockney that the habit was safe.

Hockey argued that businessman Denis lived to 86 despite his habit, while the non-smoking Baroness was still "going strong", irrespective of her inhaling her husband's smoke for over five decades.

However, during a discussion on BBC2's Newsnight Professor Markham said: "I have to remind you that unfortunately Denis Thatcher is dead now. And I understand he had coronary artery by-pass grafting and died of a stroke. So, Denis Thatcher experienced all the medical sequelae of smoking."

He went on to add: "I'm afraid to say that Lady Thatcher now has severe cerebrovascular disease. Who is to say that is not a consequence of smoking?

Hockney does not believe that Mrs Thatcher's late husband's life was not actually cut short - despite the fact that he chain-smoked super strength Senior Service until his death last year.

Lady Thatcher often boasted about her good health and how she could manage on just four hours sleep a night. Yet in 1994, she collapsed during a speaking tour in Santiago, Chile. Her health worsened in 2002 when she suffered a minor stroke.

Source: Sunday Mirror, November 28, 2004


Hi-tech smoke screen

Smokers could circumvent tough new, anti-smoking laws, thanks to a hi-tech air purifier which it is claimed "eats" a roomful of cigarette fumes in seconds.

It is claimed that plans are afoot to re-legalise smoking in US bars that install the £2,000 machine. If lawyers are successful, similar devices could derail government plans to curb smoking in public places in Britain.

Illinois based Airstar Technologies who make the equipment said: "It wasn't designed to circumvent no-smoking laws but it seems to have been leaped on for that."

Airstar Technologies already supply US space agency NASA with super-pure air devices.

Source: Daily Star Sunday, 28 November 2004


Danger: Fake cigarettes will kill you (even quicker!)

Thousands of people are risking a rapid death by buying counterfeit cigarettes packed with lethal poisons, warns the People.

One in four cigarettes sold in the UK is now a counterfeit from the Far East or Eastern Europe packaged to look like well established brands. But the fakes sold at markets and on street corners also contain chemicals and gases that kill at an even quicker rate than legalised ones.

A major health campaign will be launched next month, listing the poison gas contents these cigarettes contain.

Chris Ogden, of the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association said: "There's no such thing as a safe cigarette, but UK smokers should buy legitimate brands made in clean factories."

Source: The People, 28 November 2004


Ireland: Up in smoke

Irish smokers bought 55 million fewer packs of 20 this year - largely as a result of the smoking ban.

Department of Finance figures show 1.1 billion fewer cigarettes were sold this year, costing the Exchequer Eur128m in lost excise duty.

The Taxation Statistics Budget 2005 document issued by the Department of Finance, ahead of next week's Budget, estimates that sales of cigarettes will be down by 17.6% by the end of the year.

Despite their dwindling numbers, smokers still coughed up Eur1bn in excise duties last year. And they could be paying more next year. Finance Minister Brian Cowen would not rule out an increase in cigarette prices in Wednesday's budget.

The department's figures show alcohol sales have not been adversely impacted by the smoking ban. In fact, drink sales are up by volume: spirits up 4%, wine up 10%, cider up 2% and beer down just 1%.

Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Micheal Martin, who as Health Minister introduced the smoking ban on March 29, said last night that any reduction in smoking was to be welcomed.

"The fall in cigarette sales is a direct result of the Smoking Quitline, the advertising campaign that smoking can damage your health and indirectly to the smoking ban," he added.

The fall in smoking will result in a Eur128m drop (16.2%) in excise taxes from cigarettes. The department calculates that this will be the equivalent to a drop in sales of 55 million packs of 20 cigarettes, or 1.1 billion cigarettes over the year.


The drop in excise revenue from cigarettes will be more than off-set by the increases in the sale by volume of spirits, wine, cider, and petrol, up 3%.

Source: Irish Examiner, 26 November 2004


Ireland: Cigarette sales plummet as smoke ban bites

THERE has been a dramatic fall in smoking since it was banned from pubs and other workplaces.

Sales of cigarettes have dipped by 17.6pc in the year, reducing Government revenue by Eur128m.

Officials at the Department of Finance had expected that the smoking ban would result in a loss of about Eur70m in revenue, but the new figures reveal it is nearly twice that.

It is thought to be the first time that one of the Government's 'old reliables' for revenue earning has fallen below the target set for the year.

The relentless drive against the weed is now showing clear evidence that Irish smoking habits are changing, with more people either quitting or reducing their consumption.

Finance Minister Brian Cowen said the large drop in cigarette consumption proved that the Government's "brave" decision on the smoking ban was a good public health initiative.

And Mr Cowen refused to rule out putting even higher excise duties on cigarettes in the Budget. In the first six months of the year about 260m fewer cigarettes were sold and the expectation is that this trend will prove to have continued for the full year.

Department of Finance figures suggest the full-year drop in sales may reach 700-800m cigarettes.

Source: Irish Independent, 26 November 2004


BAT to force out minor shareholders

BAR owner British American Tobacco may be forced to put the team into administration in order to complete Honda's 45 percent buy-in, Autosport has been informed.

Honda only wants its stake if the minority of shareholders are removed, and an offer has been made to buy them out. Should they refuse to accept that offer by the end of this week, BAT would put the team into administration.

Source: Autosport: 25 November 2004.

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Harold Wilson
ASH
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