ASH Daily News for 12 September 2008

Canada: Anti-smoking group wants $1.1B tobacco company settlement investigated

Anti-smoking organizations are furious at what they call a sweetheart settlement of smuggling allegations with two major tobacco companies and are demanding the federal auditor general investigate the process used to reach the agreement. Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada has asked Auditor-General Sheila Fraser to investigate the recent $1.1-billion settlement with Imperial Tobacco and Rothmans Inc., calling it a "cosy deal with tobacco companies [which] offered them a get-out-of-jail-free card for pennies on the dollar." Dr. Atul Kapur, the group's president, said he wants Ms. Fraser to find out who negotiated the settlement, why it was so low and why no tobacco executives were criminally charged. The physicians calculate that the smuggling-related activities of Imperial Tobacco and Rothmans Inc. during the early 1990s together cheated the Canadian government out of more than $4-billion, not including interest charges, penalties and fines.

Source: National Post, 12 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/kgSYs

Supermodel flouts smoking ban backstage at New York Fashion Week

Supermodel Agyness Deyn likes to bend the rules when it comes to fashion - and smoking. The model was caught lighting up a cigarette as she relaxed backstage at Anna Sui's New York Fashion Week catwalk show yesterday despite the presence of a 'No Smoking' sign. She brazenly flouted the ban inside the Bryant Park tent, with organisers apparently turning a blind eye.

Source: This Is London, 11 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/runv8

US: House moves to stop black market sales of tobacco

The House on Wednesday moved to crack down on the contraband cigarette sales that drain federal, state and local treasuries of billions while providing a lucrative source of income for criminals. The bill, passed 379-12, would impose shipping and record-keeping requirements on those selling cigarettes and smokeless tobacco over the phone or through the mail or Internet, and make failure to comply with state tax laws a felony. It is currently a misdemeanor.

It would also require Internet and other remote sellers to verify the age and identity of purchasers to cut down on sales to minors. Delivery of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco through the U.S. Postal Service would be ended. "We can really make sure states get the revenues. We can make sure that the black market in tobacco is eliminated and frankly we can make sure that the ATF has the tools they need to crack down on this," said Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., sponsor of the legislation.

Illegal trafficking is an outgrowth of the wide variance in state excise tax rates on cigarettes that encourages smuggling from states with low taxes to states with high taxes. As of the beginning of this year, tax rates ranged from seven cents a pack in South Carolina to $2.57 in New Jersey. Weiner said that in New York City, which has a city tax on top of the state tax, the average price per pack may be around $10. He also cited Government Accountability Office warnings that cigarette smuggling could become a source of revenue for terrorist groups.

"Illegal trafficking in cigarettes can generate enormous profits and is purportedly a multibillion dollar a year enterprise," the GAO said in a 2004 report. "Cigarette smuggling results in lost tax revenues, undermines government health policy objectives, can attract sophisticated and organized criminal groups, and could be a source of funding for terrorists." Weiner's office pointed to a 2002 case where a federal jury in North Carolina found a man guilty of smuggling $7.9 million worth of cigarettes from North Carolina to Michigan. The man and his brother were accused of steering profits from their operation to Hezbollah.

The legislation also requires cigarette sellers to keep their records for four years. The Justice Department is authorized to compile a list of delivery sellers who fail to comply with these requirements or state tax laws. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is given new authority to inspect the records and inventories of cigarette shippers. Sen. Herbert Kohl, D-Wis., has introduced a similar bill in the Senate.

Source: Yahoo Finance, 11 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/Nl4T1  

Finland: High social capital at work helps stop smoking

New research indicates that high social capital at work is associated with an increased likelihood of smoking cessation. A research project within the Academy of Finland's Research Programme on Social Capital and Networks of Trust (SoCa) examined smoking cessation among a total of 4,853 municipal employees who reported to be smokers. Being a non-smoker at follow-up was 1.3 times more likely for those employees who reported high social capital at work than for their counterparts with low social capital at work.

A total of 1,608 employees (or 21 per cent) stopped smoking during the four-year follow-up time frame. The link between social capital and smoking cessation was the strongest for employees in higher-status positions. Social capital at work is manifested as a feeling of togetherness, good interaction and a striving towards the common good.

The SoCa project "Social capital and well-being amid the pressures for change of working life", led by Professor Mika Kivimäki, has studied the ways in which social capital and its different subfields are connected to major diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and depression.

The project involved analyses of follow-up data on some 10,000 public employees from London and more than 40,000 municipal employees from Finland. The results showed that there was a link between fair management and an employee's risk for coronary disease. If the management was seen as fair it was reflected as a reduced risk for coronary disease. Based on the register data, the research also showed that there was a link between organisational changes perceived as negative and an increased use of psychoactive drugs.

Source: Medical News Today, 10 September 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/tZmiY