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ASH Daily News
4 December 2002


HEADLINES

Smoke-free areas not a threat to trade
Customs: Fight against smugglers to go on
‘Light’ and ‘mild’ cigarette brands to be scrapped
Roll-your-own on a roll of its own


FULL TEXT


Smoke-free areas not a threat to trade

New reports indicate that smoke-free areas in pubs do not harm trade
according to new research. The results of a new survey of more than 400
hospitality businesses, published in the British Medical Journal , show in
almost all cases there has been no fall in trade following the introduction
of smoke-free areas under the industry’s smoking charter.

The survey found: 82 percent of businesses had no problem with their
smoke-free policies; 90 percent saw trade remain steady; and 95 percent
would recommend smoke-free policies to other businesses.

Oliver Griffiths of the hospitality industry’s AIR initiative said: “It is
relatively easy for restaurants and pubs with eating areas to enforce
no-smoking zones. They would be more difficult to enforce in single-room
community pubs on a busy Saturday night. These places need cleaner air too,
for the benefit of staff and customers.”

Richard Edwards, a health lecturer from Manchester University and author of
the report said: It is economic folly for businesses to continue to ignore
non-smokers given the economic benefits demonstrated in this study.”

Source: Publican, 2 December 2002



Customs: Fight against smugglers to go on

Customs & Excise will continue stopping cross-Channel shoppers in its drive
to catch tobacco smugglers, despite the relaxation of controls at ports
following concerns over the harassment of innocent travellers.

Richard Broadbent, Customs chairman, said he was "absolutely confident" that
Customs would meet Treasury targets to keep smuggling down. Measures
introduced this autumn allow more cigarettes to be brought in for personal
use while legally protecting the rights of consumers.

"We have made some adjustments to make it absolutely clear the people we are
trying to deal with are smugglers . . . it was time to make the
clarification because we had the illicit trade down by 80 per cent," he
said. Mr Broadbent admitted the Customs crackdown on the black market
cigarette trade last year had been "a very difficult policy to implement",
fuelling outrage in the tabloid media.

"We work at the interface with the public and it was not easy," he said. "My
view is that the job was carried out very skilfully by Customs. Only one in
a thousand people had their goods seized, and in only one in a hundred of
those was the judgment of the Customs officer reversed."

He said he did not believe the new crackdown on value added tax fraud,
intended to raise an extra £2bn a year, would prompt a similar wave of
protest.

Source: Financial Times, 4 December 2002



‘Light’ and ‘mild’ cigarette brands to be scrapped

Popular "light" and "mild" brands of cigarettes will be removed from the
shelves next year in a government drive to highlight the dangers of smoking,
ministers said yesterday.

Brands such as Marlboro Lights and Camel Lights beloved of student smokers
will have to be changed under the crackdown on "misleading doublespeak" used
to promote cigarettes.

New health warnings printed on all cigarette packets will also highlight the
dangers of smoking-related impotence as part of the campaign, designed to
stop smoking being seen as "sexy", Alan Milburn, the Secretary of State for
Health, said.

New regulations governing cigarette brands and packaging are expected to
come into force in April, alongside a national ban on tobacco advertising.

Full article:
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=358292
Source: The Independent, 4 December 2002

The Wall Street Journal (Europe), however, takes a long look at the
commissions attempts to regulate the tobacco industry. The article in the
WSJ questions the logic behind Commissioner Byrne’s penchant for restricting
tobacco industry activities such as advertising:

‘The EU seems determined to hound the tobacco industry out of business, or
at least put on life support, even despite the fact that the €17bn-a-year
industry does pay a lot of taxes. And like the
lights-are-worse-for-you-no-they’re-not rules, the latest strictures may
merely serve as a kind of regulatory harassment for an unpopular business.’

Source: Walls Street Journal (Europe), 4 December 2002



Roll-your-own on a roll of its own

The roll your own market is booming with sales up 3.5% last year according
to the annual Swedish Match Market Report. It estimates that around four
million people make their own cigarettes and the numbers are set to grow as
successive tax increases push the retail price of cigarettes higher.

Sales of hand rolling tobacco are growing again following several years of
decline as bootleg imports flooded in from the continent.

Source: Independent Retail News, 29 November 2002


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Naj Dehlavi
Action on Smoking and Health
102 Clifton Street
London EC2A 4HW
http://www.ash.org.uk