HEADLINES

• COMMENT: Think again on tobacco display ban
• 3.5 million tonnes of tobacco seized
• Blaze tragedy of disabled smoker
• Blackpool newsagent becomes first UK shopkeeper to be banned from selling tobacco
• USA: Public smoking bans effective for youth

• COMMENT: Think again on tobacco display ban

  We have much sympathy with independent newsagents in Worcester who are campaigning to reverse legislation that would force them to sell cigarettes under the counter.
  
  This newspaper has long been an enthusiastic supporter of the ban on smoking in public places.
  
  Some will claim the ban has caused serious damage to the pub trade. Our view is a combination of the recession and the availability of cheap alcohol in supermarkets has had a far bigger effect.
  
  The previous government’s decision to ban the open display of tobacco products is another matter entirely.
  
  We do not support this legislation, due to come into force in 2013, and we hope the coalition government stays true to pre-election promises and repeals the law.
  
  The thinking behind the legislation is that taking cigarettes off open display will help make smoking less attractive to youngsters.
  
  We think it might well have the opposite effect. Rebellious teenagers are far more likely to be attracted to something that has an air of secrecy about it.
  
  Independent newsagents and corner shops are dwindling. Banning tobacco displays will simply drive another nail into the coffin of those that remain.
  
  It is a classic case of politicians tinkering around the edges of a problem. The quickest and most effective way of reducing smoking rates and the deadly illnesses associated with it would be to make tobacco illegal.
  
  But, like alcohol, the tax revenues are too great for such a decision to ever be taken.
  
  There are already tough penalties for those who sell cigarettes to the young, but they are not imposed enough.
  
  It would be far better for the coalition to focus on enforcing current laws than allowing legislation to come into force that will do no more than put more local businesses in danger.

  ASH comment: There is no evidence that removing tobacco displays would increase teenagers’ demand for cigarettes, nor it there is evidence that display bans harm local businesses. For more information on tobacco at the point of sale please visit the ASH website:  http://www.ash.org.uk/information/facts-and-stats/ash-briefings

  Further coverage:
  

  The Sunday Express: http://bit.ly/bZ9n4m

  The Press and Journal: http://bit.ly/9S6LCU

  Wales Online: http://bit.ly/b5Xo4o

  Source: Worcester News, 04 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/9bKeLz

• 3.5 million tonnes of tobacco seized

  Smugglers tried to sneak nearly four tonnes of tobacco – enough to make seven million cigarettes – into the Midlands by hiding it in big flower pots.

  Officers from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) raided a self-storage facility in West Bromwich.

  They seized 3.5 tonnes of smuggled hand rolling tobacco worth £520,000 of unpaid duty.

  The tobacco was found in large flower planters, in three units, and is believed to have come from Poland. Keith Morgan, specialist investigation detection manager for HMRC, said: “We have active and effective teams operating across the West Midlands to deter and disrupt those dealing in illicit tobacco.

  “This illegal trade is costing the tax payer around £2.5 billion in lost revenue and has a devastating impact on legitimate retailers competing with black market traders.”

  No arrests were made and investigations are ongoing.

  Source: Birmingham Mail, 05 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/b5393J

• Blaze tragedy of disabled smoker

  A bedridden woman died when her cigarette sparked a fire that ripped through her York home, an inquest heard.

  The husband of 61-year-old Linda Winzar said he would regret his decision to let his wife smoke unsupervised for the rest of his life.

  Mrs Winzar, a retired credit controller who had been left disabled by a series of strokes, died in the blaze at the couple’s semi-detached home in Huntington, on January 6 last year.

  Recording a verdict of accidental death, York coroner Donald Coverdale issued a warning about the perils of smoking in bed.

  He said: “What has occurred is a domestic accident of the most awful kind. The facts speak for themselves. Everybody needs to recognise that this scenario is the worst and most dreadful scenario that can occur following smoking in bed and it should be borne in mind by all those who smoke cigarettes.”

  Mrs Winzar’s husband, Howard, told the inquest how he initially banned his wife from smoking unsupervised when she came home from hospital in 2007.

  He said: “I made every attempt to persuade her to give up smoking all together, but unfortunately it was the passion of her life.

  “She did improve by the beginning of 2008 and she persuaded me to allow her to have her cigarettes unsupervised. It’s a decision that I will regret for the rest of my life.”

  Mr Winzar, 60, also revealed how a couple of months before her death, his wife’s bedding had caught fire while she was lighting a cigarette.

  In a statement read out at the inquest, he said: “I was in the kitchen at the time. I looked towards the bed and saw flames from the blanket on the bed. I threw it on the floor and jumped on it.

  “I noticed a burnt tissue next to it and assumed this had caught fire. I told Linda she must be more careful in future.”

  The inquest heard how Mrs Winzar’s next door neighbour had raised the alarm at about 4.40pm on January 6 last year after hearing banging from inside her home.

  Source: York Press, 04 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/dmYCdu

• Blackpool newsagent becomes first UK shopkeeper to be banned from selling tobacco

  A newsagent has become the first shopkeeper in Britain to be banned from selling tobacco after he was caught flogging cigarettes to under-age children on three occasions.

  Two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old bought 20 cigarettes each at Aqeel Ahmed's newsagents in Blackpool in April, May and August last year, the town's magistrates court heard.

  As well being banned from selling tobacco for 40 days, Ahmed, 24, of Rochdale, was fined £125 and ordered to pay £100 costs. He had already been fined £125 and cautioned.

  Source: The Mirror, 06 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/aqVwT1

• USA: Public smoking bans effective for youth

  Children and teens who live in counties banning smoking in public places have much lower levels of a secondhand smoke biomarker, U.S. researchers found.

  Study leader Melanie Dove, who received her doctorate in environmental health at Harvard School of Public Health this year, said the team examined data from the 1999-2006 National Health and Nutrition. 

  

  Examination Survey, a cross-sectional survey designed to monitor the health of the U.S. population.

  The researchers analyzed the cotinine levels in 11,486 non-smoking children and teens ages 3-19 from 117 counties, both with and without exposure to secondhand smoke in the home.

  The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found children living where smoking is banned at workplaces, colleges and stores had 39 percent lower prevalence of cotinine in their blood -- an indicator of tobacco smoke exposure -- compared to children exposed to secondhand smoke.

  "The laws have been shown to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke among adults. Our results show a similar association in children and adolescents not living with a smoker in the home," senior author Gregory Connolly said in a statement.

  Children who lived in homes with smokers exhibited little or no benefit from the public smoking bans, the study found.

  Source: UPI.com, 07 June 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/9jtdP5