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ASH Daily News

11-13 November, 2000

Headlines
'Tobacco bosses were behind EU smuggling'
'Smuggling clouds tobacco stocks'
Preview of WHO art exhibition
'A million duty-free cigarettes seized'
'Parents, not ads' sway children'
'Anti-smoking ads race row'
'Brown & Williamson names new Ceo, President in U.S.'

Full Text

'Tobacco bosses were behind EU smuggling'

The Sunday Business reports, 'Senior executives from two of the world's
tobacco giants held secret meetings in New York JFK airport to co-ordinate a
massive cigarette smuggling operation into the European Union, according to
papers lodged this week at a New York court.'

Source: Sunday Business, 12 November 2000

'Smuggling clouds tobacco stocks'

The Investors Chronicle reports, 'Cigarette smuggling has become the latest
stick to beat tobacco companies with. Last week the UK government announced
an investigation into British American Tobacco. This week, the European
Commission waded in with a lawsuit against US tobacco giants Philip Morris
and RJ Reynolds under racketeering legislation. The EC which hasn't included
BAT in the action, is accusing the companies of confusion with cigarette
smugglers, which defrauded the bloc out of billions of dollars of tax
revenue.'

Source: Investors Chronicle, 12 November 2000

Preview of WHO art exhibition

The Evening Standard and the Independent previews the art exhibition
commissioned by the World Health Organisation as part of its Tobacco
cessation initiative. The exhibition features a collection of work in
various forms from films to pictures, by artists on the theme of smoking and
aims to inspire smokers to quit and show that process in a positive
light."We have seen how creative the tobacco business is using art to
promote and market cigarettes", Dr Roberto Bertolloni, WHO's director of
strategic development and technical support, told the Evening Standard. The
exhibition will take place in the Whitechapel art gallery in London from
22nd to 24th November (nearest tube station: Whitechapel)

Source: Independent 11 November 2000 Evening Standard, 10 November 2000

A million cigarettes seized

A million cigarettes have been seized from a lorry carrying toilet rolls in
Lockerbie, Dumfries.

Source: The Sun, 11 November 2000

'Parents, not ads' sway children'

The Times reports that, 'The idea that advertisements lead children to make
parents buy products is a myth', according to a report by the Social Affairs
Unit. The article adds that, The report says that, children are far more
sophisticated than people often assume. Other studies had shown that a third
of six-year olds are able to be sceptical about the credibility of adverts.
People who talk about the power of advertising ignore the failure of many
anti-product campaigns, like that against smoking.'

Letters to the Times can be emailed to: letters@thetimes.co.uk or faxed:
(0)20 7782 5046

Source: The Times, 11 November 2000

'Anti-smoking ads race row'

The Daily Express reports that 'Health officials told producers of an
anti-smoking TV advertising campaign to exclude Asian women.'

However, a DoH spokesman said, the decision was made at the outset because
it would offend the Sikh section of the community, "Adverts which portray
Sikh women smoking would be offensive to the Sikh community."

Indarjit Singh, director of the Network of Sikh Organisations said, "The
Department of Health approached me some time ago regarding this and my
advice was that showing a Sikh woman smoking would be offensive to Sikhs.'

Piara Khabra, MP for Ealing and Southall, said, "It would be offensive for
the Sikh community, but not Asians as a whole. Asian women are part of our
society. I don't think they should be excluded from this - particularly as
we want to reduce smoking in all sections of our society".

Source: Daily Express, 13 November 2000

'Brown & Williamson names new Ceo, President in U.S.'

Brown & Williamson Tobacco, the U.S. subsidiary of British America Tobacco,
have appointed Susan Ivey as their new President and becomes the first woman
to head a major U.S. tobacco company.

Source: Wall Street Journal Europe, 13 November 2000