ASH, 102 Clifton Street, London EC2A 4HW Tel: 020 7739 5902 Fax: 020 7613 0531

ASH Daily News

16 October 2001

Headlines

Court of Appeal rules in favour of RJ Reynolds
Sir Paul Nurse is awarded Nobel
New NRT lozenge
Universities and tobacco money
Lottery winner in cigarette smuggling scam

Full Text


Court of Appeal rules in favour of RJ Reynolds

A federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of a Canadian cigarette smuggling lawsuit against RJ Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc, saying that Canada’s case was an impermissible effort to use US courts to collect foreign taxes.

In a 2-1 decision, a panel of US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, sitting in New York, ruled that the so called common law revenue rule bars Canada and other governments from using American courts to enforce foreign tax laws.

Canada had sued in December 1999, accusing the former RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. and some of its subsidiaries of engaging in a an elaborate conspiracy to smuggle cigarettes into Canada after the country sharply raised it’s tobacco taxes in the early 1990s.

Daniel W. Donahue, Reynold’s deputy general counsel called the decision “an important victory for international law.” A company spokesman also added that the ruling had ‘favourable’ implications for the tobacco industry in smuggling cases filed by other countries including 10 members of the European Union.

It is unclear how much of Friday’s ruling will ultimately affect the other cigarette smuggling cases, and it is unlikely to be the last word on the applicability of the revenue rule to these lawsuits, which allege violations of U.S. antiracketeering laws.

In a strongly worded dissent to the majority opinion, appeals court judge Guido Calabresi wrote that “the revenue rule has nothing to with this case.” He continued: “The suit before us in no way requires our courts to enforce foreign judgements or claims; it is simply an action for damages provided for and brought under federal law.”

Source: The Wall Street Journal Europe, 15 October 2001

Sir Paul Nurse is awarded Nobel

The Director General of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund has been awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine for his work in genetics.

Sir Paul Nurses achievement was discovering the gene that control cell division that occurs in cancer. The citation from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm says, “Defects in cell cycle may lead to the type of chromosome alterations seen in cancer cells. This may in the long term open new possibilities for cancer treatment.”

After an interview with Sir Paul for the Sunday Times, Jasper Gerard described the man as casual with a passion for books and astronomy, an a fondness for motorbikes and glider planes. However, the article went on to say that this disguises his sharp views on everything from “obscene” drug companies muscling in on treatments for breast cancer, to the “overhyped” genome project to New Labours “disgraceful” failure to ban cigarette advertising.

Source: The Sunday Times, 14 October 2001



New NRT lozenge

A new oral form of nicotine replacement therapy NiQuitin CQ lozenge has been launched by GlaxoSmithKline. The company says that the new pharmacy medicine triples the chances of stopping smoking compared to a placebo.

Results from a placebo controlled trial, which involved 1,818 smokers were presented by Dr Robin Cregeen, a consultant in pharmaceutical medicine to GlaxoSmithKline.

In contrast to other NRT products, the dose of lozenge, 2mg or 4mg, is determined by the time between waking and the first cigarette, not by the number of cigarettes smoked a day.

GlaxoSmithKline recommends that during weeks one to six of a treatment programme, one lozenge is taken every one to two hours and that a minimum of nine lozenges per day are used.

The company launched its new NRT product on October 4 this year. Speaking at the launch, community pharmacist Dr Terry Maguire said that pharmacists had a role to play in providing smoking g cessation services. Citing high risk people such as pregnant women and angina sufferers, Dr Maguire said that NRT should not be denied if people want help to give up smoking. “Empowering patients is not something that comes easily to pharmacists.” he said.

Source: Pharmaceutical Journal, 13 October 2001



Universities and tobacco money

In a letter to the editor of the British Medical Journal, John Powles, a university lecturer in Public Health Medicine at Cambridge, said that if universities are to play their allotted social role, they need above all to show respect for truthfulness. It is the fact that tobacco cannot be sold without systematic and sustained lying and deception that makes its purveyors unsuitable partners for universities.

He adds : “Society is impoverished when universities associate with organisations that treat the truth with contempt.”

Source: British Medical Journal, Vol. 323, 13 October 2001



Lottery winner in cigarette smuggling scam

A lottery millionaire convicted over a huge cigarette smuggling racket is said to be hoping to avoid going to prison.

Ex-ice cream seller Rossano Rossi, 33, was arrested waiting to take delivery of one million cigs from eastern Europe.

The dad of one – who won £2 million on the national lottery in 1997 – admitted the plot to smuggle cigarettes at Sheffield Crown Court.

Mr Rossi, from Barnsley, and six others will be sentenced next month.

Source: Guardian G2 ‘Online’ section, page 7, 11 October 2001



Visit http://TobaccoPedia.org !