HEADLINES

• TB smoking toll could reach 40 million
• Scotland: MSPs to hear health levy options
• Counterfeit tobacco: smoking out the bandits
• Liverpool barman caught smoking behind bar fined again
• USA: Hospital staff banned from smelling of tobacco smoke

• TB smoking toll could reach 40 million

  Forty million smokers could die from tuberculosis by 2050, according to projections published in the British Medical Journal.

  Smoking is a known risk factor for TB, and may reduce the ability of the lungs to fight off infection.  Smokers are twice as likely to get the lung infection and die from it, compared with non-smokers.

  
  Dr Sanjay Basu and colleagues from the University of California set out to predict the impact of smoking on future TB rates. According to their research, worldwide smoking could lead to 40 million extra deaths from TB from 2010 to 2050.

   

  If current smoking trends continue, the number of new cases of TB will rise by 18 million.
  Source: BBC online, 05 October 2011
  Link: http://bbc.in/qaqyRf

• Scotland: MSPs to hear health levy options

  Business and retail groups are raising their concerns over the SNP's proposed public health levy on large retailers that sell both alcohol and tobacco.

  The levy is opposed by the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC, which will appear before Holyrood's Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee. David Lonsdale of CBI Scotland, which branded the tax a "sting in the tail" for business, will also appear before the Committee.

   

  However, the levy is broadly welcomed by the Federation of Small Businesses, which will also take part in the committee hearing.
  Source: Press Association, 05 October 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/nhIZ8u

• Counterfeit tobacco: smoking out the bandits

  
  Matt Blake joins police and customs officers on a raid of a 'tab house'.

   

  Stashed within their garage and garden shed amid a large collection of eggs and tropical flowers is an £11,000 haul of counterfeit cigarettes and rolling tobacco, boxed and ready for sale. Upstairs, hidden under the master mattress, lies £20,000 in cash. This is an illegal "tab house" – the final stop on Britain's vast illegal tobacco trade network.

  
  A search of the property unearths 36,000 counterfeit cigarettes and 16.5kg of smuggled rolling tobacco, a haul that accounts for just 0.002 per cent of the 1.7 billion illegal cigarettes seized in the UK by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) each year.

   

  HMRC conducts raids like this every day throughout Britain on shops, warehouses and residential "tab houses" in its war on the thriving tobacco trafficking underworld, which costs the taxpayer some £2 billion a year.

  
   
  Source: The Independent, 03 October 2011
  Link: http://ind.pn/nI8Mj3

• Liverpool barman caught smoking behind bar fined again

  A barman who has repeatedly ignored the smoking ban in his pub has been found guilty of allowing customers to smoke.

  Charles McHale was fined £750 and ordered to pay costs of £250. The court heard that smoke-free enforcement officers and police visited the Richmond Lodge in Kensington where Mr McHale was landlord.

   

  On entering the lounge bar they saw a number of men sat at a table, filling the room with smoke. Officers also noticed ashtrays on the tables overflowing with cigarette ends.

   

  This was the second time Mr McHale has been prosecuted for offences related to smoking. On 26th November 2010 Mr McHale was caught serving behind the bar while smoking a cigarette.

  
  Councillor Tim Moore, cabinet member for the environment , said: "The reason why the law was introduced was to protect the public and employees from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and we will do all we can to see that the legislation is enforced."
  Source: Click Liverpool, 04 October 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/o2xF2a

• USA: Hospital staff banned from smelling of tobacco smoke

  Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria, Louisiana will soon ban employees from working if their clothing smells of cigarette smoke.

  The hospital is banning the use of tobacco products by employees while on their shifts from next July, including when they are on breaks.

   
  The ‘100 per cent tobacco-free’ policy will expand the one put in place two years ago for employees of the women's and children's areas.

   

  Hospital administrator Lisa R. Lauve said toxins from third-hand smoke present a special danger for the developing brains of infants and small children.  ‘Plans are in place to provide cessation support and services to those patients and associates who are ready to quit,’ she said.
  Source: Daily Mail, 04 October 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/qKIUv8