HEADLINES

• Imperial Tobacco tipped for BAT take over
• RAF cigarette smuggler escapes prison sentence
• Discarded cigarette butts harmful to marine and freshwater fish
• Reserach: Increasing the age for the legal purchase of tobacco in England
• Malawi court convicts 124 tobacco farmers
• Six thoroughbreds killed after motorist's cigarette sets trailer on fire

• Imperial Tobacco tipped for BAT take over

  Takeover talk helped buoy Imperial Tobacco on Friday as the FTSE 100 edged higher. Shares in Imperial rose 1.9 per cent to £20.39 after Goldman Sachs argued that the cigarette maker was the most likely takeover target when sector consolidation returns.
  
  Low debt levels, strong cash generation, below average valuations and a lack of organic growth among the main cigarette makers suggest conditions are right for the four biggest tobacco makers to become three, said analyst Fulvio Cazzol.
  
  Of the four, Philip Morris International would face too many competition hurdles while Japan Tobacco looked an unlikely bid target given the Japanese government’s blocking stake, Goldman said. The most likely deal was therefore that British American Tobacco would buy Imperial, the smallest of the four, it continued.
  
  Such a combination would require BAT to sell Imperial’s assets in markets including Germany and Australia, as well as exiting Reynolds American, BAT’s US joint venture.

  Access to the full article requires registration.

  Source: FT - April 2011
  Link: http://on.ft.com/gt47vQ

• RAF cigarette smuggler escapes prison sentence

  The final member of a gang who smuggled an estimated seven million cigarettes into RAF bases in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire has escaped a prison sentence.

  Former RAF serviceman Thomas Warren, 27, received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years after admitting conspiracy to evade duty on cigarettes smuggled on military flights from Afghanistan between December 2008 and May 2009.

  The corporal, who used to be stationed at RAF Lyneham, was also ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work and adhere to a curfew between 9pm and 6am for three months by a judge at Bristol Crown Court.

  Warren was part of a gang that smuggled hauls of cigarettes into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and RAF Lyneham in 2008 and 2009 in a “well-thought-out and professionally planned” operation.

  Source: Swindon Advertiser - 17 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/eAMnlW

• Discarded cigarette butts harmful to marine and freshwater fish

  Discarded cigarette butts, which end up in waterways, are harmful to fish, indicates research published today in a special supplement of Tobacco Control.

  Cigarette butts are the most common form of environmental litter in the world, with around 5.6 trillion cigarettes smoked every year. Cigarette waste accounts for almost a third of the total amount of litter found on US shorelines alone. 

  The findings showed that smoked butts with tobacco remnant were highly toxic with an LC50 - the lethal concentration that kills 50% of the sample - of 1 cigarette butt per litre of water. 

  Smoked filters with no tobacco remnant were also very toxic, with an LC50 of between 1.8 and 4.3 butts per litre of water.  

  Source: Medical News Today - 18 April2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/h4EKjq

• Reserach: Increasing the age for the legal purchase of tobacco in England

  The minimum age for the legal purchase of tobacco increased from 16 to 18 years in England, Scotland and Wales on 1 October 2007. Researchers from Imperial College have examined the impact of this legislation on disparities in smoking behaviour and access to cigarettes among youth in England on a sample of 11–15 year olds.

  They found that increasing the minimum purchase age from 16 to 18 is associated with a drop in smoking among 11-15 year olds in England and appeared to have a similar impact in different socio-economic groups. 

  Source: BMJ - 17 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/hpUjUS

• Malawi court convicts 124 tobacco farmers

  A Malawian court has convicted and sentenced 124 tobacco farmers from the Central Region district of Mchinji for attempting to smuggle tobacco to neighbouring Zambia.

  The 124 were among a group of 170 growers arrested last Wednesday as they tried to illegally cross into Zambia using uncharted routes.

  The police also impounded 13 tracks which were carrying 424 tobacco bales belonging to the 170 growers which they wanted to sell in the neighbouring country.

   

  All the 124 farmers were fined and have been given back their tobacco bales.

  Source: Nyasa Times - 16 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/dIKkMU

• Six thoroughbreds killed after motorist's cigarette sets trailer on fire

  A cigarette tossed by a North Carolina motorist landed in a trailer carrying six racehorses on Friday night. A bundle of hay was ignited and the young horses trapped as fire quickly engulfed the trailer.

  The driver of the Loraine Course Transport tractor-trailer stopped on seeing smoke and another driver suffered burns while trying to pull out the horses, all of whom were killed. 

  So far, the officers have no leads about who may have tossed the cigarette.

  Source: Care2 - 18 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/fxzBmF