HEADLINES

• Customs seize millions of smuggled cigarettes
• Canada: Ontario needs stiffer penalties for illegal tobacco
• Syria smoking ban enters into force
• Australia: Smokers 'try seven times to kick habit'

• Customs seize millions of smuggled cigarettes

  Customs officials seized a multi-million-pound haul of smuggled cigarettes and alcohol in a raid.

  HM Revenue & Customs raided the property, near Ibstock, in north west Leicestershire, on Friday.

  Over five million counterfeit cigarettes and about 70,000 litres of alcohol were found in several outbuildings.

  The cigarettes, described as being the Regal Kingsize brand, were discovered in a 40-ft curtain sided trailer.

  A second unit contained 85 pallets of illicit alcohol – including 62,000 litres of beer, 9,000 litres of wine, and 1,000 litres of vodka and whisky.
  
  Four transit vans, an articulated lorry and a forklift truck were also seized.

  The raid was part of an investigation into a smuggling operation involving up to £1m in unpaid tax.

  Residents were shocked on hearing about the raid.

  Sue Tompkins, 51, from Ibstock, said: "That's an awful lot of cigarettes and booze. It's alarming to know that sort of thing is going on under people's noses."

  Another resident, who did not want to be named, said: "It sounds like a big criminal enterprise. You wonder what else they could be up to ."

  Newsagent Ken Patel, spokesman for the Tobacco Retailers' Alliance which represents 26,000 shopkeepers across the UK, welcomed the raid.

  Mr Patel, owner of Wyvern Stores, in Wyvern Road, Rushey Mead, Leicester, said: "This seizure of more than five million counterfeit cigarettes is great news for shopkeepers.

  "Tobacco smuggling robs legitimate businesses of our customers because we cannot compete with the street price of bootleg tobacco. It also deprives the Treasury of much-needed revenue.

  "The people who sell these products are not subjected to controls like I am in my shop, so smuggled tobacco is more readily available to under-18s."

  He said: "I appeal to smokers to please only buy cigarettes from a legitimate shop."

  Customs officials are appealing for help and warning people to avoid cigarettes and alcohol sold in unusual places such as car boot sales, or excessively cheaply. They warn people not to get involved in the illegal trade, which they say is often led by criminal gangs.

  Source: thisisleicestershire, 21 April 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/9ytt4m

• Canada: Ontario needs stiffer penalties for illegal tobacco

  The provincial government must put in place stiffer penalties for the illegal manufacturing of contraband cigarettes and help implement a national program to help smokers quit if it wants to curb rising rates of tobacco use, according to a report by the Ontario Medical Association. 

  "The battle against tobacco is far from over," said Dr. Suzanne Stratsberg, president of the OMA at a news conference. "It is clear that we are going to have to redouble our efforts if we are going to have any chance at winning this fight."

  The report - titled Tobacco, Illness, and the Physician's Perspective - published in this month's Ontario Medical Review, says smoking costs Ontario's health-care system $1.6-billion a year.

  It also accounts for 85% of lung cancers and 30% of cancer deaths. Every year, 13,000 people in Ontario alone die from smoking-related causes. Smoking is also a contributing factor in 80% to 90% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

  According to the report, there are 2.3 million smokers in Ontario, up from 2.1 million smokers in the mid-1960s.

  Despite the fact that smoking rates have dropped, with only 20% of residents in the province identifying themselves as smokers -down from 50% 50 years ago - it is still an "ongoing health crisis" that governments need to pay attention to, the OMA says.

  "The No. 1 thing is that we have got to do something about contraband cigarettes," said Dr. Ted Broadway, former executive director of health policy at the OMA. "If we don't, we're just flailing in the wind."

  No national statistics were available, but the OMA said they were expected to be similar to the Ontario data.

  The report also found that one in five cigarettes smoked in Ontario last year were contraband. Dr. Broadway said the availability of cheap cigarettes is also contributing to high rates of tobacco use among youth.

  It also called for more awareness campaigns for smoking cessation programs, including funding for counselling and nicotine-based medication. The association also said that smokers who want to kick their addiction do not realize that it may take up to five attempts before they find success.

  Other proposals in the report call for reducing the number of locations that sell tobacco products. Currently, a consumer can purchase cigarettes at approximately 16,000 locations in the province. It also recommends placing a moratorium on emerging new smoking products, particularly flavoured cigarillos that target youth.

  "The tobacco industry has always focused on children, always knew that they had to get students to initiate," said Dr. Broadway. "If I can get you to be 25 without smoking, you're not going to smoke. If I can get you when you're 14, I'm going to have you forever."

  The report will be presented to the Ontario government.

  Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said he looks forward to hearing the recommendations.

  "There is supply and there is demand," he said. "We must do as much as we can to prevent our kids from taking up smoking and we got to choke off that demand. That's the important thing."

  Mr. McGuinty said the government has made a number of inroads to curb smoking rates in the past, including limiting smoking in public places. "I think we have come a long way in terms of the progress that we have made," he said. "We have in fact, reduced the number of places where you can buy your cigarettes and we have also made them less prominent, in terms of advertising, that appears in convenience stores for example, and I think we have made some real progress there."

  Source: National Post, 20 April 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/cIspiJ

• Syria smoking ban enters into force

  Syria has become the first Arab state to implement a ban on smoking in public places, such as restaurants and cafes.

  The decree also outlaws smoking in educational institutions, health centres, sports halls, cinemas and theatres and on public transport.

  Workers must not smoke during meetings and businesses need to provide well-ventilated areas for smokers.

  The restrictions include the nargile, or hubble-bubble pipe, which is popular among locals and tourists.

  The decree was signed last November by President Bashar al-Assad, a qualified medical doctor.

  According to the official news agency SANA, fines for violating the ban range from 500 to 100,000 Syrian pounds (US$11 to $2,169).

  In one of the city's traditional cafes, Cafe Rawda, on the first day of the new rules, the inside area was deserted but the outdoor terrace was busy with customers smoking shisha pipes.

  But there are members of the younger generation who welcome the decision as good for public health - even if they still smoke themselves.

  The Syrian government has passed several laws restricting smoking in the last two decades.

  A decree in 1996 banned tobacco advertising while a 2006 law outlawed smoking on public transport and in some public places, introducing fines for offenders. Under-18s are not allowed to buy tobacco.

  The World Health Organization is unable to provide details on tobacco consumption in Syria, but levels of smoking in public is high across the Arab world, especially among men.

  Last year Iraq's cabinet agreed a draft law outlining similar measures, causing uproar amongst smokers.

  Source: BBC News, 21 April 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/9c4DjY

• Australia: Smokers 'try seven times to kick habit'

  Quitting smoking has been likened to breaking a heroin addiction as an Australian study shows many longer-term smokers have tried seven times to kick the habit. 
  
  A poll of 2000 smokers found 75 per cent reported at least two unsuccessful quitting attempts, while among those who had tried multiple times the average was 7.4 attempts over the years.

  Addiction expert Dr Raymond Seidler, a GP based in Sydney's Kings Cross, said the figure was unsurprising as many smokers underestimated how difficult it would be to quit.

  "What smokers don't realise is that nicotine addition is as powerful, or even more powerful, than heroin addiction," Dr Seidler said.

  "The (brain's) receptors for smoking are as strongly attached to nicotine as the heroine receptor is to opiates.

  "That can come as a shock to a lot of people, (and) quitting is, therefore, a serious challenge for most."

  Dr Seidler said the problem with multiple attempts, or periods of "cold turkey" followed by a relapse, was that many smokers would become demoralised and eventually give up on quitting.

  He said those people should seek help from their GP, though the survey also showed many smokers would actively avoid involving a doctor.

  Almost three quarters (73 per cent) said they felt there were "barriers to seeking a healthcare professional" about their smoking.

  One in four (28 per cent) were unsure what a GP could do to help, while about same number said they could either give up without professional help, or they didn't want to spend money on a doctor.

  A fear of feeling "judged" kept 17 per cent of smokers from discussing the issue with their GP.

  But Dr Seidler said all of those views were unwarranted.

  "Very few doctors now smoke, but many used to and a lot have a sympathy for people who do smoke. A GP can guide you along the path and counsel you, and involve you in a holistic program that will work more effectively (at quitting), he said.

  "We know the downside of continuing to smoke - high blood pressure or diabetes, and you're in the frame for lung cancer."

  Dr Seidler said nicotine replacement therapies were available at pharmacies while doctors could prescribe "more potent" quit-smoking medications to help the most addicted smokers to give up.

  Source: The Daily Telegraph (Australia), 22 April 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/9ZO5us