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ASH Daily News
19 November 2002


HEADLINES

Heart disease risk from passive smoking
James Bond: Licensed to make a killing?
RJR Tobacco, smuggling and money laundering


FULL TEXT

Heart disease risk from passive smoking

Heart disease could be partly caused by passive smoking in childhood,
according to a new study. Austrian researchers found that children aged
3-15 with one parent who smoked up to 20 cigarettes a day in their presence
had up to 50% higher levels of a biological marker known to cause vascular
damage. The levels rose to 130 per cent in children with two smoking
parents; smoking mothers had a greater effect than smoking fathers.

The study, presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions
yesterday, adds to mounting evidence that passive smoking breaks down the
defences of anti-oxidants which can neutralise oxygen free radicals. These
highly active, dangerous chemicals are produced by the effects of smoking
and other poisons or diseases. Oxygen free radials damage the body,
particularly cells in the walls of arteries.

The Times, Daily Mail, 19/11/02


James Bond: Licensed to make a killing?

There is further press coverage of the new James Bond film, Die Another Day.
The Times analyses the extensive product placement in the film, while the
Daily Mail reveals that the cigar smoked by Pierce Brosnan is a Cohiba
Corona Especial, costing £15. Simon Chase, Marketing director of Hunters &
Frankau which imports the Cuban cigars, said “It’s wonderful timing from our
point of view – we sell a lot at this time of year – but we didn’t fix it.”

The Times, Daily Mail 19/11/02




RJR Tobacco, smuggling and money laundering

An article in Time International looks at the lawsuit against RJ Reynolds.
It begins… “When their products are smuggled across international borders,
most US companies do one of two things: write off the loss as a cost doing
business, or crack down and prosecute. RJ Reynolds Tobacco, according to an
unusual lawsuit filed against the company by the European Union and10 member
nations, had a different approach to smugglers of its cigarettes: it took
them to dinner, using expense accounts that, for some executives, totalled
nearly $1 million a year.”

Commenting on the money laundering aspect of the lawsuit, tobacco litigation
expert Professor Richard Daynard, said: “This is a new dimension and clearly
a criminal dimension.” John Auerbach, a lawyer specialising in
money-laundering crimes, said that illegal cigarettes have long been used in
money laundering but added : “What’s new in the EU case is its allegation
that not only did RJR executives know about their cigarettes being used this
way but also that it was “part of their operating business plan to sell
cigarettes to and through criminal organizations.”

Time International, 18/11/02





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Amanda Sandford
Research Manager
ASH
102 Clifton Street
LONDON
EC2A 4HW
Tel. 020 7739 5902
Fax.020 7613 0531
amanda.sandford@ash.org.uk