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ASH Daily news for 24 October 2011

HEADLINES

  • Six held in fake cigarette raids in Hastings

    Six people have been arrested and fake and smuggled cigarettes worth thousands of pounds seized in police raids on shops in East Sussex.

    A total of 140,000 cigarettes and thousands of packets of hand rolling tobacco were seized in the raids.

    Police said the goods, which were seized from four shops and one residential address in Hastings and St Leonards, were worth about £30,000.

    It follows a BBC South East investigation in which covert filming uncovered an illegal trade in cigarettes and tobacco taking place in four stores in Hastings.

    Smuggled cigarettes from Belarus, Ukraine and Russia and fake UK brands were sold to three undercover reporters.

    Source: BBC News, 20 October 2011
    Link: http://bbc.in/pFbs6X

  • Philip Morris profit tops estimates on cigarette prices

    Philip Morris International Inc. (PM), reported third-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates.

    Net income rose 30 percent to $2.38 billion, or $1.35 a share, from $1.82 billion, or 99 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based maker of Marlboro cigarettes said in a statement. Excluding some items, profit was $1.37 a share, beating the $1.24 average of 14 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

    Chief Executive Officer Louis Camilleri raised prices in Japan, Australia and Indonesia, where demand pushed total shipments higher by 4.4 percent. Excluding excise taxes, total sales at Philip Morris, which generates all of its revenue outside the U.S., advanced 26 percent to $8.36 billion.

    Source: Bloomberg, 20 October 2011
    Link: http://bloom.bg/rt445l

  • Tobacco Industry lobbies as World Trade Organization scrutinises IP in Plain Packaging

    The World Trade Organization committee responsible for intellectual property rights issues is meeting this week and will address several items of potential debate, including a WTO member’s attempt to discourage smoking through unlabelled tobacco packaging.

    The TRIPS Council typically meets three times annually, with the October meeting usually the most substantive as it includes annual reviews.

    The last TRIPS Council meeting on 7 June was brief but there was a flare-up around Australian legislation aimed at curbing tobacco use . Concern was raised at the June meeting by the tobacco producing Dominican Republic and was put on this week’s agenda by Ukraine. Tobacco industry lobbyists became heavily involved in Geneva.

    Source: IP Watch, 23 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/oEh0Ln

  • Pets 'at risk' from home smoking

    A leading professor of animal medicine is warning dog and cat owners about the risk of smoking around their pets.

    Clare Knottenbelt, from the University of Glasgow's Small Animal Hospital, said there was mounting evidence of the effect of secondhand smoke on pets.

    She will address a seminar held by NHS Ayrshire & Arran on Wednesday.

    Prof Knottenbelt said studies had shown increased risk of lymphoma and oral cancer in cats and of lung, nasal and sinus cancer in dogs.

    Source: BBC News, 24 October 2011
    Link: http://bbc.in/qGpCU0

  • Uruguay: Philip Morris closes plant amid lawsuit

    U.S. tobacco giant Philip Morris said it shut down its plant in Uruguay because the country's anti-smoking policies make business unprofitable.

    Philip Morris' local unit sued Uruguay at the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in February 2010. The company seeks compensation for damages allegedly caused by the state's anti-tobacco measures.

    Uruguay imposed a ban on smoking in public spaces in 2006, raised taxes on tobacco products and forced firms to include large warnings and graphic images including diseased lungs and rotting teeth on cigarette packages. It also banned the use of the words "light" and "mild" from cigarette packs.

    "Plant operations are no longer viable because of the broad availability and presence of illegal products in the market, combined with a reduction in demand and fiscal and regulatory measures that limit our capacity to commercialize our products profitably," the firm's Abal Hermanos local unit said in a statement.

    Mario de Castro, union secretary at the country's Autonomous Tobacco Syndicate said, "They breached all agreements between the union and the company."

    The World Bank's investment dispute tribunal has yet to rule on the case.

    Source: Reuters News, 21 October 2011
    Link: http://reut.rs/ps4pMB

  • Australia: New cancer legal centre to open in Melbourne

    A new Melbourne legal centre – employing up to six lawyers – will open in Victoria to work on tobacco-related litigation and policy development.

    The centre will be based out of the Cancer Council of Victoria and is being partly funded by donations from the McCabe family and plaintiff lawyer Peter Gordon.

    McCabe, represented by Gordon, sued British American Tobacco, being the only litigant outside the US to win against a tobacco company.

    The decision was later overturned on appeal.

    The centre will work on policy development and lobby for tighter laws around tobacco.

    Gordon said ''The law is a tool of enormous power; if we who fight for cancer control are prepared to leave it only to those who profit from it then they will be the only ones who can exploit it.''

    Source: ProBono News, 24 October 2011
    Link: http://bit.ly/qImt1k