HEADLINES

• Japan Tobacco distributors in smuggling cases
• Liverpool region man 'fined' £500 for littering
• Plan to ban smoking in Cumbrian play areas
• Rochdale: Cigarette could have sparked blaze that killed pensioner
• Self-extinguishing cigarettes and other curious little safety inventions
• Dutch health minister is quizzed about “intensive” contact with tobacco industry

• Japan Tobacco distributors in smuggling cases

  A network of investigative journalists in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union has said it has uncovered evidence of widespread cigarette smuggling by distributors of Japan Tobacco International (JTI), an arm of Japan Tobacco .

  The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project said it used access to internal company records, e-mails and interviews with former employees to uncover cigarette smuggling by distributors for the company in a dozen countries in the region.

  Several members of JTI's own investigating team were fired after they uncovered the cases of smuggling, the OCCRP said in a report (Big Trouble at Big Tobacco)

  A spokesman for Japan Tobacco said the issue had been resolved.

  Source: Reuters - 04 November 2011
  Link: http://reut.rs/ubEkbO

• Liverpool region man 'fined' £500 for littering

  Peter Murray was left spluttering in disbelief after being asked to cough up £500 for dropping his cigarette in the street.

  Despite apologising for what he described as "an honest mistake" and even offering to pick the cigarette up, Murray was told it was too late and was issued with a fine.

  Murray, who suffers from a neurological condition which causes blindness in one eye, said he did not see the bin close to where he dropped the offending stub.

  Now the unemployed dad, whose only income is incapacity benefit allowances, faces a hefty pre-christmas fine, which, he said, will make the festive period extra tough.

  Murray's original fine of £75 was increased six-fold after he failed to get in touch with his local council
  over the matter.

  The former brick-layer was in between homes at the time of the incident and failed to receive a court summons.

  When a letter did find the 10-a-day smoker, it was to inform him he had missed a court date and would now have to pay a total of £525 for his misplaced fag.

  Source: Click Liverpool - 03 November 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/rv5CkB

• Plan to ban smoking in Cumbrian play areas

  Smoking could be banned in children’s playparks in Cumbria after the county council called on all districts to consider it.

  The health and wellbeing scrutiny committee made the call after hearing market research showed 70 per cent of people supported a ban on smoking in playgrounds.

  The research also indicated three quarters of those asked agreed children had the right not to be exposed to second-hand smoke outdoors.

  Councillor Bill Wearing, chairman of the committee, has raised the issue in the past and said he was in favour of a voluntary ban.

  The committee met in Kendal on Tuesday and agreed to ask the six district authorities to consider introducing the voluntary ban.

  It could not be introduced without consultation with the public but the committee said they hoped that the current strength of public opinion will against smoking would lead to widespread local community support.

  Source: The Cumberland News - 03 November 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/uGAVBk

• Rochdale: Cigarette could have sparked blaze that killed pensioner

  A pensioner who burned to death in her own home may have dropped a cigarette on a cushion, an inquest heard.

  Catherine Blud, 83, was found dead at her home at Tong End, Whitworth, Rochdale, on April 8 this year.

  The inquest heard the cigarette may have ignited the cushion which set fire to Mrs Blud’s clothing.

  A post-mortem into Mrs Blud’s death found that she had died as a result of severe burns rather than smoke inhalation.

  Source: Rochdale Observer - -03 November 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/vqoBWD

• Self-extinguishing cigarettes and other curious little safety inventions

  In Europe, "self-extinguishing" cigarettes are about to become law but where do they stand in the pantheon of safety innovations?

  The images from fire safety films are painfully familiar.

  They usually feature someone smoking on the sofa - perhaps watching television - only to nod off while the cigarette is still alight. Soon, it drops out of the hand, eventually setting fire to the furniture.

  From 17 November, a new EU directive will require cigarettes to meet a reduced ignition propensity (RIP) requirement. They will be manufactured to be self-extinguishable, to reduce the chance that they should set fire to sofas, beds and other combustible materials.

  In England, of the 212 people that died in house fires last year, 81 were the result of cigarettes, cigars and pipes, says the Department of Communities and Local Government.

  The DCLG estimates the new types of cigarettes could save up to 64 lives each year in England.

  Source: BBC News - 03 November 2011
  Link: http://bbc.in/sSs7wh

• Dutch health minister is quizzed about “intensive” contact with tobacco industry

  The Dutch health minister Edith Schippers has come under pressure from MPs, doctors, and anti-smoking groups to clarify her contacts with the tobacco industry after a critical television documentary entitled Minister of Tobacco.

  The documentary programme Zembla featured camera interviews with tobacco industry lobbyists and pro-smoking campaigners and quoted emails sent by Mrs Schippers. They concluded that since becoming an MP in 2003 Mrs Schippers has had “intensive” contact with the tobacco industry.

  Last year Mrs Schippers became minister of health and told MPs that as health spokesperson for the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) she had spoken to the tobacco lobby maybe “two or three times.”

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  Source: BMJ - 03 November 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/rTgQTu