HEADLINES

• Peak District fire may have been caused by a cigarette
• Smoking, obesity behind stillbirths
• Cigarette smugglers in Lithuania caught with 70 million cigarettes
• Nepal: Single cigarette sales to be banned

• Peak District fire may have been caused by a cigarette

  A fire, which destroyed two square miles of heathland in the Staffordshire Peak District, may have been caused by somebody smoking.

  Staffordshire Fire Service said it took 15 crews more than 20 hours to fully extinguish the blaze which was spotted on the evening of 9 April.

  A spokeswoman said it was believed to have been started accidentally due to "careless disposal of smoking materials".

  Group manager Rebecca Bryant said: "People need to be aware that smoking materials should always be disposed of safely and appropriately. They should not be dropped or thrown into grassland as this can quite easily, as this incident shows, start a serious fire."

  Source: BBC News, 11 April 2011
  Link: http://bbc.in/gVYl6j

• Smoking, obesity behind stillbirths

  A global series of studies on stillbirths, published in the Lancet medical journal said excessive weight; smoking and maternal age over 35 is contributing to thousands of stillbirths each year in high-income countries.

  The report said, smoking was responsible for about 6 per cent, or 3000 still births, each year in high in countries, with evidence mounting that passive smoking was also a risk factor for mothers.

  Source: The Canberra Times, 14 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/hu8inS

• Cigarette smugglers in Lithuania caught with 70 million cigarettes

  Nine people have been arrested in Lithuania in a criminal investigation which the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has been coordinating for over a year. The investigation, involving law enforcement authorities in Lithuania, Poland and Germany, resulted in the seizure of almost 70 million cigarettes, preventing losses of €6 million to the European taxpayer.
  
  Giovanni Kessler, Director General of OLAF said, “This is a great result and I would like to congratulate the investigation team, particularly the Lithuanian Customs who initiated this investigation. Coordinated international cooperation is the key to success, as this case clearly demonstrates. Significant financial losses have been prevented and OLAF will continue to support this investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice."

  Source: Europa, 11 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/ikBfpq

• Nepal: Single cigarette sales to be banned

  A new anti-tobacco bill could see restrictions on smoking in public places and a ban on the sale of single cigarettes in Nepal.
  
  The bill will ban the sale of cigarettes to young people, tobacco advertising and promotion and require health warnings to take up 75 per cent of the area of pack surfaces.
  
  Madhav Poudel, Secretary at the Ministry of Law and Justice said "Nepal is party to the WHO convention. SO we had the obligation to translate certain WHO provisions into national law."

  Source: Tobacco Reporter Magazine, 13 April 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/hwiCRQ