Smoker's £400 bill for dropping butt

A smoker who dropped his cigarette butt in Cambridge is facing a bill for more than £400. Environment bosses say tobacco-related littering has soared since the smoking ban was introduced in July 2007, and pursued the case against Tom Todd through the magistrates court.

The court heard Todd had been challenged by enforcement officer Yvonne Mackender for discarding the butt on Trinity Street in November last year. Todd, of Colville Road, Cherry Hinton, gave her a false name but Cambridge City Council managed to identify him. He did not attend the final court hearing but pleaded guilty to several offences by post.

Magistrates imposed fines of £100 for littering and £150 for giving the officer a false name, plus £150 costs and a £15 victim surcharge. When the News tracked down Todd he said the fine was a "rip-off". He said: "I just chucked my butt and they nicked me." But the council said it was "delighted" with the result.

Ms Mackender said that although smokers often do not realise cigarettes are classed as litter, they actually take up to 12 years to degrade. She added: "Cigarette-related litter has increased since the implementation of the smoking ban back in July 2007, with smokers discarding their cigarette ends outside shops, pubs, clubs and restaurants."

The council says butts are difficult for street cleaners to pick up, and they can be dangerous for birds and other wildlife, which pick them up thinking they are food. Cllr Mike Pitt, the city council's environment chief, said taking people who drop litter to court was a last resort. He said: "We issue fixed penalty notices only when we have to. If an individual chooses not to pay the fixed penalty notice, then we will prosecute. Like the rest of the team, I am delighted with this result."

Cllr Pitt said enforcement workers balance their work with educational initiatives, and have encouraged the use of pocket ashtrays to enable smokers to dispose of their litter legally.

Source: Cambridge News, 29 June 2009
Link:  http://tiny.cc/h0OtE

Cigarette smuggling finances 'terrorist' groups: report

Cigarette and tobacco smuggling finances militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban and saps about 40 billion dollars a year from government budgets, a report and campaigners said Monday. The claims were made as 160 countries resumed talks at the World Health Organisation on expanding an international anti-smoking treaty to clamp down on the illicit trade in tobacco.

Apart from issues such as enforcement and coordination, the 10-day preparatory negotiations are also examining a possible halt to duty free sales of cigarettes or measures against Internet sales, WHO documents showed. An alliance of some 350 anti-tobacco campaign groups said in a statement that concerted action against the contraband and counterfeit cigarettes trade would far outweigh the 40.5 billion dollars in lost tax revenue. Some 11.6 percent of the global cigarette market was illicit, equivalent to some 657 billion cigarettes a year, the International Union Against Tobacco and Lung Disease estimated in a report.

Citing enforcement officials, other researchers also alleged that "half a dozen terrorist" or militant groups rely on black market tobacco and smuggling for revenue. They included the Pakistani Taliban, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Hezbollah, leftwing FARC rebels in Colombia, the Real IRA in Northern Ireland, and a Tutsi rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"We believe that tobacco has been second only to drugs as a source of finance to the Pakistani Taliban," David Kaplan, editorial director of the US-based Center for Public Integrity, told journalists. His body's report also highlighted "smuggling hubs" in China, Paraguay and Ukraine, where either illegally produced counterfeits or contraband excess production from legal factories were fuelling black markets around the world.

It estimated that 80 percent of counterfeit cigarettes in the European Union and 99 percent of those sold on US streets were among the estimated 400 billion made illegally every year in China. "Renegade factories, multinational companies and weak enforcement all play a role in fuelling this massive illegal trade, whose profits rival those of narcotics," said Bill Buzenberg, executive director of the Center.

Legitimate cigarette factories in Ukraine helped feed a two billion dollar black market in the European Union, according to the report. "Ukraine... is overproducing and flooding the market," said one of the authors, Marina Walker Guevara. Meanwhile, plants in Paraguay produce 20 times what can be consumed in the country, and local officials estimated that some 90 percent of output -- one billion dollars -- disappeared into the black market, especially in South America.

The report was produced by the center's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, backed by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Washington. The WHO negotiations are aimed at expanding the 2003 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, that strengthened measures against smoking, possibly next year.

One of the measures being considered is a ban, or restrictions, on duty free sales that are "often diverted into illicit trade," according to official reports for the meeting. They concluded that there would be no legal obstacles to such a ban, while a "track and trace" system on tobacco to prevent contraband was "feasible".

Source: AFP (Google News), 29 June 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/TPH0f

Hong Kong: Smoking ban extension to launch July 1

The smoking ban at bars, clubs, nightclubs, bathhouses, and massage and mahjong premises will take effect July 1.

The Department of Health called for venue management co-operation in providing a smoke-free environment for their staff and customers, noting they are empowered to implement the smoking ban. They are authorised to require anyone to stop smoking in no-smoking areas and can request those refusing to produce their identity and address for follow-up action, or ask them to leave.

The ban has already been implemented in all indoor areas of workplaces, public places, restaurants, bars and karaoke lounges since 2007. The arrangement can further protect the public from exposure to second-hand smoke.

The public should be considerate and co-operate with venue managers. Up to May 31 the Tobacco Control Office had issued 13,800 summonses to people smoking in no-smoking areas.

Smoke-free ambassadors have been visiting establishments to promulgate the smoke-free message and disseminate leaflets, posters, stickers and implementation guidelines.

Source: Health & Community, 29 June 2009
Link:  http://tiny.cc/2XqKk

Scotland: Smoking service for young people

Scotland's first smoking information service for young people - run by young people - is launching in Glasgow. Why Waste Everything Smoking Tobacco? (W-West) aims to provide information to inform choices about smoking. Young people living in the west of Scotland can sign up to W-West via its website, which is being run by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC).

It is estimated that about 15,000 young people in Scotland become addicted to smoking every year. W-West member, Michael Caine, 16, from Glasgow, said: "W-West is here to give young people information, but it's their choice. The great thing about the group is that no-one will try and pressure them to make any decisions they don't want to. We are just a group of young people here to tell our age group about smoking and smoking issues."

Sheila Duffy, chief executive of anti-smoking group Ash Scotland, described the involvement of young people in the scheme as "crucial". "Tobacco companies are in the business of recruiting new consumers all the time and they will do this through every method available to them," she said. W-West can help counter that by appealing directly to their peers with the facts. The more young people start getting active to identify and resist the industry's target marketing, the better."

Source: BBC News, 27 June 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/nxGlr

Smoking scheme 'very successful'

A scheme which sees smokers paid £12.50 a week for trying to quit the habit is showing encouraging early results, according to NHS Tayside. Participants have the money put on an electronic card which they can use to buy groceries if they pass a weekly breath test. They are not allowed to purchase cigarettes or alcohol with the money.

The project has been running for three months and the health board said 20 to 30 people are asking to join each week. NHS Tayside also has more than 360 people taking part at the moment.

Audrey Gordon, who is one of those on the 12-week scheme, said: "Times are hard just now and messages are expensive so every little helps. This is the first time that I've seriously tried to stop smoking, and I'm not saying I did it the first time because I've had a little bit of a relapse, but the past few weeks I've been fantastic at it."

Philip Neave is another participant who has not managed to give up but has cut down from about 25 cigarettes a day to about 10 a week. He said "It's a big incentive for me because I'm not working at the moment so there's not much money going about, so that £12.50 is a big incentive. It was hard at first [taking the test every week] but we've been going that long now it's part and parcel of Tuesday mornings, we find it quite easy now."

Dr Paul Ballard, from NHS Tayside, said: "We worked with local people to find out what would motivate them to quit smoking and using the message, 'You'll be healthier for longer' clearly wasn't going to work, what was important to them was putting food on the table. The figures that are coming through are showing that it's very successful."

Source: BBC News, 29 June 2009
Link: http://tiny.cc/WhQ61