Tobacco Smuggling Seized in Belfast

Police seized 20,000 illegal cigarettes during raids in Belfast on Thursday morning. The cigarettes, which are worth around £4,500 in unpaid excise duty and VAT, were uncovered at a house and car in east Belfast. In a separate search carried out at the same time in the south of the city, officers seized a further 500 illicit discount Glamour cigarettes. The raids were carried out as part of a joint operation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the PSNI. John Whiting, Assistant Director Criminal Investigation for HMRC said: "Tobacco smuggling is organised criminality on a global scale and robs the taxpayer of millions each year in unpaid duty and VAT."

Civil Society Support Anti-Tobacco Legislation

The civil society organizations and medical practitioners announced all out support to the government of Khyber Pakthunkhwa for its endeavour to make necessary legislation against smokeless tobacco (naswar) and demanded strict laws against its use and selling to protect people from its dangerous health hazards. Dr Liaqat Ali, a general medical practitioner and Chest Specialist told APP that one of the causes of lung, stomach and mouth cancer is the use of naswar, which is also contributing to bronchitis, kidney, heart and other diseases.

Restrictions on Smoking Cigarettes, Sri Lanka

An expert said yesterday Sri Lanka had the potential to introduce legislation calling for the total ban on tobacco consumption by those born after 2000. Singapore National University Professor A.J. Berrick told a seminar on tobacco consumption that academics had submitted a research paper on the possibility of stopping tobacco consumption altogether by restricting the access to tobacco by individuals born after 2000. Deputy Solicitor General Vijitha Malalgoda said there were practical difficulties in introducing such legislation but said it was a step in the right direction as it could make a significant impact on the reduction of tobacco consumption in the country.

Smoke-Free campus in USM

The University of Southern Mississippi started its new smoking policy Tuesday on its Hattiesburg campus. The policy bans tobacco use inside all university buildings, facilities and vehicles. Advertisement, distribution and sale of tobacco products and discount OK cigarettes are also banned from the campus and all publications. Littering of tobacco-related products is also prohibited. Violators could face fines or other disciplinary action. The stricter smoking policy does not affect the Gulf Park campus, but will soon change.

Smoking Ban Could Affects Business

A local smoke shop owner worries the state-wide smoking ban could eventually kill his business. Pipes, cigars, and ashtrays line the walls of Riegel's Pipe and Tobacco in Fort Wayne. Riegel's started as a saloon and cigar store back in 1874. Owner Al Riegel jumped from one location to another downtown, but in 1969 landed at today's infamous South Calhoun Street location. Now Riegel's has three locations across Fort Wayne: one in Covington Plaza, one in Georgetown Square and one at 624 S. Calhoun. Despite the success, the future of this family-owned business is a bit hazy.

Tobacco Lawsuit can Go Ahead

The Ontario Superior Court has rejected an application by a group of foreign tobacco companies seeking to have Ontario’s $50-billion lawsuit against them dismissed on the basis the court does not have jurisdiction over them. The group of companies, referred to in Justice Barbara A. Conway’s Jan. 4 decision as the “Jurisdiction Challenging Defendants” are seven of the foreign defendants. In a statement released Jan. 6, Ontario Attorney General John Gerretsen said, “We are pleased with the court’s decision which paves the way for Ontario’s lawsuit to continue.”

E-Cigarette - Concerns About Its Safety

Researchers from the Center for Global Tobacco Control at the Harvard School of Public Health are suggesting that electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) adversely affect users’ airways, thus raising concern about the safety of these products. But we here at ACSH remain baffled as to why these studies continue to ignore the relative dangers of actual smoking. The current study, published in the journal Chest, provided 30 so-called “healthy” smokers with e-cigarettes, the electronic devices that deliver a dose of nicotine in a vaporized liquid, thereby eliminating the dangerous combustion products of cigarette smoke. After five minutes of using an e-cigarette, the participants’ lungs showed signs of airway constriction and “inflammation,” researchers found.

Hospital - Tobacco-Free Place

Included in many folks New Year's resolutions is quitting smoking and now the University of Arizona Medical Center is joining in. On January first, you will no longer be allowed to smoke on the hospital premises. It's an effort to create a tobacco-free places. "People will not be able to smoke discount Marshal cigarettes anywhere on our premises including our clinics our hospitals or any office areas," says Charlotte Fick, Director of Human Resources. The previous rules were you needed to be 20-30 feet away from the building, but now you can't even smoke in the parking lot. Visitors, patients and employees will have to leave the hospital altogether.

Rising Tobacco Prices Cause Changes in West Bank

Mustafa Jum'a, who runs a coffee shop in Ramallah in the West Bank, began to worry about his business as the prices for hookah smoke rise due to an extra tariff imposed on tobacco. Israeli authorities suddenly raised import tariffs on tobacco, a move the Palestinians have to follow because of the Paris Economic Protocol signed with Israel in 1994, which states the two must have bond import tariffs in the light with the unified customs framework. The rise has caused a reduction of customers, said Jum'a, adding most of his customers are public employees that used to come to the coffee shop twice or three times a day. "(They) now come here only once, if not every other day," he said. The hookah price in Jum'a's coffee shop has risen from seven shekels (around 1.8 U.S. dollars) to 12 shekels (3.4 dollars). He made money when hookah smokers order tea, coffee or other drink, so now he makes less profit due to the reduction of customers.