EU To Give Money For Tobacco

The EU will provide money for tobacco in its next 2014 – 2020 fiscal period, Minister of Agriculture Miroslav Naydenov said in Kardzhali.

As the Committee on Agriculture of the EU adopted a proposal for the removal of tobacco from the ban list for subsidized crops, 2014 Bulgarian tobacco will receive EU co-payments from 2014, the minister explained, reports Standart.

Teenager robbed of cigarettes and a lighter at knifepoint by 3 men

A TEENAGER was robbed at knifepoint by three men.
The 17-year-old was grabbed from behind and forced around the back of shops near the junction of Ovenden Way and Nursery Lane, Halifax.
The robbers threatened him with a knife before stealing cigarettes and a lighter.
The victim suffered minor injuries in the attack.
The suspects are all white. The first, who spoke with a local accent, is described as 6ft 1ins tall and was wearing a black Adidas scarf covering his face.
The second is around 5ft 6ins tall and of skinny build, and was wearing a black baseball cap with a red logo on the front. He was wearing a black hoody with a collar similar to a scarf, which was pulled up over his mouth.
The third is not very tall, and was wearing white Adidas tracksuit bottoms and a black hoody with the hood up and a scarf over his mouth.
Anyone with information about the incident, which happened around 8.30pm on Sunday, should contact DC Brian Burke at Calderdale CID on 01422 337085.

Move to Ban Groceries Near Schools

In an attempt to make cigarettes inaccessible to underage youth, officials are mulling over banning groceries near schools and sports stadiums.
The move follows the recent introduction of the federal anti-tobacco law that specifies sale of tobacco products in designated areas only and also bans sale of cigarettes to youth under the age of 18.
Under the new by-laws that are expected to take shape soon, groceries will also be required to obtain special permits before being allowed to stock and sell cigarettes. “Once implemented, municipalities will carry out intense ‘sting perations’ to ensure rules are being followed,” said a senior official.
“A GCC-wide draft law on licensing of groceries to allow them to sell cigarettes is ready for implementation,” said Dr Wedad Al Maidoor, Head of the National Tobacco Control Committee at the UAE Ministry of Health.
“This law will help us draft regulations at the local level which will curb sale to both the youth and adults,” she explained, while talking to Khaleej Times on Thursday. She said the issue would be further discussed during a GCC-wide meeting to be held in Kuwait next week. “The law has been announced but we are still detailing the by-laws and will announce further health policies in this regard soon,” said Salem Al Darmaki, Acting Director General at the ministry.
Though a UAE-wide law barring groceries from selling cigarettes to underage youth has been there since 2000, it has never been strictly implemented, said Dr Wedad. “Groceries have been flouting rules openly since there has been no strict implementation,” she explained. However, once the licensing procedures are in place, groceries will not be able to stock any such products, and hence will not be able to make these retail sales to youth, she added.
Smoking or tobacco use among schoolchildren in the UAE starts at an early age, according to the Global School Health Survey (GSHS) released in 2005 which is the only such survey to date.According to the survey conducted among 15,790 students from 200 schools from all over the UAE, 9.3 per cent of the students smoked cigarettes and 10.7 per cent used another form of tobacco on one or more days during one month.
Boys were found to be significantly more likely than girl students to smoke or use tobacco in any form, the survey showed. Under the anti-tobacco law, shopkeepers can ask for identification in case they doubt the buyers’ age before selling any tobacco product.
However, grocery owners admitted they were not following any such rules but said the new rule could affect sales.
“People get upset if we ask for identification,” said a grocer in Sharjah, the second emirate following Dubai to ban smoking even before introduction of the federal law.
“Most regular customers ask only for only one cigarette or so. If we ask for identifications, they may stop buying from us,” he added. Another local grocer also admitted that he was aware that in some cases, adults bought cigarettes for oungsters.
“We can’t say no in such cases,” he added. Under the new federal law, sale of tobacco will entail a jail term of up to a year and a fine of up to Dh100,000.

Electronic cigarettes not a drug device, judge says

Electronic cigarettes will remain on the market for now, after a federal judge's ruling this week that could have wider implications for federal regulation of tobacco products.
Some tobacco-control advocates warned that if upheld, the ruling could give rise to a host of new, nicotine-laced products that historically have been restricted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The preliminary ruling said electronic cigarettes are not drug-delivery devices but should be treated as tobacco products.
"This opens the door for manufacturers of non-tobacco products to insert nicotine, a highly addictive substance and, in certain uses, dangerous, into a wide variety of non-tobacco products that would previously have been forbidden," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Made mostly in China, the tube-shaped e-cigarettes are battery-powered and include a heating element that vaporizes a mix of nicotine and a type of alcohol for the smoker to inhale. Imported e-cigarettes have been advertised in the United States as alternatives to conventional cigarettes, sometimes with claims that e-cigarettes are less harmful to smokers' health.
The FDA considers e-cigarettes to be unapproved drug-delivery devices and has halted some shipments into the country, prompting a lawsuit by two importers based in Florida and Arizona. The companies say they have sold hundreds of thousands of e-cigarettes in the U.S. in the past two years, but the FDA action has depleted inventories and threatened their businesses.
Judge Richard J. Leon of U.S. District Court in Washington sided with the importers, issuing a preliminary injunction on Thursday ordering the FDA to stop blocking importation of e-cigarettes. Leon wrote that the importers are likely to prevail in their argument that e-cigarettes are not subject to regulation by the FDA's drug division.
Instead, e-cigarettes fall under the agency's new authority to regulate tobacco products, Leon wrote.
Congress passed legislation last year that for the first time gives the FDA oversight of the tobacco industry. Among other powers, the agency has authority to review for approval any new products that claim to be less harmful than conventional tobacco products.
"This case appears to be yet another example of FDA's aggressive efforts to regulate recreational tobacco products as drugs or devices," Leon wrote.
The FDA "has not cited any evidence that electronic cigarettes are any more an immediate threat to public health and safety than traditional cigarettes, which are readily available to the public," Leon wrote.
The ruling, if upheld, raises questions about how the FDA will approach "hybrid products" that contain nicotine but are not clearly either traditional tobacco products or nicotine-cessation products, said John F. Banzhaf III, a professor of public-interest law at George Washington University.
Banzhaf said the FDA could argue on appeal that the judge overstepped by failing to give deference to the agency's scientific expertise.
"The question of how best to regulate [novel products] . . . should lie first with the agency and not the judge, who does not have any particular skill or expertise in this field," he said.
Myers with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said he believes the decision will be overturned on appeal. "I think it is a misunderstanding of long-standing law," he said.
The FDA said it is reviewing the ruling and considering options.
"Nicotine in products currently regulated as drugs and devices is derived from tobacco products, but that doesn't make them tobacco products," Myers said.

Armed man takes cash, cigarettes from Shawnee convenience store

An armed man took cash, cigars and cigarettes from a Shawnee convenience store in the early hours of Monday.
Shawnee police reported that at 2:45 a.m., a man entered the 7-Eleven at 11023 Johnson Drive and asked the clerk for cigars. The clerk turned around to retrieve the cigars, and when the clerk turned back, the man had produced a gun, Shawnee Police Capt. Bill Hisle said.
The man demanded cash and cartons of cigarettes. Before leaving, he told the clerk to go lay down in the back room and not call anybody. A K-9 unit search indicated the man went north across Johnson Drive to the Hartman Harware parking lot, where the trail ended, Hisle said, so he likely got in a car parked there and drove away.
Hisle said the man is described as a black male in his mid-30s, 5-foot-10 and 170-180 pounds with a mustache. He was wearing all-black clothing, including a stocking cap, jacket, pants and gloves. Anyone with information should contact.

Bulgaria Introduces Staggering Cigarette Tax Hike

Bulgarian smokers will have to swallow a raise in excise duties on cigarettes and their prices as of January 1, as the government struggles to curb smoking and relieve the health care system.
Under a decision that the parliament took at the end of November, a BGN 101 excise duty for 1000 cigarettes is introduced instead of the previous BGN 41, while the proportional tax is 23% of the sales price instead of 40,5%. The latter will affect mostly expensive cigarette brands.
The tax for tobacco for pipes and cigarettes is set at BGN 100 per kg.
The new duties increase the price of a pack of cigarettes anywhere between BGN 1,10 and 1,40 making the price of the best-selling “Victory” brand BGN 5 instead of the current BGN 3,40.
Opponents to the tax hike claim that it will boost cigarette smuggling and may lead to the bankruptcy of the dominant state cigarette maker Bulgartabak.
Bulgaria has the second highest percentage of smokers in Europe and plans to ban smoking in all public spaces as of June next year.

Government Prepares Draft Bill on Tobacco Control

The government is drafting a bill on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). “This is to protect Indonesian youth today and in the future from the dangers of smoking,” said the Health Department’s Head of Public Communication Center, Lily S. Sulistyowati in a press release last week.
The FCTC is a legally-binding international convention applicable to countries that ratify it. The FCTC has been adopted by acclamation by the World Health Assembly on May 2003 and will be effective if a minimum of 40 nations ratify it. At the end of February 2004, 95 countries, including the European Union, had signed the convention.
The previous government had regulation No.19/2003 about Regulations on Cigarettes and Health. The law regulates the size and the type of health warning, time limits for cigarettes advertisements in electronic media and tar and nicotine level testing.
Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih admitted she faces a dilemma over this issue. Duties on cigarettes is considered as a major source of revenue for both the central and regional governments. But on the other hand, cigarettes are a threat to health. Tobacco epidemic data in the world shows that tobacco kills more than 5 million people every year. If this continues, in 2020 there will be 10 million deaths and 70 percent of them will take place in developing countries. “This is the challenge we have to face to protect the young generation from the dangers of smoking,” said Endang, in her press release.
Indonesia is one of the countries which consume the most tobacco, the fifth after China, United States of America, Russia and Japan, with an estimated consumption of 220 billion cigarettes in 2005.
Head of Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) Husna Zahir called on the Health Minister to be more objective in facing the Draft Bill on Tobacco. Husna hoped that Endang will be firm on the issue.”Tobacco provides big revenues to the state , but that is not the Health Minister’s area,” said Husna yesterday.
As Health Minister, she continued, Endang should be thinking more about how to avoid cigarette exposure to children and teenagers and improve the health conditions of active or passive smokers. Husna added that state revenue matters or scholarships from tobacco companies should not be an obstacle in issuing policies on cigarettes and tobaccos. “If she (Health Minister) sees it that way, she’s only looking at the problem half-heartedly. Who does she want to protect?”Judging by the Health Minister’s ambivalence, Husna is worried that the Tobacco Draft Bill discussion will be a tough exercise.”Efforts at controlling tobacco will be at risk,“ she said.

New Mich. cigarette law has some smokers fuming

A new state law intended to reduce the fire hazard posed by smoldering cigarettes has frustrated some Michigan smokers, who complain that the safer cigarettes taste foul.
The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, requires all cigarettes sold in Michigan to be engineered to automatically extinguish when left unattended. To comply, cigarette companies usually add two or three special bands to the cigarettes' paper that, when lit, reduce the flow of oxygen to the tobacco, thereby slowing the stick's rate of burn.
If a smoker does not draw on the lit cigarette, the bands effectively smother it.
Ashley May, a 22-year-old smoker from Roseville, told The Detroit News that the fire-safe smokes taste foul and are hard to keep lit.
"I don't like them," she said after a drag from a Kool. "You have to constantly puff on them every 30 seconds or else they're going out. And then when you try to re-light them, they taste horrible."
Although May and her husband Ed do not like the fire-safe cigarettes, they said they are a good idea if they end up reducing the number of house fires caused by unattended cigarettes.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm approved the law in June, making Michigan the 49th state to pass fire-safe cigarette legislation.
he new cigarettes won't end all fires started by smoking materials, but they will help lower the numbers of deaths and injuries caused by them, said Ronald Farr, Michigan's Fire Marshal.
"It's a life-safety issue," he said. "That's the single biggest point for them."
Fires caused by smoking-related materials in Michigan killed four people last year and injured 33 others, including seven firefighters, according to the state's Bureau of Fire Services.
Nationwide, fires ignited by cigarettes claimed 780 lives in the United States in 2006, according to the Massachussetts-based National Fire Protection Association.
With Michigan's new law looming, tobacco retailers such as Joe Odisho, the owner of Smokers' Planet in Roseville, have heard plenty of complaints about the new cigarettes.
"I've had people come in (and) ask if I have a brand without (the fire-safe cigarettes) and then turn around and walk out when I tell them 'no,"' he said.
Under the new law, cigarette manufacturers that want to sell their products in the state have to register them with the state's Bureau of Fire Services. They also must certify that their cigarettes were made with the self-extinguishing technology.
The state will charge cigarette makers a $1,250 fee to register each family brand of their products they want sold in Michigan. The companies will also have to re-certify their products every three years.
The packaging for cigarettes must carry a special mark on them -- FSC for Fire Standard Complaint -- as well.
Any manufacturer, distributor or retailer who continues to sell unsafe cigarettes after Jan. 1 faces fines of $100 per pack and seizure of the product, according to the law.

Tobacco in Austria - new report released

The Tobacco in Austria report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data (2002-2007), allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be the new legislative,
distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts to 2012 illustrate how the market is set to change. Product coverage includes: cigarettes, cigars and smoking tobacco Data coverage: market sizes (historic and forecasts), company shares and brand shares. Why buy this report? * Get a detailed picture of the tobacco industry; * Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change; * Understand the competitive environment, the market’s major players and leading brands; * Use five-year forecasts to assess how the market is predicted to develop.

Diplomats arrested for cigarette smuggling

Swedish police have arrested two North Korean diplomats on suspicion of smuggling 230,000 cigarettes into the Nordic country, the Swedish Customs Office said Friday.
The pair, a man and a woman who have diplomatic status in Russia, were stopped by Swedish customs officers Wednesday morning as they drove off a ferry from Helsinki, the Finnish capital.
Customs officials discovered Russian cigarettes in the car driven by the couple, Swedish Customs spokeswoman Monica Magnusson told Reuters.The two North Koreans claimed diplomatic immunity.
"They were accredited as diplomats in Russia, but had no accreditation in Sweden," she said. "They were arrested on suspicion of smuggling."
Magnusson added that the pair were still being held by Swedish police and that she was not aware of them having any contact with North Korean officials since their arrest.
Sweden's Foreign Ministry said it had been informed of the arrests but would not comment directly on the matter, saying it was a criminal case and was being handled by the police.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Cecilia Julin said foreign diplomats are only immune from criminal prosecution in countries where they have been accredited with the authorities.
"If you come to Sweden and commit a crime, you're just like any other foreign national," she said.
Sweden is one of only seven countries to have an embassy in North Korea, treated by much of the world as a rogue state due to human rights abuses and its possession of nuclear weapons despite opposition by the international community.The Foreign Ministry said the arrests were primarily a police matter, but that the North Korean embassy in Sweden was in contact with the ministry over the matter.
An official at the North Korean embassy in Stockholm said earlier he had no knowledge of the arrests.

Cigarette maker Lorillard to seek next CEO

Cigarette maker Lorillard Inc. has begun seeking a successor to Chief Executive Martin L. Orlowsky, whose contract expires next year, the company said in a regulatory filing Thursday.
The maker of Newport menthol cigarettes, based in Greensboro, N.C., told the Securities and Exchange Commission that said its board of directors plans to replace Orlowsky after his contract expires Dec. 31, 2010.
Orlowsky, 67, has served as president and chief executive officer since January 1999 and became chairman of the board in January 2001. The company said it "will weigh all relevant options" as part of the process.
Lorillard, the oldest continuously operating U.S. tobacco company, spun off from Loews Corp. in 2008.

Ice cream man in cigarette scam

A man from Cumbria has admitted selling counterfeit cigarettes to a child from his ice cream van.
Anthony Wharton, 61, of Marsden Street, Barrow was caught by trading standards officers who found him selling cigarettes to a 16-year-old.
He pleaded guilty at Furness and District Magistrates Court to three charges of selling counterfeit cigarettes.
He also admitted one count of selling cigarettes to a minor.
Wharton admitted he would often sell cigarettes to children whom he thought looked old enough, but he failed to ask for proof of age.
After a raid at his home on 14 October 1,360 counterfeit cigarettes were found.
Wharton must pay court costs of £350 and surrender all counterfeit cigarettes.
He was also ordered to complete 60 hours unpaid community work.

Huge haul of cigarettes stolen from lorry driver in Northampton

A lorry driver was robbed of thousands of cigarettes during a delivery to a Northampton supermarket.
The driver was making the delivery at Londis in Park Square, Kings Heath, at around 6.20am yesterday when he was approached by two men wearing black who demanded the cigarettes.
In total they took 89 boxes - about 18,000 cigarettes - before making off in a grey Audi 80 which was later found in the car park of Paget House, Kings Heath.
A spokeswoman for Northamptonshire Police said: "We would like to speak to anyone who may have witnessed this incident or who may have any information regarding it.
"Both offenders were men, about 5ft10in and wore black clothing, including masks covering their faces. One was of stocky build and the other slightly thinner."

It's Legal: Cigar Smokers Light Up In Benson Bar

Cigar smokers can light up legally inside Jake's Cigar Bar in Benson, despite a statewide smoking ban.
The bar is the first Omaha business to get a special cigar permit.
To qualify, a business must earn at least 10 percent of its income form the sale of tobacco products, have a walk-in humidor and not sell food.
Even with the license, cigarettes smoke is banned from the bar.
Owner John Larkin said the permit is good for business.
"We're just going to bring in more overall dollars. Still, we assume that more of the trend is going to be a raise in cigar sales, more than bar sales," he said.
Cigarros has also applied for a special permit. The bar near 132nd Street and Maple Road is closed for renovations.

Even One Cigarette Every Once In A While Could Be Harmful

If you think one cigarette now and then won't do any harm -- think again.
A new study out of Canada's McGill University says smoking just one cigarette can stiffen arteries by 25%.
Doctors measured arterial stiffness in smokers and non-smokers between 18 and 30 at rest and after exercise.
After exercise, non-smokers saw artery stiffness decrease.
But when smokers had just one cigarette, stiffness increased nearly 25%.
Researchers say this shows smoking just a few cigarettes a day impacts the health of our arteries.
They say damaged arteries can compromise our bodies ability to cope with physical stress, like climbing stairs or running to catch a bus.
Stiff arteries are also a symptom of atherosclerosis, a build-up of fatty acids and a type of heart disease.
They've also been linked to mental decline.
Researchers presented the study to a meeting of the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress.

Queensland bans smoking in cars with kids

QUEENSLAND has banned smoking in cars carrying children under the age of 16.
Deputy Premier and Health Minister Paul Lucas said the new laws would start from January next year and apply on all public roads.
"These new laws are about reducing the exposure children have to tobacco smoke," Mr Lucas said yesterday.

The legislation was passed in Queensland parliament yesterday as part of measures contained in the Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2009.
The Government described its anti-smoking laws as being the toughest in the country, including smoking bans for indoor and outdoor public places as well as restrictions on retail advertising, display and promotion of tobacco products.
In Queensland alone there are 276,000 smokers with children aged under 16, the Government said.
"The level of tobacco smoke inside a vehicle is very high, and we know young children involuntarily exposed to tobacco smoke in confined environments have significantly increased health risks, including bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, ear infections and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome," Mr Lucas said.Other states are also introducing bans on smoking in cars with children.

Hearing focuses on cigarette sales on Indian reservations

As state lawmakers Tuesday bemoaned losses from untaxed cigarette sales on Indian reservations, an attorney for Gov. David A. Paterson raised the prospect of violence if New York enforces laws aimed at recovering the funds.
Citing State Police, Peter J. Kiernan, counsel to the governor, said it was possible the cost to police of guarding collectors on reservations could surpass the taxes collected.
Native Americans testifying at the all-day hearing at Borough of Manhattan Community College Tuesday, most notably the Seneca Nation, strongly resisted the notion of paying state taxes on the sales to nontribal members. Violent confrontations accompanied two attempts at tax collection by the state in the 1990s.
"A police problem could quickly elevate to a military one," Kiernan said, adding Paterson is still considering how to move forward. He said the state favors a policy of negotiating a peaceful settlement.
Paterson's proposed resolution would establish minimum price levels for cigarette and fuel sales, which, if broached, would shift the difference to fund borrowings for infrastructure projects equally benefiting Indian reservations and nearby nontribal lands.
But looming large at Tuesday's hearing was the state's budget deficit. Numerous senators cited the shortfall and expressed frustration that existing laws to tax the cigarettes weren't being enforced. Measures empowering the state to collect the tax, including one signed by Paterson in December, are stalled, either in courts or as a result of negotiations with tribes.
Estimates of state losses from non-native cigarette sales range from $100 million to more than $1 billion annually. Yet costs for law enforcement, should the measures be enforced, could surpass more than $2 million a day, Kiernan said.
Emotions ran high at the hearing of the State Senate committee on investigations and government operations, chaired by state Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington).
When state Sen. Michael Nozzolio (R-Fayette) told Seneca Indian Nation co-counsel JC Seneca that he would "hope that the nation would not condone violence," and that Seneca didn't strike him as someone who would, Seneca said, "You don't know me very well, do you?"
While he said he was kidding, Seneca went on to mention a mural he said he sees in a state office building when he visits the governor's office, which he says depicts the killing of an Indian, and said: "You tell me about violence."
James F. Simermeyer, an attorney for the Poospatuck tribe, based in Mastic, noted it was the "smallest and poorest in New York," yet had drawn five federal lawsuits and various government enforcement actions. He added the tribe has not been invited to talks to resolve the tax collection. He called on the state to "deal with this tribe in all fairness as it does with other tribes."

French parliament committee approves cigarette hike

ARIS (Reuters) - A French parliamentary committee approved on Wednesday a measure that would add 6 percent to the price of a packet of cigarettes from next year.
The social affairs committee of the National Assembly, or lower house, adopted an amendment to the 2010 social security budget specifying a 0.6 percent hike in cigarette taxes that would lift the overall price of cigarettes by 6 percent.
The amendment was adopted ahead of a full debate on the social security budget in parliament next week.
The government has declared its intention of pushing for higher cigarette prices to discourage smokers, despite objections from bars and cafes licensed to sell tobacco, which say they have already been hard hit by indoor smoking bans.

Tower Hamlets clamps down on shisha smoking

TWO venues for smoking water pipes have been shut down in Tower Hamlets and another six are facing prosecution.
The Town Hall said it visited venues for smoking shisha in a joint operation with the police in a bid to stamp out illegal smoking in public places.
The council's lead member for the environment Abdal Ullah said: "Wherever cigarettes can't be smoked, shisha can't be smoked. Some people fail to understand this restriction because they think shisha is a safer alternative to cigarette smoking.
"That's why we are also working with NHS Tower Hamlets to educate people on the dangers of shisha smoking.

Stop smoking service celebrates 10 year anniversary

MORE than 12,000 smokers have quit in the past decade, a Buckinghamshire organisation has said, as it celebrates its ten year anniversary.
The NHS Stop Smoking Services said it has helped 12,070 people give up cigarettes.
The service estimates that over 70,000 lives have been saved through its work in the last decade.
During this period smoking prevalence among the general population has dropped from 28 per cent to below 21 per cent.
Joanne Wilson, Public Health Practitioner, said: “In Buckinghamshire, we have achieved a major reduction in the prevalence of smoking, and the Buckinghamshire Smokefree Support Service continues to support around 2,000 smokers a year to successfully give up.
“Stopping smoking is without question the single biggest decision that anyone can make to improve their health.
“The creation of free NHS Stop Smoking Services in 1999 was a hugely significant milestone in helping people achieve this goal. She added: “It is vital that we continue to make smokers aware just how easy and convenient it is to access support in their own neighbourhood.”