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GOVERNMENT'S FAKE CIGARETTES WARNING
THIS week HM Customs minister John Healey launched a campaign warning smokers tempted to buy cheap smuggled cigarettes that are being sold on streets and in pubs and markets that they might be hazardous.
In 2000 it was estimated that the problem of tobacco smuggling would continue its rapid growth over the 1990s, and that and by the end of 2002 that 1 in every 3 cigarettes smoked in the UK would be smuggled. According to new research published at No. 11 Downing Street this week by John Healey and Dr Ed Stephens, shows that Customs' success in squeezing the smuggling gangs' margins and disrupting their supply lines has
driven them increasingly to manufacture their own fake versions of brand-name cigarettes overseas, especially in China. More than half the cigarettes currently being seized, more than a million per day, are counterfeit, and 85% of the cigarettes being sold in London are fakes.
Many of the counterfeit cigarettes are manufactured in underground factories overseas using contaminated tobacco leaves, substantially increasing the health risks associated with smoking, with much higher levels of tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, lead, cadmium and arsenic than genuine brand-name cigarettes.
John Healey said:- "Over the past 4 years, we've seized 9 billion cigarettes and destroyed more than 250 organised smuggling gangs. If we hadn't taken this action, more than 1 in 3 of the cigarettes being smoked in the UK today would have been smuggled. Instead, the smuggled share of the cigarette market stands at just 15 per cent.
What we're increasingly seeing is that, as we've disrupted the supply lines and made it more difficult and more expensive for the international smuggling gangs to get their hands on genuine cigarettes, they are starting to manufacture their own fake versions of brand-name cigarettes.
So if you are tempted to buy cheap smuggled cigarettes on the street or in the pub, what you're doing is not only funding organized crime, it can also be even more dangerous for your health than real cigarettes.
It is near impossible to tell from the outside packaging whether you're buying fakes or not, even if they have health warnings and a tax stamp.
The only way you'll know is once you start smoking them with all the health risks that brings.
We'll continue to crack down on this illegal market and the organized criminals who run it. But we also appeal to the public to turn their backs on the gangs who smuggle and sell these fake cigarettes, and give us any information which will help us catch them
on the confidential Customs hotline on 0800 59 5000."
Dr. Ed Stephens, Geoscientist of the School of Geography & Geosciences at the University of St Andrews, said:- "Our investigation of some environmental components in UK tobacco products has revealed substantial contamination in counterfeit cigarettes by heavy metals, including the human carcinogens cadmium and arsenic. This is a worrying find for the health of those who are heavy and habitual smokers of counterfeits."
If members of the public or shopkeepers have information on people selling smuggled cigarettes in their area, they can call the freephone Customs Confidential hotline for 'tip-offs' on 0800 59 5000.
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Springbok Trekkers New Year Event
IF
you
want to spend New Year in a friendly and fun atmosphere, then
Springbok Trekkers in Southport is the place for you.
We are open from 11am on New Years Eve until 7am on New Years
Day, ending with a Champaign Breakfast.
If you want to know more visit the bars web page at www.springboktrekkers.com,
but for now "Happy Christmas to you all" say
the bar staff and the bar staff also say "We are open for
Christmas Eve and who knows what will happen!"
Young bands wanted to play in world record attempt recording marathon
AS
part of Step Up, 1 July 2005 to10 July 2005, the longest school's arts festival in the world, Step are attempting to break 10 world records in 10 days.
At least one member of the band must attend a
school / sixth form college in the north west to be part of this world record attempt...
All bands taking part will record with professional sound engineers at School of
Sound Recording in Manchester. Step aim to record 48 bands from all around the north west in 24 hours and then release the resulting CD.
Interested bands can send a photo, biography and demo (or some form of audio recording) to Band Marathon, c/o Sara Teiger, 120 Grosvenor St, Manchester M1 7HL or email
info@stepuponline.org.uk
COMPANIES CLEAN-UP AT NATIONAL CLEAN AIR AWARD
MORE than 300 companies nationwide were part of the first crop of businesses ever to pick up special awards marking their efforts to stamp-out smoking in the workplace.
Representatives came Liverpool to collect a National Clean Air Award from The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, from as far away as Thurso in North West Scotland.
The gold awards were picked up by everyone invited to the awards ceremony at the foundation's headquarters in London Road, Liverpool. The Award celebrates companies, which have banned smoking inside and directly outside their premises. Among those collecting honours were Knowsley Council, a dental surgery in Queensferry and the Catalina Guest House in Thurso.
National Clean Air Award Manager Tina Williams and foundation founder Professor Raymund Donnelly handed out the awards on Thursday, December 2.
Mrs Williams said:- "The awards are there to help protect workers and members of the public from breathing in second-hand cigarette smoke. It's extremely important."
The awards ceremony was the first of its kind since the National Clean Air Award was created in March.
Since it was founded in 1990 The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation has been dedicated to defeating
lung cancer through research, support for those affected and prevention.
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