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Revenue officers seized 75kg of illicit tobacco in the checked baggage of three Irish nationals worth over €44,000, at Cork Airport on Sunday (5 July). The discovery was made with the assistance of detector dog Eva during routine profiling.
The three people had disembarked a flight from Alicante, Spain. The Amber Leaf branded tobacco had an estimated retail value of approximately €44,260, representing a potential loss to the Exchequer of €36,735.
Investigations are ongoing.
Source: Irish Examiner, 6 July 2020
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Bobby Ramakant, the editor of India-based Citizen News Service, shares his opinion on why plain packaging will accelerate progress towards ending the tobacco epidemic in Singapore.
“Despite the indisputable scientific evidence that tobacco kills, the tobacco industry has been conniving to use every trick possible to protect and increase its profits. Over 8 million people die of tobacco use worldwide every year. More worrying is the emerging scientific evidence that diseases of which tobacco is a common major risk factor, are dangerously elevating the risk of severe outcomes of COVID-19 (including death).
“One glimmer of hope in these difficult times, of public health emergency and cascading humanitarian and economic crisis, came from Singapore. Plain packaging of all tobacco products came into immediate effect from July 1, thereby joining two more nations in the Asia Pacific that have enforced plain packaging earlier: Australia (2012) and Thailand (2019).
“[….] Plain packaging transfers much more power to the government to control a deadly product, punctures the deception and lies of age-old industry tactics, and helps save lives and avoid unnecessary human suffering.
“Plain packaging serves several purposes, including reducing the attractiveness of tobacco products and eliminating the effects of tobacco packaging as a form of advertising and promotion. [It also addresses] package design techniques that may suggest that some products are less harmful than others and increases the noticeability and effectiveness of health warnings.
“[….] Smoking costs Singapore at least US$600 million a year in healthcare costs and lost productivity. From July 1, 2020, non-compliance with the plain packaging regulations in Singapore will be an offence punishable with a fine not exceeding S$10,000, imprisonment for a term of up to six months, or both for first offenders. Those with a prior qualifying conviction will face heavier penalties.
“The range of other tobacco control measures include public education, taxation, smoking cessation programs, bans on tobacco advertising, the point-of-sale display ban and the institution of minimum legal age for tobacco has already been in force in Singapore.”
Source: The Jakarta Post, 6 July 2020
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According to data from the Health Ministry, 0.7% of children between the age of 10 and 14 in Indonesia are active smokers. The number of children who smoke aged between 10 and 18 has increased from 7.2 % in 2013 to 9.1% in 2018.
Lenny Rosalin, the Deputy Head for Child Growth and Development Affairs at the Women Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry, during an online discussion, said: “Children are a promising target market because potentially they can become long-term smokers.”
According to a survey by the Ministry, children and teenagers are most exposed to cigarette adverts which they regularly see in kiosks, at sports and music events and in merchandise logos. Children are also targeted with free samples, and discount offers.
Lenny said ministries, government agencies, and the public should work together to reduce the number of child smokers by, among others, fighting for the revision of the 2012 government regulation on tobacco products as addictive substances.
"The regulation should ban tobacco advertisements on broadcast and print media, restrict ads that involve children and teenagers, prohibit cigarette sales to minor and set priorities for raising awareness about the dangers of tobacco products to children and teenagers," she said.
Source: Jakarta Globe, 18 June 2020
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During a House of Lords debate yesterday (6 July), on the Business and Planning Bill, Baroness Northover proposed making smokefree status a requirement for pavement licenses:
“… I am glad that last summer the Government announced plans for England to be smoke-free by 2030. They committed to bringing forward proposals on this, but a year has passed with no such proposals. The Bill will allow the Government to show that they intend to deliver on that major public health goal.
“We know how transformative it has been to have banned smoking in public places. It now seems very unpleasant and strange when we find ourselves in smoky places. Lives are being saved, especially among those who had to work in those environments. However, the ban on smoking inside public places has displaced smokers from using adjacent outdoor areas, which exposes passers-by and those going in, with staff as always worst affected.
“Encouragingly, people now do not like being exposed to tobacco smoke. When Greater Manchester surveyed its population, over 70% said that they wanted the areas immediately outside public buildings to be smoke-free.
“Pavement licences will exacerbate the problem as they are designed to make it easier for bars, restaurants and pubs to serve food and drink to customers on the pavement immediately outside their premises. While previously those wishing to avoid second-hand smoke could stay inside, remaining indoors is both more restricted and riskier because of the coronavirus. Clause 5(1) states that: A pavement licence may be granted by a local authority subject to such conditions as it considers reasonable.
“Local authorities could, therefore, prohibit smoking on an ad-hoc basis, but so far councils have not taken that up… We know that smoke-free hospitality venues did not just happen. They required legislation which was supported by the hospitality trade because it set a level playing field.
“If smoking is not prohibited, these pavement areas will not be family-friendly spaces. Not only customers and staff but neighbouring premises, particularly in cramped urban areas, will be exposed to second-hand smoke. The Government should make smoke-free status a requirement for all pavement licences. It will be easy to do but, if they cannot take such a simple step forward, we will have to doubt their commitment to delivering a smoke-free England by 2030. I hope very much that the noble Earl will help us to take this forward.”
Source: Hansard, 6 July 2020
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