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More than 219,000 fake cigarettes and 64kg of illegal tobacco with a retail value of more than £163,700 were seized as part of a crackdown. Walsall Trading Standards, in partnership with West Midlands Police and a specialist search-dog team, swooped on local shops and vehicles during Operation Dobermann last week.
Cigarettes and tobacco were found behind the counter in shops and car boots, with a single stash of 129,000 counterfeit cigarettes and 53kg of tobacco found in a van in Caldmore. In one store, tobacco dog Yoyo sniffed out sophisticated concealment, where a key fob operated the movement of part of a wall in the storeroom revealing numerous packets of illicit cigarettes.
Councillor Garry Perry, deputy leader for resilient communities and portfolio holder for public protection in Walsall, said: “… It is far from harmless. Tobacco bought on the illegal market is often the product of organised criminal activity with links to human trafficking, drugs and even terrorism. This brings crime into Walsall and exploits vulnerable people. Many traders are prepared to sell to children in order to get them hooked on smoking. Walsall Trading Standards have a zero-tolerance approach to these matters and will use every enforcement technique at their disposal to disrupt this type of activity.”
Investigations into the raids and illegal cigarette sales are ongoing.
Source: Express and Star, 18 November 2020
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Several Philip Morris-sponsored articles about vaping published in the Australian newspaper may breach national tobacco advertising promotion laws, says public health advocates. Philip Morris International has paid News Corp Australia tens of thousands of dollars to run four online articles that look like science features, as part of an international campaign to change tobacco restriction laws.
The articles are framed around initial scepticism towards scientific and technological breakthroughs such as the invention of cars, seatbelts, aeroplanes and computers, to argue that science has shown that vaping is a safer alternative. However, governments are not listening to the science.
The chief executive of the Australian Council on Smoking and Health, Maurice Swanson, said he would ask the commonwealth health department whether the articles breached the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992. Swanson said: “ACOSH believes these sponsored articles are advertising and clearly breach Australia’s national tobacco advertising and promotion laws. They are part of a broader PR campaign by Philip Morris to undermine Australia’s cautionary approach to the regulation of heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes. Philip Morris is simply diversifying its range of nicotine products to ensure continuing addiction and maintain its profitability.”
A spokesman for News Corp Australia said the sponsored articles did not constitute tobacco advertising and had no impact on its journalists’ reporting on smoking and vaping.
Source: The Guardian, 18 November 2020
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Smoking cigarettes increases the risk of severe coronavirus infection by dampening the immune response of the body, a new study suggests.
The scientists from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) used human stem cells from donors to create an airway analogue, called an air-liquid interface culture. Some were exposed to cigarette smoke for three minutes every day over four days while the others were not. They were then both infected with SARS-CoV-2 to see how the coronavirus virus behaved in both systems.
The researchers found that in the models exposed to cigarette smoke, there were between two and three times more infected cells. The study reveals smoking stops key immune system molecules, called interferons, from working properly. Interferons are messengers that tell infected cells to make proteins to attack the invading pathogen and are essential for fighting off initial infection.
Dr Brigitte Gomperts, the author of the study, said: “If you think of the airways like the high walls that protect a castle, smoking cigarettes is like creating holes in these walls. Smoking reduces the natural defences, and that allows the virus to set in.”
Source: Daily Mail, 18 November 2020
See also: Science Direct - Direct exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and cigarette smoke increases infection severity and alters the stem cell-derived airway repair response
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The internal Market Bill was debated yesterday, Wednesday 18 November, at Report stage in the House of Lords. During the debate members of the Lords argued that the lack of sufficient exception for public health would make it difficult for any part of the UK to implement policies necessary to protect the health of their populations. They tabled amendments to the Internal Market Bill, essential to protect public health objectives throughout the UK.
Lord Young of Cookham, said: “… it is essential that all the nations within the UK can pursue effective policies on public health, which is my particular interest. Last Friday, the Public Services Select Committee, of which I am a member, published its first report on the lessons from coronavirus for public services. One of the key recommendations to the Government was that there is an urgent need to recognise the vital role of public health in reducing deep and ongoing inequalities exacerbated by Covid-19. Unamended, the Bill makes that task more difficult.”
“While the committee welcomed the Government’s commitment to extend healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035, and to narrow the gap between the richest and the poorest, we also recognised that this would be tough to deliver. We called on the Government to wait no longer before publishing their strategy to achieve this manifesto commitment and their response to the Green Paper Advancing Our Health: Prevention in the 2020s, which was due in January this year.”
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff said: “… The future of the UK depends on good internal working arrangements, respecting the devolution settlements and ensuring that all four nations work together for the common good. Securing different trade agreements will be difficult, and those negotiating need to know that the four nations recognise the importance of clear external policies, while also ensuring that the specific needs of their own populations are being actively addressed.”
Source: Hansard, 18 November 2020
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