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Sales across manufactured cigarettes and roll your own tobacco were up by £971.9m in 2020.
Part of the increase in sales is believed to be due to the lack of overseas holidays and duty-free tobacco purchases. Bestway wholesale, the UK's largest cash and carry, says it saw tobacco sales grow by 40%. “Pre-Covid the category [tobacco] had been in decline, but the pandemic has changed that,” said Bestway's managing director Dawood Pervez.
Source: The Grocer, 18 December 2020
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A multi-agency operation targeting dealers of cheap and illicit tobacco resulted in a seizure of almost 140,000 cigarettes and more than 50kg of hand rolling tobacco in West Yorkshire.
Linda Davis, West Yorkshire Trading Standards Manager said "Illicit tobacco undermines the age and price restrictions placed on tobacco and also encourages people to continue smoking. It is also linked to organised crime and contributes to an underground economy worth billions of pounds."
Councillor Pauleen Grahame, Chair of the West Yorkshire Joint Services Governance and Audit Sub-Committee which oversees the work of Trading Standards said, “The illegal sale of tobacco in communities enables and encourages young children to buy it cheaply. It is really great that so many partners are working to tackle traders that break the law. All tobacco – both legal and illegal – kills half of all long term smokers. Children and young smokers are often targeted by people who sell illegal cigarettes, making it even easier for them to get hooked on smoking."
Source: Halifax Courier, 16 December 2020
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Liberal senator Sarah Henderson has combined with Labor and Centre Alliance to shut down an attempt by two Coalition rebels to upturn the government’s prescription-only policy on e-cigarettes.
In a Senate inquiry report to be tabled on Friday, the cross-party majority rejected calls from Liberal Hollie Hughes and National Matt Canavan to allow vaping devices and fluid to be imported for personal use. The pair have been openly campaigning against the prescription-only model backed by the health minister, Greg Hunt, and Therapeutic Goods Administration. At a party room meeting earlier in December, Hughes and Canavan were among 10 MPs and senators to speak against the prescription-only system, set to apply from mid-2021.
Source: The Guardian, 17 December 2020
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Chris D'Angelo writes an in-depth piece in the Huffington Post US on the tobacco industry's attempt to rebrand itself as the solution to contemporary public health crises. Chris writes on the industry's self-professed public commitment to a 'smoke-free future' and the step-up in advertising tobacco companies like Philip Morris have taken to promote this new image, including recent advertisements in the New York Times and the criticism these drew.
Chris contextualises these PR exercises in light of Philip Morris' attempt to direct customers to its new heated-tobacco product IQOS and its attempts to present itself as a legitimate public health partner through the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World.
Source: Huffington Post US, 17 December 2020
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Southend Borough Council have produced a powerful video with spoken word artist Megan Cannon and James Chapman of Paisley Productions and have generously given permission for ASH to distribute it to other local authorities in England for free.
The film tells the stories of some of those who made their quitting journey in this turbulent year and calls on others to “put it down, put it out”. Local partners are free to use this on non-broadcast platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and can also get the full Communications Toolkit from [email protected].
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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