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** 13 September 2022
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** UK
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** Wales: Crackdown on illegal tobacco trade in Wrexham (#1)
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** £14K of Illegal cigarettes, tobacco and vapes seized in Wakefield and Castleford (#2)
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** Tom Scholar, permanent secretary to the Treasury, sacked by Liz Truss (#3)
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** International
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** Scientists find clues to how air pollution may trigger lung cancer (#4)
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** Passenger removed from plane for lighting cigarette (#5)
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** UK
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** Wales: Crackdown on illegal tobacco trade in Wrexham
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**
Significant quantities of illegal tobacco have been seized by Trading Standards Officers supported by North Wales Police from various locations across Wrexham.

Over 30,000 cigarettes, a number of hand rolling tobacco and £10,000 in cash was seized last week as part of Operation Cece with the aim of infiltrating the illegal tobacco trade in the area.

It comes as the Welsh Government launched their ‘No if’s, No butts’ campaign earlier in the year in a bid to combat the illegal tobacco trade in Welsh communities and the risk posed to children.

Trading Standards and Licensing Lead, Roger Mapleson of Wrexham’s Public Protection Service said: “Illegal tobacco is a threat because its low cost and availability make it easy for children to obtain cigarettes and risk a life-long addiction to tobacco and it makes it harder for existing smokers to quit. Illegal tobacco sellers don’t care who they sell to and non-smoking children are a lucrative target."

Source: Leader Live, 6 September 2022
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** £14K of Illegal cigarettes, tobacco and vapes seized in Wakefield and Castleford

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** Unannounced visits were made to a number of shops across the district, including two in Wakefield city centre and one in Airedale. Officers visited premises which had previously been reported to be making illegal/counterfeit sales of cigarettes and tobacco, for cut prices. Officers also made checks on vapes in the premises to ensure all products being made to customers met legal requirements.

In one shop in the Kirkgate area, officers found 50 packets of illegal cigarettes along with 14 packs of illegal tobacco, all found hidden in the storeroom. In the second shop, also in the Kirkgate area, officers discovered a large number of illegal cigarettes and tobacco - roughly estimated at around 2,000 packs of cigarettes and a large number of illegal tobacco, which had a street value in excess of £12,000.

The shop in Airedale had come to the attention of the police and licensing authority for sales of illegal cigarettes and selling vapes to under 18s. The shop had recently surrendered its premises licence to avoid being taken by way of the review process, but officers said it was 'quite obvious' that the illegal activities had continued at the shop.

The joint operation uncovered around £14,000 of illegal products, which will now be subject to further actions by Trading Standards, with a potential number of prosecutions being pursued by the authority.

Source: Wakefield Express, 13 September 2022
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** Tom Scholar, permanent secretary to the Treasury, sacked by Liz Truss
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** Liz Truss underlined her intention to reverse recent economic policies by removing Tom Scholar as the permanent secretary to the Treasury (the most senior civil servant in the Treasury), despite warnings that his experience could prove vital this winter. The move was announced last Thursday, with Scholar having held the position since 2016. Before becoming prime minister, Truss argued repeatedly against what she called “Treasury orthodoxy”, notably the predictions that her plan to make large and unfunded cut taxes could raise inflation and increase interest rates.

Kwasi Kwarteng would have been Scholar’s sixth chancellor: he worked briefly with George Osborne, then Philip Hammond, Sajid Javid, Rishi Sunak, and then, very briefly, Nadhim Zahawi. It appears likely that Kwarteng and Truss will be seeking a top official more amenable to their plan to try and increase economic growth by aggressively cutting taxes, with the belief that higher growth will then boost government coffers. This has prompted scepticism among economists, which is thought to be matched among officials in the Treasury.

The departure of Scholar will leave Whitehall without a highly experienced voice who had worked with Cameron as his principal adviser on the European Union. Beth Russell, the director general of tax and welfare, and Cat Little, the director general of public spending, will lead the department as acting permanent secretaries in the meantime.

Source: The Guardian, 9 September 2022
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** International
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** Scientists find clues to how air pollution may trigger lung cancer

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** Scientists have long known that air pollution can be linked with an increased risk of lung cancer in people who never smoked, but new research describes one mechanism that might help explain how.

The findings, presented last Saturday at the European Society for Medical Oncology Presidential Symposium in Paris, suggest that air pollution can trigger lung cancer in people with no history of smoking because some air pollutant particles may promote changes in cells in the airways.

In particular, more exposure to airborne particulate matter or particle pollution - at 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller - can drive rapid changes in airway cells that have mutations in a gene called EGFR, which are seen in about half of people with lung cancer who have never smoked, and another gene linked to lung cancer called KRAS, according to the research, conducted by scientists at the Francis Crick Institute in London and other institutions around the world.

"We found that driver mutations in EGFR and KRAS genes, commonly found in lung cancers, are actually present in normal lung tissue and are a likely consequence of ageing," Charles Swanton, a scientist at the Francis Crick Institute and chief clinician at Cancer Research UK, who presented the findings, said in a news release on Saturday.

Particulate matter or particle pollution in the air is a mix of solid particles and liquid droplets, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Some are emitted in the form of dirt, dust, soot or smoke, and they can come from coal- and natural gas-fired plants, cars, agriculture, unpaved roads and construction sites, among other sources.

Source: CNN, 13 September 2022
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** Passenger removed from plane for lighting cigarette
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**
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** A video has gone viral after showing Australian police escorting a passenger off a flight for lighting a cigarette on the plane. Sinead Merrett posted the clip to video platform TikTok, saying “This guy thinks a delayed flight means he can light a dart on the plane. No bali vacay for you now.” When commenters seemed confused, she clarified: “Lighting a dart is Aussie slang for lighting a cigarette.”

The Jetstar plane, bound for Bali, was delayed on the runway at Melbourne’s airport for over four hours, according to passengers. Fellow customers on the Jetstar flight JQ1035 were unimpressed when the man’s decision to light a cigarette meant that the plane was delayed even longer. The flight eventually took off after the man was removed and landed at its destination, Bali’s Denpasar Airport, at 12:51am on Wednesday – almost 13 hours after passengers had boarded.

Source: The Independent, 12 September 2022
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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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