THE SMOKE SMUGGLERS: In the second part of our series, Crime Correspondent CONOR LALLY looks at the role of former republicans and organised crime gangs in the counterfeit cigarette industry
WHEN GARDAÍ and Customs officers staged a major raid on suspected cigarette smugglers in Monaghan last November they found something there weren’t expecting.
Instead of the usual large boxes of cigarettes – either fake imports or legitimately produced smokes on which import duties had not been paid – the authorities found evidence of a very sophisticated operation.
A search of a truck parked in a yard in smuggling country near Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, yielded enough tobacco, cigarette paper, filters and packaging for 12 million cigarettes.
“It would have been processed into finished packets of smokes at an illegal processing plant somewhere along the Border; that’s how sophisticated the smugglers are now,” said one well-placed source.
The haul, which was valued at €5 million and has been traced back to a Danish port, had entered the Republic by car ferry from Holyhead.
Customs officers checked the container freight using an X-ray scanner at Dublin Port. The X-rays showed that whatever was in the 40ft container was not the paper products mentioned in the shipping documents.
The container was placed under surveillance, and after being collected at the port by a truck driver, was followed to the townland of Creevy, near Carrickmacross, where it was due to be collected by those behind the smuggling operation.
They obviously suspected the authorities were on to them and didn’t turn up to receive the drop; the truck’s lucrative cargo was left to the Garda and Customs team.
The lorry driver was questioned and released. There wasn’t any evidence to identify the borderlands gang behind the haul.
A massive shipment had been taken off the streets, but nobody was caught. It’s a familiar pattern in the booming and expanding cigarette smuggling trade, which cost the exchequer €400 million last year in taxes and duties forgone.
Senior gardaí who spoke to The Irish Times said that during the Troubles the contraband and counterfeit cigarette trade was dominated by the Provisional IRA. Many of those involved were based in Co Louth, across the Border in South Armagh, and at a number of other locations along the Border.
The proceeds of the trade – and that of diesel laundering and smuggling, which the Provisional IRA also specialised in – mainly went to “the movement”.
“At the height of it they weren’t only funding a terrorist campaign both here and in Britain – they also had to find money to look after their people, prisoners’ families and so on,” said one Garda source.
The same source said while republicans were responsible for sourcing and importing the cigarettes, they worked with “ordinary decent criminals” in the distribution of the contraband around the country.
“You had drivers delivering the stuff to places like markets in towns and villages, to street dealers mainly in Dublin and the other cities, and to shops that would take them and sell them,” said another source.
Senior officers familiar with the trade say since the disbandment of the Provisional IRA, many former members who had organised the cigarette smuggling, and those criminals they had worked with, continue to dominate the illegal trade, working purely for personal gain.
“Some of the drugs gangs are involved, but we still pretty much see a separation between what you could define as smugglers on the one hand and what the media calls gangland,” said a Garda source.
A number of former members of the Provisional IRA based in Co Louth who are now centrally involved in the Real IRA were heavily involved in cigarette smuggling for years, and remain so.
When haulier Ciarán Smyth was shot dead aged 39 in Co Louth in 2001, it emerged he was a key player in the cigarette smuggling trade, who worked with the Real IRA.
The Provisional IRA’s alleged former chief of staff, Thomas “Slab” Murphy, has also been linked to cigarette smuggling. A large quantity of cigarettes was found on his lands during a major Garda raid in March 2006.
The former Provisional IRA men, current Real IRA members and the “ordinary decent criminals” they work with have built an impressive network of contacts internationally – from the US to Eastern Europe and the Far East – from whom they source massive shipments of cigarettes.
The 120 million cigarettes, valued at €50 million, seized in Greenore port in Co Louth last October, for example, have been traced to the Philippines. A criminal syndicate of formerly active republicans and “smuggler criminals” around the Border was behind the haul.
Some gangland figures hit by the recession, mainly due to the falling demand for cocaine from recreational users, have begun to smuggle cigarettes, though the diversification is still in its infancy.
The same small number of gangs has also become involved in growing cannabis plants in industrial-sized growing facilities, a number of which have been found by gardaí in recent months in Meath, Donegal and Wicklow.
“They’re looking to get into anything to make a few extra quid now that the cocaine market has fallen very flat,” said one Garda source.
The Keane gang in Limerick has long been involved in smuggled cigarettes and have had some consignments seized from them.
Some cases taken by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) in recent years offer an insight into the wealth that has been amassed by some smugglers.
Last month, Barry O’Brien of Oaktate, Stonetown, Carrickmacross Road, Dundalk, had three houses and €70,000 in cash seized by the Cab. He was also unable to explain the source of almost €300,000 that had gone through one of his bank accounts. O’Brien was once charged with cigarette smuggling in the North, but fled.
Dublin criminal Noel Duggan (49) became so heavily involved in cigarette smuggling he became known as Mr Kingsize. In 2003, the Cab confiscated a five-storey apartment and retail block owned by him that was valued at €4 million.
The Cab presented him with a demand for €4 million in respect of unpaid taxes after a three-year investigation revealed he was involved in smuggling and distributing cigarettes around the State.
However, Garda sources say crime gangs and traditional smugglers who want to build considerable wealth would need to import and sell a constant flow of cigarettes.
Sources point out that smugglers have to pay for the cigarettes and their transport to Ireland from their country of origin.
Once they reach Ireland they are sold by the key players to black market wholesalers. They can then be sold on a number of times to middle men before they reach street dealers.
“All those people have to get their cut, and the packs of 20 only sell on the streets for half the price of genuine cigarettes, so every pack is being sold for peanuts by the guys at the top of the chain here,” said one source.
Another source points out that drugs gangs have been slow to muscle in on cigarette smuggling because the margin of profit is much smaller than with drugs.
“A packet of 20 cigarettes that sells for around €4 on the streets here can be bought at source overseas for around 50 cent.
“But in South America you can get a kilo of coke for around €800 once you buy in bulk. When you get it to Ireland it’s worth €70,000. You just don’t get that sort of profit in cigarettes.”
Another senior Garda officer offers an interesting view: “The recession means the people going to nightclubs and parties doing lots of cocaine definitely don’t have the same spending power as before. So the drugs trade has been hit very badly.
“But the opposite is happening with the cigarettes. The black market smokes are half the price of the ones sold legitimately in shops, so in the recession that means the demand for them is going to be massive.”
Feb 22, 2010
Feb 15, 2010
Program Helps Low-Income Smokers Kick Habit
The overall U.S. smoking rate is half what it was in the 1960s. But this isn't true among low-income Americans: They're still smoking as much as everyone was a generation ago.
Massachusetts health officials say it doesn't have to be this way. They say they've found a way to get even the most hard-core smokers to quit.
The program is designed to help people like Sondra Pasquine. Pasquine, 24, works as a nursing home aide, and she wants to stop smoking. Through the Massachusetts program, she has a smoking cessation counselor, nurse Allison Diamond of the Dorchester House health center.
At a recent counseling session, Diamond pushed Pasquine to articulate what she doesn't like about smoking.
"What don't I like about it? The smell. It gets in your clothes, your hair," Pasquine replies. "And I just don't want cancer." Pasquine has seen family members suffer from smoking-related cancer.
Learning To Quit
During their 20-minute session, Diamond gives Pasquine some tips on how to be more conscious about what drives her to light up. She suggests jotting down the reason every time, and gives her a "pack wrap" diary that fits like a sleeve around her cigarette pack.
Diamond also writes a prescription for Chantix, a drug that blunts nicotine pleasure.
There's nothing revolutionary about the method. But preliminary data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health indicate that getting low-income people like Pasquine to quit may just be a matter of giving them access to the same smoking cessation aids that richer and better-educated people have — nicotine patches, drugs and counseling.That access — plus a big media campaign targeted at people enrolled in MassHealth, the Bay State's Medicaid program — appears to have brought impressive gains.
More than 75,000 MassHealth members have taken advantage of state-funded quit-smoking programs. Nearly half, the state says, have successfully quit.
Before the big push, about 40 percent of adults on Medicaid were smoking, a rate that hadn't declined in many years. But between 2006 and 2008, state figures show, their smoking prevalence dropped by 26 percent. By comparison, smoking among people without insurance coverage, a group largely on the lower end of the income scale, was unchanged.
Reaping The Benefits
And state officials say they're seeing major improvements in health — sooner than they expected. Within a year of entering smoking cessation programs, Medicaid recipients were hospitalized for heart attacks 38 percent less often than the previous year. Emergency room visits for asthma went down 17 percent. Pregnancy complications also went down, officials say.
"I think it's made a huge difference," says Dr. Nancy Rigotti, who heads tobacco research and treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital. She credits the generous Medicaid benefits with giving many low-income people the type of chance to quit they never had before.
Rigotti notes that federal regulations require that nicotine patches be sold in packages that contain a week's supply. That was intended to avoid dependence on the patches.
"So if you don't have a lot of money and you're hooked on nicotine, you may be able to scrabble together enough money to pay for a pack of cigarettes, but you probably can't buy a week's worth of nicotine patches," Rigotti says.
The Power Of Social Pressure
The Massachusetts program, launched as part of the state's landmark 2006 law that has gradually extended health insurance to almost all residents, has its skeptics.
Michael Siegel of the Boston University School of Public Health doesn't doubt that there's been a substantial drop in smoking prevalence among the Medicaid population. He's less convinced about the data on fewer asthma admissions and heart attacks, because there was no control population.
And Siegel, like others, doubts that providing low-cost smoking cessation pills and patches has made the difference. He thinks the media blitz should get most of the credit.
"My opinion is that what we're likely seeing here is that 80 percent of smokers want to quit anyway, and this publicity campaign got these smokers to pull the trigger," Siegel says. "I don't think it's necessarily [that] the medication itself had the effect, because quit rates are dismal from medication."
Others say it's possible that medication and counseling may give a needed extra boost to low-income smokers, who live in an environment where far more family members and friends smoke.
"It's especially hard when you have friends that smoke," says Pasquine. "You know, you see all your friends whip out cigarettes. It's like you're the only that don't do it."
'Ripple Effects'
There's no doubt that social factors exert a powerful force on pushing people to start smoking in the first place. And Nicholas Christakis of Harvard University says there's good evidence that social factors can work in the opposite direction — to encourage quitting.
"When you get one person to quit smoking, you get all these ripple effects," Christakis says. "When you get one person to quit, you get as many as three other people to quit throughout that person's network. So your intervention is four times as cost-effective as you thought it would be."
At some point, he says, the phenomenon can reach a tipping point. As the culture of smoking changes in a population, there are fewer smokers, and that makes it easier for the remaining ones to quit.
But of course, it's fundamentally a one-person-at-a-time deal. That's why, back at Dorchester House, Allison Diamond wants Sondra Pasquine to do one more thing before she leaves — blow into a carbon monoxide detector.
Diamond explains that carbon monoxide is in auto exhaust and cigarette smoke. "So the same thing that comes out of the exhaust pipe is in cigarettes, and you're breathing that in."
The detector shows Pasquine's carbon monoxide level is in the red "danger zone" from the cigarette she smoked that morning. She looks disgusted.
"I’m determined to quit now," she says.
Diamond guesses that Pasquine has a 50-50 chance of quitting in the next year. She'll probably need several more Medicaid-financed attempts.
But Diamond says the more times people try to quit, the better chance they have. Because each time, they gain more insight into why they're smoking.
Massachusetts health officials say it doesn't have to be this way. They say they've found a way to get even the most hard-core smokers to quit.
The program is designed to help people like Sondra Pasquine. Pasquine, 24, works as a nursing home aide, and she wants to stop smoking. Through the Massachusetts program, she has a smoking cessation counselor, nurse Allison Diamond of the Dorchester House health center.
At a recent counseling session, Diamond pushed Pasquine to articulate what she doesn't like about smoking.
"What don't I like about it? The smell. It gets in your clothes, your hair," Pasquine replies. "And I just don't want cancer." Pasquine has seen family members suffer from smoking-related cancer.
Learning To Quit
During their 20-minute session, Diamond gives Pasquine some tips on how to be more conscious about what drives her to light up. She suggests jotting down the reason every time, and gives her a "pack wrap" diary that fits like a sleeve around her cigarette pack.
Diamond also writes a prescription for Chantix, a drug that blunts nicotine pleasure.
There's nothing revolutionary about the method. But preliminary data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health indicate that getting low-income people like Pasquine to quit may just be a matter of giving them access to the same smoking cessation aids that richer and better-educated people have — nicotine patches, drugs and counseling.That access — plus a big media campaign targeted at people enrolled in MassHealth, the Bay State's Medicaid program — appears to have brought impressive gains.
More than 75,000 MassHealth members have taken advantage of state-funded quit-smoking programs. Nearly half, the state says, have successfully quit.
Before the big push, about 40 percent of adults on Medicaid were smoking, a rate that hadn't declined in many years. But between 2006 and 2008, state figures show, their smoking prevalence dropped by 26 percent. By comparison, smoking among people without insurance coverage, a group largely on the lower end of the income scale, was unchanged.
Reaping The Benefits
And state officials say they're seeing major improvements in health — sooner than they expected. Within a year of entering smoking cessation programs, Medicaid recipients were hospitalized for heart attacks 38 percent less often than the previous year. Emergency room visits for asthma went down 17 percent. Pregnancy complications also went down, officials say.
"I think it's made a huge difference," says Dr. Nancy Rigotti, who heads tobacco research and treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital. She credits the generous Medicaid benefits with giving many low-income people the type of chance to quit they never had before.
Rigotti notes that federal regulations require that nicotine patches be sold in packages that contain a week's supply. That was intended to avoid dependence on the patches.
"So if you don't have a lot of money and you're hooked on nicotine, you may be able to scrabble together enough money to pay for a pack of cigarettes, but you probably can't buy a week's worth of nicotine patches," Rigotti says.
The Power Of Social Pressure
The Massachusetts program, launched as part of the state's landmark 2006 law that has gradually extended health insurance to almost all residents, has its skeptics.
Michael Siegel of the Boston University School of Public Health doesn't doubt that there's been a substantial drop in smoking prevalence among the Medicaid population. He's less convinced about the data on fewer asthma admissions and heart attacks, because there was no control population.
And Siegel, like others, doubts that providing low-cost smoking cessation pills and patches has made the difference. He thinks the media blitz should get most of the credit.
"My opinion is that what we're likely seeing here is that 80 percent of smokers want to quit anyway, and this publicity campaign got these smokers to pull the trigger," Siegel says. "I don't think it's necessarily [that] the medication itself had the effect, because quit rates are dismal from medication."
Others say it's possible that medication and counseling may give a needed extra boost to low-income smokers, who live in an environment where far more family members and friends smoke.
"It's especially hard when you have friends that smoke," says Pasquine. "You know, you see all your friends whip out cigarettes. It's like you're the only that don't do it."
'Ripple Effects'
There's no doubt that social factors exert a powerful force on pushing people to start smoking in the first place. And Nicholas Christakis of Harvard University says there's good evidence that social factors can work in the opposite direction — to encourage quitting.
"When you get one person to quit smoking, you get all these ripple effects," Christakis says. "When you get one person to quit, you get as many as three other people to quit throughout that person's network. So your intervention is four times as cost-effective as you thought it would be."
At some point, he says, the phenomenon can reach a tipping point. As the culture of smoking changes in a population, there are fewer smokers, and that makes it easier for the remaining ones to quit.
But of course, it's fundamentally a one-person-at-a-time deal. That's why, back at Dorchester House, Allison Diamond wants Sondra Pasquine to do one more thing before she leaves — blow into a carbon monoxide detector.
Diamond explains that carbon monoxide is in auto exhaust and cigarette smoke. "So the same thing that comes out of the exhaust pipe is in cigarettes, and you're breathing that in."
The detector shows Pasquine's carbon monoxide level is in the red "danger zone" from the cigarette she smoked that morning. She looks disgusted.
"I’m determined to quit now," she says.
Diamond guesses that Pasquine has a 50-50 chance of quitting in the next year. She'll probably need several more Medicaid-financed attempts.
But Diamond says the more times people try to quit, the better chance they have. Because each time, they gain more insight into why they're smoking.
Philip Morris Int’l 4Q profit rises, plans buyback
Cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc. said Thursday that raising its prices and selling more cigarettes in emerging markets combined with the benefits of a weaker dollar to boost its fourth-quarter profit by 5 percent.
The seller of Marlboro, Parliament, Virginia Slims and other brands of cigarettes overseas also announced a new three-year, $12 billion share buyback program to begin in May.
Its shares rose $1.86, or 4 percent to close at $48.67 Thursday.
Philip Morris International _ the world's second-largest cigarette seller after China's state-owned company _ said its quarterly profit rose to $1.5 billion, or 80 cents per share. That compares with $1.45 billion, or 71 cents per share, a year earlier. And the profit tops the 78 cents per share analysts forecast.
The company's revenue spiked 10 percent to $6.72 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $6.49 billion.
The results capped a difficult year, when the company's profit fell 8 percent to $6.34 billion, or $3.24 per share. In 2008, it earned $6.89 billion, or $3.31 per share. Its revenue fell 3 percent to $25 billion, from $25.71 billion in 2008.
CEO Louis C. Camilleri said in a statement that the company compensated for consumers buying cheaper cigarettes worldwide _ and for the weak economy _ by raising its prices, increasing its market share and cutting costs during the fourth quarter.
In a conference call with investors, Camilleri said the company performed well "despite challenges we faced in numerous markets that bore the brunt of the global economic downturn," which is a "testament to the vigor and breadth of our brand portfolio."
While tax hikes, smoking bans, health concerns and social stigma have cut cigarette demand worldwide, the decline is less stark in its newer markets outside the United States. Growing demand in Africa, Asia and the Middle East also has helped to offset declines in the European Union, Latin America and Canada.
The World Health Organization estimates about 30 percent of adults worldwide smoke. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 20 percent of American adults do.
Philip Morris International's cigarette shipments edged up less than 1 percent to about 218.2 billion cigarettes during the quarter. Sales in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia rose 4 percent to $1.87 billion. In Asia, sales rose nearly 17 percent to $1.71 billion.
But the company's revenue also rose 11 percent in the European Union to $2.37 billion _ a 4 percent increase, excluding the benefit of the weaker dollar.
Companies that sell goods internationally convert revenue from foreign currencies into dollars when they report their financial results. If the dollar weakens relative to those currencies, revenue in those currencies translates into more dollars.
The company, which has offices in Lausanne, Switzerland, and New York, expects to earn $3.75 to $3.85 per share for 2010. Analysts expect a 2010 profit of $3.82 per share.
Philip Morris International was spun off in 2008 from Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc., owner of Philip Morris USA.
The stock has traded between $32.04 and $52.35 during the past 52 weeks.
The seller of Marlboro, Parliament, Virginia Slims and other brands of cigarettes overseas also announced a new three-year, $12 billion share buyback program to begin in May.
Its shares rose $1.86, or 4 percent to close at $48.67 Thursday.
Philip Morris International _ the world's second-largest cigarette seller after China's state-owned company _ said its quarterly profit rose to $1.5 billion, or 80 cents per share. That compares with $1.45 billion, or 71 cents per share, a year earlier. And the profit tops the 78 cents per share analysts forecast.
The company's revenue spiked 10 percent to $6.72 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $6.49 billion.
The results capped a difficult year, when the company's profit fell 8 percent to $6.34 billion, or $3.24 per share. In 2008, it earned $6.89 billion, or $3.31 per share. Its revenue fell 3 percent to $25 billion, from $25.71 billion in 2008.
CEO Louis C. Camilleri said in a statement that the company compensated for consumers buying cheaper cigarettes worldwide _ and for the weak economy _ by raising its prices, increasing its market share and cutting costs during the fourth quarter.
In a conference call with investors, Camilleri said the company performed well "despite challenges we faced in numerous markets that bore the brunt of the global economic downturn," which is a "testament to the vigor and breadth of our brand portfolio."
While tax hikes, smoking bans, health concerns and social stigma have cut cigarette demand worldwide, the decline is less stark in its newer markets outside the United States. Growing demand in Africa, Asia and the Middle East also has helped to offset declines in the European Union, Latin America and Canada.
The World Health Organization estimates about 30 percent of adults worldwide smoke. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 20 percent of American adults do.
Philip Morris International's cigarette shipments edged up less than 1 percent to about 218.2 billion cigarettes during the quarter. Sales in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia rose 4 percent to $1.87 billion. In Asia, sales rose nearly 17 percent to $1.71 billion.
But the company's revenue also rose 11 percent in the European Union to $2.37 billion _ a 4 percent increase, excluding the benefit of the weaker dollar.
Companies that sell goods internationally convert revenue from foreign currencies into dollars when they report their financial results. If the dollar weakens relative to those currencies, revenue in those currencies translates into more dollars.
The company, which has offices in Lausanne, Switzerland, and New York, expects to earn $3.75 to $3.85 per share for 2010. Analysts expect a 2010 profit of $3.82 per share.
Philip Morris International was spun off in 2008 from Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc., owner of Philip Morris USA.
The stock has traded between $32.04 and $52.35 during the past 52 weeks.
Feb 12, 2010
Feds called a 'senior partner' in tobacco industry
The federal government - which helped tobacco companies develop low-tar cigarettes in the late 1960s - has asked the Supreme Court of Canada to weigh in on a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the tobacco industry to recoup health costs related to smoking.
The Justice Department is seeking leave to appeal a December court ruling in the British Columbia Court of Appeal, which exposed the federal government to potential liability by concluding it should be a third-party defendant in the suit, launched by the B.C. government.
The trial, expected to begin next year, is the first of several legal challenges nationwide in which provinces are seeking to recover health costs.
Tobacco manufacturers maintain the government should share responsibility for health costs because Agriculture Canada conducted its own research while regulating the industry, knew of international studies linking smoking and lung cancer, and nonetheless encouraged and aided the industry in developing light and mild brands.
"The fact of the matter is that the federal government is a senior partner in the tobacco industry," said Eric Gagnon, a spokesman for Imperial Tobacco, one of the manufacturers named in the suit. "We believe it is important for the government to answer, as the tobacco industry will, on its involvement in the development of the industry in Canada."
The B.C. decision could open up the government to responsibility in other suits against the tobacco industry filed in Ontario and New Brunswick, and pending actions in Quebec and Manitoba.
"The decision would substantially expand the sphere of duties owed by government in its response to public-health risks posed by a commercially supplied product," the federal government said in its Supreme Court application.
The Canadian Cancer Society said tobacco makers should shoulder the entire blame because companies intentionally suppressed the health hazards of light and mild brands of cigarettes, hiding the information from consumers and the government.
"The tobacco industry's historic strategy has been to try to blame someone else," said Rob Cunningham, a cancer society senior policy analyst.
If the Supreme Court takes on the appeal, it will be its second foray into the long-standing legal battle. The court ruled in 2005 that B.C. had the legal right to sue tobacco companies.
The Canadian lawsuits were inspired by American litigation during the 1990s that ended in mass multimillion-dollar settlements.
The Justice Department is seeking leave to appeal a December court ruling in the British Columbia Court of Appeal, which exposed the federal government to potential liability by concluding it should be a third-party defendant in the suit, launched by the B.C. government.
The trial, expected to begin next year, is the first of several legal challenges nationwide in which provinces are seeking to recover health costs.
Tobacco manufacturers maintain the government should share responsibility for health costs because Agriculture Canada conducted its own research while regulating the industry, knew of international studies linking smoking and lung cancer, and nonetheless encouraged and aided the industry in developing light and mild brands.
"The fact of the matter is that the federal government is a senior partner in the tobacco industry," said Eric Gagnon, a spokesman for Imperial Tobacco, one of the manufacturers named in the suit. "We believe it is important for the government to answer, as the tobacco industry will, on its involvement in the development of the industry in Canada."
The B.C. decision could open up the government to responsibility in other suits against the tobacco industry filed in Ontario and New Brunswick, and pending actions in Quebec and Manitoba.
"The decision would substantially expand the sphere of duties owed by government in its response to public-health risks posed by a commercially supplied product," the federal government said in its Supreme Court application.
The Canadian Cancer Society said tobacco makers should shoulder the entire blame because companies intentionally suppressed the health hazards of light and mild brands of cigarettes, hiding the information from consumers and the government.
"The tobacco industry's historic strategy has been to try to blame someone else," said Rob Cunningham, a cancer society senior policy analyst.
If the Supreme Court takes on the appeal, it will be its second foray into the long-standing legal battle. The court ruled in 2005 that B.C. had the legal right to sue tobacco companies.
The Canadian lawsuits were inspired by American litigation during the 1990s that ended in mass multimillion-dollar settlements.
Feb 8, 2010
Avon Oaks employees going smoke-free
AVON — On Feb. 15, the only smoke at Avon Oaks Caring Community, 37800 French Creek Road, Avon, will be the steam rising from food and drinks.
On that day, the senior care facility, owned and operated by the Reidy family since 1965, will become smoke-free.
Joan Reidy, administrator of the skilled nursing facility that provides short and long term care, rehabilitation and skilled nursing services, said it was time to match its mission statement with positive action.
“We are a healthcare facility. As part of our mission and values, we pledge to promote the health, not only of our patients, but of our employees, and to be a healthful influence in the community. In keeping with that mission statement, it was time to take that next step,” Reidy said.
Stephanie Lawson, a registered nurse team leader and three-year employee of Avon Oaks, volunteered to educate her fellow workers as to what is available in terms of help to quit smoking.
Lawson, 36, said she smoked her first cigarette as a teenager.
“I’ve tried to quit two times before. I’m in the process of quitting. I’ve gone from a full pack to less than a pack. I’ve cut it in half. I’ve gone through the Ohio QUITLINE and got eight weeks of free patches,” Lawson said.
“We’re trying to offer a lot of support to the staff. We’ve tried to educate them to get a support group here so we can have meetings,” Lawson said.
“I don’t know that it’s unique,” Lawson said in terms of the new smoke-free rule. “There are other campuses with no smoking, such as Community Health Partners.”
Lawson said of the smoke-free decision, “I think it’s just one more indicator that we’re healthcare professionals. We know it’s not healthy, and we know the risks and consequences. Our family would want us to quit smoking. And Avon Oaks is like an extended family.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Lawson said. “We smoke here as a social thing. So, now we have to socialize in a different way.
“We’ve had six employees who have quit out of 45 smokers and 12 who are in the process of quitting. Some are using the patch, Nicorette gum, some have quit cold turkey and some have substituted Dum Dum suckers for cigarettes.”
Avon Oaks employs a total of 150 people.
“I’m very proud of them,” Reidy said. “I had an around-the-clock meeting with the employees and explained to them why (the policy was being implemented). Our insurance company, Medical Mutual, will continue to help pay for patches. I did explain to them that I don’t expect everyone to quit, they just can’t smoke here. They’re not all happy about it.”
Reidy said the new smoke-free policy prohibits smoking not only inside the building, but on the grounds and parking lot, as well.
But Reidy said she is not out to terminate anyone’s employment.
“I’m not out to eliminate employees,” Reidy said. “I’m very proud of my employees. No one is up in arms about it. Everyone there is valuable to me. That’s why I care so strongly about their health.”
“Any business has policies and rules that have to be followed and discipline procedures,” Reidy said, adding that if someone does break the no-smoking policy, they would be offered education and a warning.
Prior to implementation of the policy, workers who smoked had a designated area outside the facility. On Feb. 15, there will be no such designated area. Even in the parking lot, employees will not be allowed to smoke, not even in their own vehicles.
“People who smoke have the smell of smoke on their clothes while they are working with residents. So, this (policy) is a good thing for residents,” Reidy said.
Only one resident smokes, Reidy said, and he will be allowed to continue to do so outside.
Reidy is considering turning one of the rooms at Avon Oaks into a combination reading room and treadmill exercise area.
Reidy said future job applicants at Avon Oaks will be advised of the no-smoking policy, but will not be barred from employment because they smoke.
“Parma Hospital will not hire smokers,” Reidy said. “We already do background screenings here for drugs. But the industry is going that way.”
Reidy admitted she, too, smoked cigarettes at one time.
“I was a heavy smoker at one time,” Reidy said. “I started smoking when I was 12 until I turned 24. I tried to quit a couple of times. I gave myself a ‘thank you’ gift when I graduated from nursing school and stopped. It was difficult. When you’re a smoker, your life revolves around your next cigarette.”
On that day, the senior care facility, owned and operated by the Reidy family since 1965, will become smoke-free.
Joan Reidy, administrator of the skilled nursing facility that provides short and long term care, rehabilitation and skilled nursing services, said it was time to match its mission statement with positive action.
“We are a healthcare facility. As part of our mission and values, we pledge to promote the health, not only of our patients, but of our employees, and to be a healthful influence in the community. In keeping with that mission statement, it was time to take that next step,” Reidy said.
Stephanie Lawson, a registered nurse team leader and three-year employee of Avon Oaks, volunteered to educate her fellow workers as to what is available in terms of help to quit smoking.
Lawson, 36, said she smoked her first cigarette as a teenager.
“I’ve tried to quit two times before. I’m in the process of quitting. I’ve gone from a full pack to less than a pack. I’ve cut it in half. I’ve gone through the Ohio QUITLINE and got eight weeks of free patches,” Lawson said.
“We’re trying to offer a lot of support to the staff. We’ve tried to educate them to get a support group here so we can have meetings,” Lawson said.
“I don’t know that it’s unique,” Lawson said in terms of the new smoke-free rule. “There are other campuses with no smoking, such as Community Health Partners.”
Lawson said of the smoke-free decision, “I think it’s just one more indicator that we’re healthcare professionals. We know it’s not healthy, and we know the risks and consequences. Our family would want us to quit smoking. And Avon Oaks is like an extended family.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Lawson said. “We smoke here as a social thing. So, now we have to socialize in a different way.
“We’ve had six employees who have quit out of 45 smokers and 12 who are in the process of quitting. Some are using the patch, Nicorette gum, some have quit cold turkey and some have substituted Dum Dum suckers for cigarettes.”
Avon Oaks employs a total of 150 people.
“I’m very proud of them,” Reidy said. “I had an around-the-clock meeting with the employees and explained to them why (the policy was being implemented). Our insurance company, Medical Mutual, will continue to help pay for patches. I did explain to them that I don’t expect everyone to quit, they just can’t smoke here. They’re not all happy about it.”
Reidy said the new smoke-free policy prohibits smoking not only inside the building, but on the grounds and parking lot, as well.
But Reidy said she is not out to terminate anyone’s employment.
“I’m not out to eliminate employees,” Reidy said. “I’m very proud of my employees. No one is up in arms about it. Everyone there is valuable to me. That’s why I care so strongly about their health.”
“Any business has policies and rules that have to be followed and discipline procedures,” Reidy said, adding that if someone does break the no-smoking policy, they would be offered education and a warning.
Prior to implementation of the policy, workers who smoked had a designated area outside the facility. On Feb. 15, there will be no such designated area. Even in the parking lot, employees will not be allowed to smoke, not even in their own vehicles.
“People who smoke have the smell of smoke on their clothes while they are working with residents. So, this (policy) is a good thing for residents,” Reidy said.
Only one resident smokes, Reidy said, and he will be allowed to continue to do so outside.
Reidy is considering turning one of the rooms at Avon Oaks into a combination reading room and treadmill exercise area.
Reidy said future job applicants at Avon Oaks will be advised of the no-smoking policy, but will not be barred from employment because they smoke.
“Parma Hospital will not hire smokers,” Reidy said. “We already do background screenings here for drugs. But the industry is going that way.”
Reidy admitted she, too, smoked cigarettes at one time.
“I was a heavy smoker at one time,” Reidy said. “I started smoking when I was 12 until I turned 24. I tried to quit a couple of times. I gave myself a ‘thank you’ gift when I graduated from nursing school and stopped. It was difficult. When you’re a smoker, your life revolves around your next cigarette.”
Feb 4, 2010
Snake hooked on cigarettes
A snake in Taiwan has become addicted to cigarettes and smokes 20 a day.
Po reportedly became hooked thanks to his owner's own habit.
The owner says that Po is very tame and that one day "I threw a cigarette butt away and he went for it and seemed to enjoy having it in his mouth."
The owner says one thing led to another and now Po has one cigarette in the morning and one at night.
"He gets very agitated if I don't have any to spare," the owner says.
Po reportedly became hooked thanks to his owner's own habit.
The owner says that Po is very tame and that one day "I threw a cigarette butt away and he went for it and seemed to enjoy having it in his mouth."
The owner says one thing led to another and now Po has one cigarette in the morning and one at night.
"He gets very agitated if I don't have any to spare," the owner says.
Feb 1, 2010
Cutting taxes not a solution
CONSUMER associations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and health experts have all slammed the argument by industry players that tax hikes lead to an automatic increase in smuggling.
In a previous report, the Malaysia Council for Tobacco Control (MCTC) president Koris Atan argued that price hikes deterred youths from taking up smoking, and in some cases, even encouraged habitual smokers to kick the habit.
“International research has shown that a 10% increase in cigarette prices can reduce cigarette consumption by 4%–8%. This translates to saving about 16 million lives worldwide by 2020,” he was quoted as saying.
The Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations secretary-general Muhammad Shaani Abdullah reportedly said the argument of tobacco players was more akin to a “ransom weapon”, to deter the Government from increasing tobacco taxes, while the Malaysian Medical Association had called it a “laughable” excuse.
Royal Malaysian Customs Department enforcement and compliance deputy director-general Datuk Mohamed Khalid Yusuf said when there were tax hikes, there was “increased potential” for smuggling. “If tax increases, it attracts more interest. If it were zero tax, who would want to smuggle?”
However, he added that there were situations where smuggling was still a problem even without taxes being an issue. “Drugs are non-taxable but we still have a smuggling problem,” he said.
In 2000, an article in the British Medical Journal entitled “How can cigarette smuggling be reduced,” authors Luk Joossens and Martin Raw claimed that the correlation between high prices and high levels of smuggling claimed by the tobacco industry simply did not exist.
They claimed that factors such as corruption, public tolerance, informal distribution networks, widespread street-selling, and the presence of organised crime were more prevalent in elevating tobacco smuggling.
The report cited countries like Canada, which were unsuccessful in curbing their smuggling problems even after reducing their excise duties.
When Canada reduced its taxes in 1994, the real price of its cigarettes fell by a third. However, the prevalence of smoking increased in teenagers from 16% to 20% and also increased in the population as a whole.
Federal tax revenues meanwhile fell by C$1.2bil, more than twice the amount originally predicted.
The article also cited Spain as one of the few countries in the world to tackle its smuggling problem successfully without the need to reduce tobacco taxes.
Despite being among the cheapest in the European Union (EU), Spanish smuggled cigarettes had a market share of 15% in 1995.
It was established that Andorra (a small country in south western Europe) was one of the sources of smuggled cigarettes into Spain and the EU.
In 1997, there was a concerted effort at both national and European levels undertaken to reduce the supply of contraband cigarettes.
Close ties were forged between the authorities in Spain, France, Britain, Ireland, and Andorra and the European Anti Fraud Office to curb the supply of smuggled cigarettes from Andorra.
Actions included sealing the Andorran border, civil guard brigades patrolling valleys and hills to make smuggling more difficult and political pressure on the Andorran government by the EU and its member states, forcing it to enact new legislation making it illegal to smuggle tobacco into neighbouring countries.
As a result, contraband cigarettes, which had accounted for 12% of the Spanish market in early 1997, held only 5% by mid-1999. Sales of legal cigarettes increased 12% from 1997 to 1998 while tax revenues rose 25% during the same period.
According to the Spanish customs authorities, their success was not due to controlling distribution at street level (which was almost impossible) but by reducing the supply into the country at “container level” through intelligence, customs activity and cooperation, and technology.
Tobacco smuggling has become a huge global health concern – as it brings tobacco into markets cheaply, making it affordable to purchase and thus promote consumption.
It is also a circumvention of taxes and customs duties, causing government treasuries to lose billions in revenue each year.
Industry players argue that tobacco smuggling is caused by market forces owing to the price differences between countries, causing cigarettes to get smuggled from cheaper countries to more expensive ones.
JT International Bhd (JTI) corporate affairs director Shareen Rahmat said Malaysia’s cigarette prices were currently the second highest after Singapore in the Asean region.
“The retail price of a 20s pack category in Malaysia is higher by approximately RM5.80 per pack than that of a similar category in Indonesia,” she said.
Currently, a pack of 20 costs RM9.30, with the same in Singapore costing over RM27.
Industry players have urged the Government to curb the smuggling problem by reducing taxes, which will also, they say, help restore revenue.
“With prices of duty-paid cigarettes being much higher in Malaysia, there is great demand for cheaper and unregulated illicit cigarettes in the country.
“Due to unpaid taxes, illicit cigarettes can be bought for as low as RM2.50 for a pack of 20 sticks,” said Shareen.
Philip Morris (M) Sdn Bhd managing director Richard Morgan said Mlaysia had one of the highest levels of illicit cigarettes in the world.
“The prevalence of illicit cigarettes in Malaysia was at a low level of 14.4% in 2004. However, it has steadily grown over the years and reached an all-time high of 38.7% in 2009,” he said.
In a previous report, the Malaysia Council for Tobacco Control (MCTC) president Koris Atan argued that price hikes deterred youths from taking up smoking, and in some cases, even encouraged habitual smokers to kick the habit.
“International research has shown that a 10% increase in cigarette prices can reduce cigarette consumption by 4%–8%. This translates to saving about 16 million lives worldwide by 2020,” he was quoted as saying.
The Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations secretary-general Muhammad Shaani Abdullah reportedly said the argument of tobacco players was more akin to a “ransom weapon”, to deter the Government from increasing tobacco taxes, while the Malaysian Medical Association had called it a “laughable” excuse.
Royal Malaysian Customs Department enforcement and compliance deputy director-general Datuk Mohamed Khalid Yusuf said when there were tax hikes, there was “increased potential” for smuggling. “If tax increases, it attracts more interest. If it were zero tax, who would want to smuggle?”
However, he added that there were situations where smuggling was still a problem even without taxes being an issue. “Drugs are non-taxable but we still have a smuggling problem,” he said.
In 2000, an article in the British Medical Journal entitled “How can cigarette smuggling be reduced,” authors Luk Joossens and Martin Raw claimed that the correlation between high prices and high levels of smuggling claimed by the tobacco industry simply did not exist.
They claimed that factors such as corruption, public tolerance, informal distribution networks, widespread street-selling, and the presence of organised crime were more prevalent in elevating tobacco smuggling.
The report cited countries like Canada, which were unsuccessful in curbing their smuggling problems even after reducing their excise duties.
When Canada reduced its taxes in 1994, the real price of its cigarettes fell by a third. However, the prevalence of smoking increased in teenagers from 16% to 20% and also increased in the population as a whole.
Federal tax revenues meanwhile fell by C$1.2bil, more than twice the amount originally predicted.
The article also cited Spain as one of the few countries in the world to tackle its smuggling problem successfully without the need to reduce tobacco taxes.
Despite being among the cheapest in the European Union (EU), Spanish smuggled cigarettes had a market share of 15% in 1995.
It was established that Andorra (a small country in south western Europe) was one of the sources of smuggled cigarettes into Spain and the EU.
In 1997, there was a concerted effort at both national and European levels undertaken to reduce the supply of contraband cigarettes.
Close ties were forged between the authorities in Spain, France, Britain, Ireland, and Andorra and the European Anti Fraud Office to curb the supply of smuggled cigarettes from Andorra.
Actions included sealing the Andorran border, civil guard brigades patrolling valleys and hills to make smuggling more difficult and political pressure on the Andorran government by the EU and its member states, forcing it to enact new legislation making it illegal to smuggle tobacco into neighbouring countries.
As a result, contraband cigarettes, which had accounted for 12% of the Spanish market in early 1997, held only 5% by mid-1999. Sales of legal cigarettes increased 12% from 1997 to 1998 while tax revenues rose 25% during the same period.
According to the Spanish customs authorities, their success was not due to controlling distribution at street level (which was almost impossible) but by reducing the supply into the country at “container level” through intelligence, customs activity and cooperation, and technology.
Tobacco smuggling has become a huge global health concern – as it brings tobacco into markets cheaply, making it affordable to purchase and thus promote consumption.
It is also a circumvention of taxes and customs duties, causing government treasuries to lose billions in revenue each year.
Industry players argue that tobacco smuggling is caused by market forces owing to the price differences between countries, causing cigarettes to get smuggled from cheaper countries to more expensive ones.
JT International Bhd (JTI) corporate affairs director Shareen Rahmat said Malaysia’s cigarette prices were currently the second highest after Singapore in the Asean region.
“The retail price of a 20s pack category in Malaysia is higher by approximately RM5.80 per pack than that of a similar category in Indonesia,” she said.
Currently, a pack of 20 costs RM9.30, with the same in Singapore costing over RM27.
Industry players have urged the Government to curb the smuggling problem by reducing taxes, which will also, they say, help restore revenue.
“With prices of duty-paid cigarettes being much higher in Malaysia, there is great demand for cheaper and unregulated illicit cigarettes in the country.
“Due to unpaid taxes, illicit cigarettes can be bought for as low as RM2.50 for a pack of 20 sticks,” said Shareen.
Philip Morris (M) Sdn Bhd managing director Richard Morgan said Mlaysia had one of the highest levels of illicit cigarettes in the world.
“The prevalence of illicit cigarettes in Malaysia was at a low level of 14.4% in 2004. However, it has steadily grown over the years and reached an all-time high of 38.7% in 2009,” he said.
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