The one million cigarettes seized in Blackburn last week by customs officials were contraband Jin Ling. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) special inland investigators arrested six men at a commercial premises in the town on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. They recovered the cigarettes as part of a suspected major excise duty fraud, as well as a significant amount of cash. Jin Ling cigarettes are made in China and mainly sold in Russia. It is ... Jump to full article >>

More illegal sales of cigarettes were made to minors in Marathon County during state-sponsored stings than in any other county this year. According to the state program Wisconsin Wins, which has organized statewide tobacco compliance checks since 2002, 23 illegal sales were made during 99 checks performed in Marathon County from June through October. Marathon edged Milwaukee County, which performed 406 checks, by one sale. All of the 45 Lincoln ... Jump to full article >>

ANTI-SMOKING campaigners are hopeful that last week’s 20 per cent increase in the price of cigarettes will finally push the 29 per cent of the population who smoke regularly into quitting. The bill that was rushed through parliament on December 10 may have been motivated by the need to increase annual revenue by an estimated €31 million, but Stelios Sikallides, executive secretary of the anti-smoking lobby of the Anti-Cancer Association Cypr ... Jump to full article >>

Just say no. I’m not talking about the anti-drug program that took off in the 1980s, although that campaign clearly is an important one even today. But in the new millennium the “Just say no” movement needs to be redirected toward parents. Yes, you, me, our neighbors and our friends. We need to stop trying to blame others for not taking up the mantle we as parents are required to do. The blame game has got to end. [caption id="attachment_7 ... Jump to full article >>

BOSTON (AP) — A tobacco company that had tried to hook black children on cigarettes was ordered Thursday to pay $81 million in punitive damages to the estate and son of a Boston woman who started smoking at age 13, in what an attorney said is one of the largest jury awards of its kind in the United States. The verdict came one day after jurors decided Greensboro, N.C.-based Lorillard Tobacco Co. should pay $71 million in compensatory damages t ... Jump to full article >>

EIGHT men have been charged over the theft of a massive £1.1m haul of cigarettes from Southampton docks. A gang used a stolen lorry and trailer to take 300,000 packets of American Legend cigarettes from a unit at the city’s port on June 7. The charges come following an investigation by Hampshire’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit. Six men have all been charged with conspiracy to steal the cigarettes, as well as the lorry and trailer ... Jump to full article >>

A former health secretary urged lawmakers to raise taxes on cigarettes, saying that cigarettes in the Philippines remain very affordable to children and teenagers making it easy for them to acquire the habit. According to former Health Secretary Jaime Galvez-Tan, the current cigarette tax rates in the Philippines represent only a meager 12 centavos per stick for the cheapest cigarette brand, which barely makes a dent in cigarette prices. This, ... Jump to full article >>

A jury has ruled the Lorillard Tobacco Co. tried to entice black children to become smokers by handing out free cigarettes and has awarded $71 million in compensatory damages to the estate and son of a woman who died of lung cancer. The Suffolk Superior Court jury announced its verdict Tuesday after hearing weeks of testimony. Willie Evans alleged Lorillard introduced his mother, Marie Evans, to smoking as a child in the late 1950s by giving he ... Jump to full article >>

Six-year-old Alon gets a daily allowance of P20 for food and school supplies. With that she can buy either a stick of banana-cue and one cup of juice, or a small bag of chips and 10 pieces of candy, or 2 kiddie cigarette packs, with each pack containing 5 cigarette sticks. That’s how shockingly affordable cigarettes are to kids these days. Coupled with a weak implementation of the law prohibiting sale to minors, it’s no wonder why at least o ... Jump to full article >>

Raising the health tax on cigarettes could be a way to find extra income for the financially troubled National Health Insurance (NHI) program, said Vice Premier Sean Chen yesterday. Chen said every citizen should support the NHI, which is a mechanism where people can help each other, and its finances should be improved from within by expanding its premium base. But if outside help is needed, the “most suitable” solution would be raising the ... Jump to full article >>