A North Korea desperate for foreign exchange has been generating hard currency by re-exporting British cigarettes, despite renewed efforts by the international community to apply tougher sanctions on the impoverished state. North Korean and other Asian trading entities started re-exporting State Express 555 cigarettes, manufactured by British American Tobacco, in February last year, just months before North Korea’s second nuclear test in fo ... Jump to full article >>

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Illegal sales of tobacco to minors increased in some areas of Santa Barbara County in 2009, but the number decreased significantly in the city of Santa Barbara, according to data released Tuesday by the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department. Guadalupe was the only city in the county that didn’t sell any tobacco to a minor during undercover buy operations last year. Illegal sales increased in Goleta, Buellton, Lompoc, Solvang and unincor ... Jump to full article >>

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An Idaho senator whose husband is a tobacco-company lobbyist snuffed out a bill Monday to ban the industry’s latest product. Sen. Melinda Smyser, R-Parma, changed her vote after members of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee initially voted 5-4 for a bill that would bar dissolvable tobacco lozenges, strips and sticks now being tested by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Another company is already selling such lozenges here. Smyser’s switc ... Jump to full article >>

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The European Union Council of Ministers, the bloc’s principal decision-making body, has adopted a directive updating EU rules on the structure and rates of excise duties on cigarettes and other tobacco products. “The directive is intended to ensure a higher level of public health protection by raising minimum excise duties on cigarettes, while bringing the minimum rates for fine-cut tobacco gradually into line with those for cigarettes,& ... Jump to full article >>

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JEDDAH: Municipal officials are working on regulations that would compel restaurants and cafes to designate smoking sections in an effort to segregate smokers away from healthier living. “We have formulated a number of measures regulating operations of restaurants and coffee shops and specifying certain locations for smokers in order to end smoking inside commercial shops selling tobacco and sheesha smokers,” director of the department of lic ... Jump to full article >>

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Adding a $1 per pack tax to cigarettes could raise more than $9 billion a year for states, health advocates said on Wednesday, and a poll released with the study shows Americans would support such a tax. The poll, conducted by International Communications Research, found 60 percent of voters would support the tax to help struggling states and would prefer it over other tax increases or budget cuts. “An increase in tobacco tax rates is not o ... Jump to full article >>

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