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** 23 January 2024
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** UK
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** Owner of Hyde store to pay almost £10,000 for illicit tobacco sales (#3)
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** International
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** How big tobacco forced Kenya to temper nicotine pouch warning labels (#1)
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** President Biden is pressured to enact menthol cigarettes ban by over 20 Democrat states (#2)
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** UK
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** Owner of Hyde store to pay almost £10,000 for illicit tobacco sales
The owner of a Hyde shop has been hit in the pocket to the tune of almost £10,000 after being caught selling illicit tobacco.
Humayoon Sahil was prosecuted after Tameside Council trading standards officers carried out two test purchases at The Super Discount Store in Clarendon Place, which resulted in it selling illegal products on both occasions.
A later visit to the premises resulted in a seizure of 84 packets of illegal cigarettes, 61 packets of illegal hand rolling tobacco and 26 packets of illegal herbal products for smoking.
He was sentenced to a community order of 200 hours unpaid work and ordered him to pay a total of £1,376.05 costs and victim surcharge.
Super Discount Store Hyde Ltd was fined £700 for each of the 10 offences – a total of £7,000. The business was also ordered to pay £1,281 costs and a £190 victim surcharge.
Tameside Council’s assistant executive member responsible for enforcement, Cllr Vincent Ricci, said: “I’m pleased to see another successful trading standards prosecution in court and the sentencing reflects the seriousness of these offences.
“Trade in illicit tobacco costs the country more than £2 billion in lost tax revenue each year. It also supports crime rings, damages legitimate businesses, undermines public health and facilitates the supply of tobacco to young people.
“Public protection is a priority for us and our officers will always take enforcement action where necessary to help keep our local communities safe as well as to support local business that comply with the law.”
Source: The Correspondent, 22 January 2024
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** International
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** How big tobacco forced Kenya to temper nicotine pouch warning labels
The Kenyan government weakened health warnings on nicotine pouches after British American Tobacco said it would pull investment from a new factory in the country’s capital, an investigation has revealed.
Letters between British American Tobacco (BAT) and the Ministry of Health show the government yielded to the tobacco giant’s demand to sell Velo – one of the biggest-selling nicotine pouch brands globally – with significantly smaller health warnings and without mentioning potentially cancer-causing toxicants present in the products.
The letters are among documents shared with the Guardian and Africa Uncensored, and obtained by the investigative news outlet the Examination, which reveal the industry’s influence over policy in the east African country.
Existing tobacco regulations in Kenya stipulate that such labels must cover a third of the package and include information about the health hazards of the product. BAT lobbied to reduce the size of the warning, the letters show. The Ministry of Health agreed that Velo could be sold with a small warning saying: “This product contains nicotine and is addictive.”
In the UK, warning labels also inform consumers that nicotine pouches are “not risk-free” because they contain traces of tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), cancer-causing compounds that are also present in cigarettes.
A draft report by a government taskforce, which was then leaked to the Examination, accuses tobacco companies of targeting young people. Fearing a new generation will become addicted to nicotine and that the pouches could be a gateway to smoking, the taskforce is calling for strict regulation of the products. Other politicians are demanding an outright ban.
The revelations about BAT’s role in shaping health warnings in Kenya come amid an industry-wide drive to sell more “smoke-free” – yet still addictive – nicotine products across the globe.
The global market for nicotine pouches, one of many “smoke-free” products, was $3bn (£2.36bn) in 2021. BAT views Kenya as one of its key “test markets” in low and middle-income countries, according to its financial presentations, and plans to make the country its base of operations for a rollout of the product across southern and eastern Africa.
However, it isn’t clear how nicotine pouches affect human health over the long term.
The government taskforce debating the legality of nicotine products is considering new laws that would regulate these products separately from cigarettes, as well as labelling that includes warnings of the health risks.
Joel Gitali, the chair of the Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance, says the government is at a “crossroads”, where it must choose between public health and the economic benefits BAT claims the nicotine pouches will bring to Kenya.
“Kenya is being misused and we have given these people a very good landing ground where they can operate and do anything,” he said. “We are making BAT feel that its home in Africa is Kenya, which is something that is so bad for the region and to the entire generation that we are subjecting to this kind of addiction. It must stop.”
Source: The Guardian, 23 January 2024
See also: ASH - Awareness and use of nicotine pouches ([link removed]) | Tobacco Tactics – Nicotine pouches ([link removed])
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** President Biden is pressured to enact menthol cigarettes ban by over 20 Democrat states
President Biden is facing increasing pressure to ban flavoured tobacco by top Democrats as his proposal is hanging in limbo due to the threat of alienating black voters ahead of the 2024 election.
Last month, the Biden administration punted on enacting a nationwide ban on menthol cigarettes, amid political pushback and warnings the move could anger black voters who have been drifting away from the president in polling.
It is now expected to finalize the rule in March - pushed back from the original January date.
But according to over 20 Democrat-led states, including California, the health benefits outweigh political risks that Biden will face on the campaign trail.
A string of recent polls reveals that President Biden's proposed ban on menthol cigarettes may have 'unintended consequences' for him at the ballot box in 2024.
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network added that the administration's 'delay' is enabling tobacco companies to 'continue to profit as their dangerous and addictive products lead to more death and disease.'
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to California's menthol cigarette ban as a similar Biden-proposed national ban on flavoured tobacco hangs in limbo.
The high court declined to hear a case brought by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company challenging the Democrat-run state's ban on flavoured cigarettes.
The FDA announced new standards in 2022 for a menthol cigarette ban, in a move intended to crack down on disease and death from a product originally marketed toward African American smokers.
Among black smokers, 81 percent opt for menthol cigarettes, according to Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures cited by the Washington Post.
Source: Daily Mail, 22 January 2024
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