Tobacco.org

9 indicted on cigarette smuggling charges 

Woman commits fraud for cigarettes 

Nearly $10,000 in Synthetic Drugs Uncovered at Downtown Tobacco Store 

Cigarette makers: DGI&I for forensic audit of two MNCs 

Plain packaging in the United Kingdom 

The British government has announced the start of a consultation on the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products. We fully support a fair and open public consultation where everyone's views can be heard – and we strongly urge the Government to recognise the serious unintended consequences these proposals could have.

At the heart of the pro-plain packaging campaign is the belief that it will give children “one less reason to start smoking.”

We believe that tobacco products are only suitable for adult consumers and we do not want children to smoke. However, we think plain packaging will actually make cigarettes easier for children to buy.

A windfall for counterfeiters

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• Cork second highest for illegal cigs 

NEW figures have shown that Cork recorded the second highest level of detections for illegal cigarette smuggling in Ireland across 2011.

Figures compiled by the Irish Tobacco Manufacturers' Committee have shown a dramatic increase in the levels of illegal cigarette activity as smokers increasingly turn to the black market to get their fix.

The figures showed that during 2011 at total of 23 counties recorded convictions related to either the smuggling or selling of illegal cigarettes, compared to 15 counties in 2010.

Not surprisingly, Dublin topped the table with 32 convictions for smuggling and 18 for the unlawful sale of cigarettes.

Cork came in second, with seven convictions for smuggling and four for the illegal sale of tobacco.

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Comptroller praises Baltimore County for helping snuff out cigarette smuggling  

Austrian police seize 200,000 smuggled cigarettes 

• Corner shops selling black market cigarettes to children for 20p 

UNSCRUPULOUS traders across the Midlands are selling black market cigarettes under-age children for 20p, it has been claimed.

Former Scotland Yard detective Will O'Reilly headed a private investigation into illegal sales, paid for by tobacco firm Philip Morris International.

He said he was amazed by the ease with which children could buy smuggled or counterfeit cigarettes from local shops.

He found queues of children lining up outside newsagents to buy individual smuggled or counterfeit fags for just a few pence each.

His investigation came after research by the UK's legitimate tobacco industry found a staggering 30.3 per cent of cigarettes smoked in Coventry were all illegal - twice the national average.

He said: "I was really surprised just how easy it was to buy illicit cigarettes in the Midlands.

"They were literally being sold from under the counter and were incredibly cheap, from as little as £2.

"What was more horrifying was the fact that young children, who were clearly underage, were queueing up around the block to buy them.

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• Quick response averts market scare in mad cow case  

The announcement that mad cow disease was found in a California cow drew a rapid response this week from the beleaguered American beef industry, which has been enduring one crisis after another for more than a year. . . .

Indonesia last year imported 20,000 tons of American beef, a tiny fraction of U.S. beef shipments

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said during a stopover in Singapore that the U.S. "absolutely respects the right of any country to protect the health of its citizens," but said there was no evidence any contaminated product entered the food chain.

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[The US] absolutely respects the right of any country to protect the health of its citizens.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, in regards to mad cow disease being found in the US.

US trade opposes total FDI ban in India's tobacco sector 

Former HEW, HHS Secretaries, Surgeons General And CDC Directors Urge Trade Representative To Comply With WTO Appellate Body Decision And Encourage FDA To Ban Menthol Flavoring In Cigarettes 

Former Secretaries of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and of Health and Human Services, U.S. Surgeons General, and Directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, back to the Johnson Administration, known as The Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth, today urged the United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Ron Kirk, to comply with the determination of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body and ask the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban menthol cigarettes in order to bring the United States into compliance with its international treaty obligations.

In a letter, signed by the Citizens' Commission Chairman, Joseph A. Califano, Jr., U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President Carter who began the nation's first anti-smoking campaign in 1978 and Vice Chairman Louis Sullivan, M.D., president emeritus of the Morehouse School of Medicine and Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George H.W. Bush, the Citizens' Commission cited the WTO Appellate Body decision upholding a WTO panel decision which found that by banning all cigarette flavorings except menthol, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (the Act) discriminates against Indonesian clove cigarettes in violation of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement). The Appellate Body, like the panel before it, recommended that the WTO Dispute Settlement Body ask the United States to conform the Act with its obligations under the TBT Agreement and accord menthol and Indonesian clove cigarettes like treatment in recognition of their being like products.

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State Specific Benefits: NORTH CAROLINA 

The state's largest market was Canada. North Carolina posted merchandise exports of $5.4 billion to Canada in 2010, 22 percent of the state’s total merchandise exports. Canada was followed by China ($2.2 billion), Mexico ($1.8 billion), Japan ($1.7 billion), and France ($1.1 billion).

The state's largest merchandise export category is chemicals manufactures, which accounted for $4.9 billion of North Carolina's total merchandise exports in 2010. Other top merchandise exports are machinery manufactures ($3.1 billion), computers and electronic products ($2.7 billion), transportation equipment ($2.6 billion), and textiles manufactures ($1.5 billion).

North Carolina's Metropolitan Exports

In 2009, the metropolitan area of Greensboro-High Point exported $3.2 billion in merchandise, 14.5 percent of North Carolina's total merchandise exports. Other major metropolitan areas in North Carolina that exported in 2009 included Durham ($2.7 billion), Raleigh-Cary ($1.8 billion), Winston-Salem ($1.7 billion), and Wilmington ($1.1 billion).

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Mission of the USTR 

United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk  

Ambassador Ron Kirk is the United States Trade Representative (USTR). He is a member of President Obama’s Cabinet and serves as the President's principal trade advisor, negotiator, and spokesperson on trade issues.

Since Ambassador Kirk was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in March 2009, he has led USTR in developing trade policies that are proactive, responsible, and more responsive to our interests – recognizing that trade can be a job-creating pillar of economic recovery here and abroad.

Ambassador Kirk has directed USTR’s market-opening agenda through negotiations and dialogue with trading partners around the world. These initiatives include working to conclude and advance bilateral free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama, advancing the ambitious regional Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, and sustaining serious U.S. engagement in the Doha round of multilateral negotiations at the World Trade Organization. Ambassador Kirk has also simultaneously pursued robust enforcement of America’s trade rights in support of U.S. businesses and workers, and he has focused efforts to better assist American small businesses seeking opportunities in international markets.

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