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* Black market tobacco costing an estimated £2billion a year in unpaid tax * Fakes contain far higher levels of chemicals such as arsenic, lead and cadmium
Jump to full article: The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday (uk), 2012-02-13
Author: Daniel Miller
Intro: One in seven cigarettes is either smuggled or fake, a study of discarded packets has found.
The black market tobacco, most of which contains far higher levels of chemicals such as lead, arsenic and cadmium, is costing the country an estimated £2billion a year in unpaid taxes.
Trading standards officers in Lincolnshire collected more than 1,350 discarded cigarette packets, with only six out of seven of them found to be legal.
The Lincolnshire study correlates with figures from HM Revenue and Customs estimating the market share for fake and counterfeit cigarettes across the country as a whole. . . .
The products, most of which are manufactured China and Russia, also contain higher levels of Cadmium which is linked with Kidney disease and arsenic which increases the risk of lung, liver and other cancers.
The fakes, which are often sold in pubs or street markets for between £3-£4 a pack, have also been found to contain sawdust, tobacco beetles and even rat droppings.
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