Tobacco.org

Study in Spain and Romania confirms radon as second leading cause of lung cancer 

Exposure to radon gas in homes is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking, according to a study carried out by researchers from the University of Cantabria and the Babes-Bolyai University in Romania. The team has studied data on exposure to this element in a uranium mining area in Transylvania and in an area of granite in Torrelodones, Madrid.

Numerous studies worldwide have shown that radon, a natural radioactive gas that seeps into homes in some regions, is the second leading factor (after smoking) in causing people to develop lung cancer. This has now also been confirmed by a study carried out in Torrelodones, Madrid, and Stei, in Romania, by researchers from the University of Cantabria and the Romanian Babes-Bolyai University, and which has been published recently in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

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WEIRD BUT TRUE  

Romanian border police nabbed a hapless bungler who tried to enter their country from the Ukraine in a horse and buggy, then made a break for it.

They caught the man after a short chase in their cars. Turns out he was trying to smuggle 100,000 packs of cigarettes and tobacco worth $450,000.

"Outrunning our officers was never a possibility," said a police spokesman.

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Romania launches anti-smoking campaign 

The Romanian Health Ministry says it is launching a campaign to dissuade people from smoking by placing graphic photographs on cigarette cartons.

The ministry says the anti-smoking campaign starting July 1 will include 14 images showing how cigarettes can harm the health of smokers as well as their children.

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• Smoking kills 33,000 Romanians every year 

In Romania there are nearly 6.5 M smokers (25 to 44 years of age) and 33,000 of them are killed every year by their vice that is the second global cause of death, the President of the National Anti-Drug Agency (ANA), Pavel Abraham, stated during a press conference marking the International Non-Smoking Day, yesterday.

According to a survey conducted by the European Commission in 2007, smoking is responsible for 75 per cent of heart strokes in smokers under the age of 50 and for 30 per cent of the deaths caused by the various forms of cancer.

The ANA official noted that the survey in question also found that most smokers, including in Romania, start smoking before the age of ten, mainly because of the insistent tobacco product advertising.

The same study shows that Romania and Austria are the least open to the introduction of smoking bans

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"No smoking" Lamp is Lit 

The Marriott and Westin chain seem to have started the anti-smoking fervor. But entire cities such as Chicago and Washington followed, along with more than 100 other municipalities that also enacted smoke-free laws.

Marriott banned smoking last year in all its 400,000 guest rooms, as well as restaurants, lounges, meeting rooms, public spaces and work areas.

But the chain went even farther. Marriott provides free anti-smoking packages to all its employees and their dependents who participate in a medical plan. The chain in partnership with the American Cancer Society also offers 24-hour "quitline" telephone counseling and two eight-week non-prescription nicotine replacement therapy treatments each year.

You might think the smoking policy there was based on the bottom line but Marriott says that is not the case.

"We weren't focused on ROI. It was more of 'This is the right thing to do for our guests and associates,'" says Karen Graham, Marriott's manager of health plans. . . .

Not all hotels are adopting non-smoking laws.

"Representatives from InterContinental Hotels Group, Hilton and Hyatt said they have no plans to eliminate smoking rooms throughout their chains, though these rooms represent as little as one percent of inventory," reported The New York Times a few weeks ago.

So if you want to smoke, here's a RX: go to Eastern Europe. The Romanian Tourist Office at its site points out that recent legislation banned smoking everywhere such as planes, buses and some trains. "Luxury hotels have designated no-smoking floors," the Romanian Tourist Office says.

But so what? The site admits that it looks like all adults in Romania smoke. "But smokers here, in common with many Eastern European countries," have little respect for non-smokers."

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[S]mokers here, in common with many Eastern European countries, have little respect for non-smokers.
Romanian Tourist Office, on its website.

• The Eastern Cigarettes Underground 

This dialogue recurred dozens of times on the illegal cigarette route along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. A team of undercover reporters from the Romanian Center for Investigative Journalism (www.crji.org) together with Ukrainian colleagues tracked down smuggling routes through the European Union's Eastern borders.

Romanian and Ukrainian smugglers offered the investigative team duty-free cigarettes, illegally manufactured cigarettes, fake brands such as LML (an imitation of L&M) as well as legally produced Ukrainian cigarettes that illegally entered Romania through border check points or the so-called "green zone," the mountainous areas between them

Officials from both countries complain about the growing level of cigarette smuggling but little is done to stop it.

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The Market for Tobacco in Romania Increased between 2001-2006, Growing at an Average Annual Rate Of 5.1% 

-Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c77157) has announced the addition of "Tobacco in Romania to 2011" to their offering.

Introduction

This databook is a detailed information resource covering all the key data points on Tobacco in Romania. It includes comprehensive value volume segmentation and market share data. The databook supplies actual data to 2006 and full forecasts to 2011.

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Romania: Black Cigarette Mkt Stands at over 224 mil euros 

At the end of 2006, Romania's black cigarette market stood at over 224 million euros, that is some 16 percent of the yearly aggregate cigarette sales that amount to 35.4 billion cigarettes worth some 1.4 billion euros, Dan Bucur, head of the Fraud Investigation Department of the Romanian General Police Inspectorate stated, ACT Media news agency reports.

The Police official gave this information on the occasion of the signing by National Police head Dan Valentin Fatuloiu and the managing directors for Romania of British American Tobacco and JT International Manufacturing respectively, of two cooperation protocols on the prevention and combat of tobacco smuggling.

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To smoke or not to smoke? 

Romanian smokers are up in arms over EU-inspired restrictions. Some bloggers even call for the establishment of an NGO to protect them from discrimination.

With smoking bans imposed on trains, in hospitals and clinics, prospects don't look good for those who indulge in this habit. Recent press speculation that smokers could have a hard time finding a job in the near future has ignited debate further.

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Cigarette smuggling down - paper 

Due to stricter customs control, the proportion of untaxed cigarettes illegally sold in Hungary dropped by half in the past six months, the national daily Magyar Hirlap reported on Friday. According to estimates, contraband products account for 11 percent of all cigarettes marketed in Hungary, as against 22 percent in 2005.

Over the past six months the customs authorities seized over 3,000 vehicles whose drivers attempted to smuggle cigarettes or fuel into Hungary. Although the cars and trucks concerned were returned to their owners once they have paid the fine levied on them, the method has proved to be effective.

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• Driver stopped train for cigarette break 

A Romanian train driver is facing disciplinary action after he stopped his train to get out for a cigarette.

He stopped in the middle of the countryside and he also allowed passengers to get off the train.

Smoking was recently banned on trains in Romania, reports the Evenimentul Zilei newspaper.

The incident happened on the Blue Arrow, supposedly the country's fastest and most modern train

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Academia Catavencu - The anti-tobacco arguments are dust in the wind 

Satirical weekly Academia Catavencu writes in their current issue about the current Romanian regulations adopted regarding smoking in trains and various public places. Nicotine might stimulate the brain activity, but as a smoker I cannot understand at all the anti-smoking hysteria, and I wouldn't even if someone threatened me to burn me with a cigarette. You are aware of the fact that we smokers acceded to the European Union faster than the rest starting this week. How did our fast accession happen? Well we acceded to the Union as we were kicked off trains, airplanes, train stations, parks and even the toilets we used as a place to smoke a cigarette in peace when we were shy high school students and we experienced our first cigarette. . . .

if the Americans give up half of their heavy industry and they will practice the mass production of the electric car, then I will quit smoking. Did you know that a day spent in a heavy polluted city such as New York is the same as smoking a pack of cigarettes? . . .

there are other causes which are infinitely more pressuring and are worth at least half of the zeal one puts in the fight against tobacco. Just think: wars, poverty, drugs.

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Cigarette manufacturers, unhappy about higher excises 

Philip Morris Romania Company officials support an increase in the minimum excise tax on cigarettes yet they hold that raising the minimum excise tax at 100 per cent of the excise charged on the most popular price category of cigarettes is due to impact on the activity of all cigarette manufacturers.

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Romania celebrates international no-smoking day  

International and local non-governmental organizations yesterday used the opportunity of World No Tobacco Day to persuade smokers to quit the dangerous habit. The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday drew attention to the consequences of smoking, under the slogan "Any kind of tobacco kills," taking advantage of the World No Tobacco Day. Similar actions were organized in Romania, where statistics show there are at least six million smokers. Dozens of volunteers from the Anti-Drug Center for Prevention, Evaluation, and Consultation in Alba County yesterday urged young smokers in Alba Iulia to give one cigarette in exchange for an ice cream product. The campaign was carried out in several areas in the city of Alba Iulia, where volunteers handed out over 1,000 ice cream cones to young people in exchange for one cigarette.

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Levy on vice becoming operational in May 

Less than a month before the levy on vice becomes operational, during which time the implementation norms need to be drafted, the fact that it was introduced continues to give birth to controversy. On the one hand, those affected by the tax must cope with a double burden in the context of a progressive increase of the excise duty, and, on the other hand, the Central Bank officials are worried about its impact on the inflation target established this year. Health Minister Eugen Nicolaescu estimates to collect approximately EUR 100 M and EUR 200 M starting from 2007.

The tax was introduced as a deterrent of the abuse of tobacco and alcohol - other than wine and beer - and to finance the health system. The contributions will be the won funds of the Ministry of Public Health. . . .

Under the law, the legal entities that produce or import tobacco shall pay the following taxes: EUR 10 / 1,000 cigarettes, EUR 10 / 1,000 cigars, EUR 13 / kilo of smoking tobacco.

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