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U.S. Hosts Conference to Fight Tobacco Smuggling  

At the invitation of the U.S. Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), public health and law enforcement officials from 145 nations gathered for a three-day conference July 30 to August 1 to discuss how to curb the illicit trafficking of tobacco products.

"This conference presents an opportunity for us to learn from each other and work together to strike a blow against the illicit trade in tobacco products, " ATF Director Bradley Buckles said July 30. "This work is important for several reasons. This illegal activity results in a loss of revenue vital to the operations of governments, it provides financial fuel to organized crime and terrorist activities, and it can undercut health policies."

Tobacco trafficking presents "huge problems both for crime fighters as well as for public health advocates, " said Dr. Derek Yach, executive director of the World Health Organization's (WHO) non-communicable diseases and mental health unit, at a press conference July 30. . .

Kenneth Bell, a U.S. attorney in North Carolina, described a major case against 25 individuals who smuggled van loads of cigarettes from North Carolina to Michigan. Two of the traffickers were convicted of using their profits to provide material support to the Hezbollah terrorist organization. . .

During the conference, the first ever held on illicit tobacco trade, the law enforcement community considered best practices to prevent or counter such crimes and consider issues such as licensing, record keeping, labeling, cigarette tracking and tracing, border controls, information sharing, mutual assistance and international cooperation, ATF officials said. . .

Dr. Yach of WHO said that the conference "shows us that tobacco control has gone beyond the old stages of sticking up a couple of posters and thinking that will do the trick. We have the World Customs Organization, the World Bank and a large number of law enforcement officers complementing what is usually seen as a narrow public health area of responsibility."

"The timing of this (conference) is very important, " Dr. Yach said. "It comes as we are entering the final phase of negotiating the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This is the first time WHO has used its treaty-making right in any area of public health."

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