Jump to full article: VOANews.com (Voice of America), 2008-02-13
Author: Lisa Schlein
Intro: Anti-tobacco campaigners negotiating a treaty to combat the illicit tobacco trade say cigarette smuggling is big business throughout the African continent and is resulting in serious health problems. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.
Studies by a consortium of anti-tobacco groups find the illicit trade in tobacco products represents about 10 percent of global sales, and cost governments between $40-$50 billion every year in lost revenue.
"It puts lower cost tobacco products on to the market and that...correlates with higher consumption," said Kathryn Mulvey, Director of International Policy for Corporate Accountability International. "It correlates with more young people getting addicted to tobacco. So, that is helping to grow their markets for their deadly products. And, they also benefit because often it is a way of getting their brands into markets that they might not yet be established in."
This is borne out by the situation in Nigeria. Akinbode Oluwafemi is a member of the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals. He says smuggled cigarettes carrying the Japan Tobacco brand name became so popular throughout Nigeria that the company last year set up a factory there.
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