Tobacco.org

Cigarette Smuggling Funding International Terrorism  

International cigarette smuggling is increasingly funding international terrorism, costs governments worldwide over $40 billion each year -- with losses falling disproportionately on low and middle income countries -- and the benefits of eliminating this illicit trade, including an estimated saving of over 150,000 lives a year by raising the price of cigarettes, far exceed the costs.

That's why delegates from nearly 150 countries are meeting in Geneva to craft a coordinated plan for attacking cigarette smuggling under an international antismoking treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control [FCTC], announces public interest law professor John Banzhaf, Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), America's first antismoking organization which is helping to coordinate these efforts.

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