http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/country/belgium.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.zeenews.com/news591139.html http://tobacco.org/news/294789.html Moscow: The man involved in illegal tobacco business in Germany and Belgium and the so-called "Tobacco king" has been detained at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow. According to the press service of a district police department that supervises Sheremetyevo, "Tobacco king", the citizen of Poland who is wanted by Interpol was detained by Moscow police patrol at the airport. Since June 2001 until July 2002 the man in question had been involved in illegal tobacco business in Germany and Belgium, buying tobacco products in Poland without paying customs duty and consumption tax and selling the tobacco in Germany, police data said. Zee News Germany Russia Belgium Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://blogs.theheart.org/melissa-walton-shirley-blog/2009/12/10/the-belgian-parliament-postpones-smoking-ban-until-2014--are-y-all-from-kentucky?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Fee http://tobacco.org/news/294348.html The Belgian Parliament, which acknowledges the need for a comprehensive smoking ban, has decided that they've not quite had enough death, dying, and monetary expenditures for lung cancer and heart disease. I'm not certain if they feel their physicians aren't working enough hours or if their mortuaries don't have enough business. . . . The parallels are uncanny: * Belgians are dying of lung cancer. (Kentucky: check.) * Belgians are dying of heart disease. (Kentucky: check.) * Belgians love to smoke. (Kentucky: check, check.) * Belgian government officials are worried about the business owner's right to choose. (Kentucky: check.) * Belgian officials are afraid to engage in aggressive education campaigns that rapidly prepare their population for a smoking ban. (Kentucky: check.) * Belgian legislators don't believe that success begets success, and they don't understand that a ban is the gift that keeps on giving and works immediately. (Kentucky: check.) * Belgian officials have caved to the vocal, inconsiderate and uncaring minority. (80% of EU citizens favor a smoking ban. The majority of Kentuckians favor a ban: check.) . . . I was in Ireland the first week of its historic ban in 2004. No one whined, cried, or threw a fit. . . . Y'all like to smoke just like we do, and, unfortunately, y'all die just like we do and y'all harm your nonsmoking citizens at an alarming rate, just like we do . . . and y'all have the same missed opportunity to change all of that Unfortunately, until you ban public smoking in Belgium, y'all will have the same guilty conscience that we do in Kentucky as well. theheart.org info@theheart.org (Heartfelt with Dr Melissa Walton-Shirley) Belgium Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/smokers-paradise-french-turn-to-belgium-for-cheap-cigarettes-1831120.html http://tobacco.org/news/293436.html Afew years ago, Adinkerke was a forgotten, dilapidated village of red-brick houses, just inside the Belgian border with France. In the past four years, however, it has been transformed into a glittering mini-Las Vegas: a village full of garish signs reading "Smokey River", "Eurobaccy", "Tobacco Alley", "Smugglers' Corner", and "Coronation Street Tobacco Shop". The village stands less than a mile from the long ribbon of dunes and beaches, stretching north of Dunkirk, from which the British Army was evacuated 69 years ago. The opening this month of yet another tobacco shop in the village - a garish cigarette supermarket called Real Tobacco XL - has ignited a new Battle of Dunkirk: a potentially noxious legal row between France and Belgium over the rights of EU citizens to dodge national anti-smoking policies by crossing European borders to buy cheap fags. . . . "For three or four years, we have had to watch them [the Belgians] opening more shops selling cheap cigarettes, and we could do nothing," said Patrick Falewee, president of the Dunkirk area tobacco trade association. "Over there they have no system of tobacco licensing, anyone can start a tobacco shop. You just buy an abandoned house in a border village and you start selling cigarettes. Now, at last, we can fight back. They have broken the French law against advertising tobacco and we are going to make sure that they are punished for it. We are going to pursue this case to the end." This is much more than a local quarrel. . . . Earlier this year, the British American Tobacco company estimated that more than one in five of all cigarettes smoked in France was bought abroad. Much the same problem exists in Germany, which has very cheap tobacco neighbours in Poland and the Czech Republic. There is a growing trade in smuggled cigarettes in Europe and an equally illegal growth of sales over the internet. But many French and German smokers have discovered the pleasures of perfectly legal, or almost legal, cigarette tourism. "They come to the shops in Belgium, not just from Dunkirk and Lille but from as far south as Paris and Rouen," . . . "The French are making a big hoo-ha about our shops here but the real price difference is not between France and Belgium but between here and Britain. Eighty per cent of our customers here are not French but British," he said. Was he suggesting that the French were being a little hypocritical? That Calais had been making a living for years from the thirst of Britons for cheap, low-tax booze and the cross-Channel hunger for lower-tax tobacco? Yet, now that the cigarette tax pattern had started to favour Belgium, they were complaining. The Independent Europe France Belgium Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Smokefree-Innotec-Inc-1081214.html http://tobacco.org/news/293219.html Smokefree Innotec, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: SFIO) (http://www.sfio.us or the new Belgium website http://www.realsmokefree.com) announced today that its European Office, Smokefree Innotec bvba in Antwerp, enjoyed a very successful first day at the Belgian Horeca Expo this Sunday. The public was interested and loved the first REAL Smokefree Cigarette. Customers were lining up to test and purchase the High-tec device. Photos of the Company's stand can be viewed at www.flickr.com/photos/44910160@N02/sets/72157622861729734/ SFI in Belgium also organized, in cooperation with the Belgian Cruise Center, a drawing amongst all stand visitors offering a 5-star mini-cruise on the magnificent MSC Orchestra along the French and Belgian coastline with final destination Amsterdam. MarketWire editor@worldmarketmedia.com (SOURCE: Smokefree Innotec, Inc.) Belgium Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.luchtzak.be/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=40644&sid=55d11d12e8b2bf7e214501b91cb5a16a http://tobacco.org/news/292043.html At Brussels Airport a general non-smoking policy is applicable. Not only the departing passenger but also the growing number of transfer passengers requested the possibility to smoke. As from December 2009 an exception will be applied to the non-smoking policy. A new, first, smokers room will be opened halfway Concourse B, located next to the Bar (at gate B17). Luchtzak Aviation Belgium Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE58C1FN20090913 http://tobacco.org/news/289591.html Belgian researchers studying the effect of nicotine in mice found that it activates a molecular pathway in membranes in the skin, nose and mouth known to play a role in inflammation. This may explain why nicotine patches and other nicotine replacement therapies can make people itch, they said in a study published in Nature, and could help in developing treatments to help people quit smoking with fewer irritating side effects. . . . Until now, scientists had thought that irritation from nicotine patches and other nicotine treatments came from stimulation of nerve receptors that convey painful stimuli from the skin and the linings of the nose and mouth. But Karel Talavera of the Leuven Catholic University in Belgium found that in mice, nicotine also directly activates TRPA1, a pathway or channel in cells known to convey information about irritating substances and inflammatory pain. They also found that mice lacking TRPA1 showed no irritation when nicotine was put into their noses. "The identification of TRPA1 as a nicotine target ... may facilitate the development of smoking cessation therapies with less adverse effects," the researchers wrote. Reuters Belgium Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090515005874&newsLang=en http://tobacco.org/news/284115.html Smokefree Innotec, Inc. (Pink Sheets: SFIO) (www.smokefree-innotec.com) announced today that it has entered into an alliance with Guy Bout and Olaf Cornelis, partners in The Funbox Company, a Brussels, Belgium-based group, for the packaging design of the Smokefree Innotec products. The Funbox Company design will feature a revolutionary packaging of the filters, which will have the same dimensions of a standard pack of cigarettes, but having been adapted to blister pack the mouthpieces. The package will be easy in use, attractive in design and an eye-catcher on the shelf. Perhaps more importantly, all packaging will be manufactured out of recycled paper product and, therefore, environmentally friendly, just like the Company's "tobacco innovation" itself. The Funbox Company will also play a pivotal role in introducing, distributing and marketing the Smokefree Innotec product in the Benelux countries (The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg) later this year. Business Wire Netherlands Belgium Luxembourg Fri, 15 May 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.nature.com/mi/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/mi20097a.html http://tobacco.org/news/279844.html Exposure to cigarette smoke represents a major risk factor for the development of asthma. Enhanced sensitization toward allergens has been observed in humans and laboratory animals exposed to cigarette smoke. Pulmonary dendritic cells (DCs) are crucially involved in sensitization toward allergens and play an important role in the development of T helper (Th)2-mediated allergic airway inflammation. We propose the concept that aberrant DC activation forms the basis for the deviation of the lung's default tolerogenic response toward allergic inflammation when harmless antigens are concomittantly inhaled with tobacco smoke. This review will summarize evidence suggesting that tobacco smoke can achieve this effect by providing numerous triggers of innate immunity, which can profoundly modulate airway DC biology. Tobacco smoke can affect the airway DC network either directly or indirectly by causing the release of DC-targeted mediators from the pulmonary tissue environment, resulting in the induction of a Th2-oriented pathological immune response. A thorough knowledge of the molecular pathways involved may open the door to novel approaches in the treatment of asthma. Nature karim.vermaelen@ugent.be ( L J Robays1,2, T Maes1, G F Joos1 and K Y Vermaelen1) Belgium Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPI9NHySXr8 http://tobacco.org/news/277605.html The anti smokers are already planning to distrupt the conference by using well funded demonstrations outside the parliament building. This they hope will draw media attention away from the subject matter of the conference, the lies used to introduce smoking bans. You Tube Belgium Tue, 30 Dec 2008 05:00:00 GMT http://www.europeanagenda.eu/events/24686.php http://tobacco.org/news/277603.html 27.01.2009 - 28.01.2009 1st World Conference Against Prohibition:"Smoking Bans And Lies" TICAP - The International Coalition Against Prohibition C.P. 2501 - 16100 Genova,Italy Phone: +39 339 4563 4051 Email: info@antiprohibition.org . . . Type of Event Health . . . Conference Topics: • Impact of Smoking Bans • Epidemiology and passive smoking fraud • Toxicology and ventilation • Public health ideology and the pharmaceutical industry • Political fight against tobacco prohibition Conference Aims: Development of methods and strategies to achieve: Reduction of job losses and economic damage to industry and trade Legislative solutions that respect people’s lifestyle Promotion of active and effective political participation of business and consumers, in political decisions that affect them Ending the use of pseudo-science to establish and justify policies, political actions and laws Curtailing the influence of pharmaceutical and other commercial lobbies on political decision-making Reestablishment of the fundamental principle that the body belongs solely to the individual and not the state, and that longevity of life should not compromise quality of life By attending to this Conference YOU can make the difference! Simultaneous translations into French, Dutch and English will be available at the Conference. European Agenda info@antiprohibition.org Belgium Sat, 24 Jan 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.pr-inside.com/attempt-to-silence-freedom-of-speech-in-the-heart-of-the-eu-r1019897.htm http://tobacco.org/news/277585.html The 1st international conference against prohibition which was scheduled for the 27/28th January in the EU parliament, Brussels, was blocked on the 15th January following a letter to the EU president from the anti smoking organisation, The Smokefree Partnership. The conference had gathered a great deal of interest and support due to the fact that eminent scientists from around the world, including some from within tobacco control, were attending to give speeches regarding the passive smoke fraud. Fortunately the organisers of the event, TICAP, anticipated underhand tactics by the anti smoking industry to prevent the conference from happening, and a contingency within a separate venue right opposite the EU parliament has now been put into place. All scientists and other participants along with live satellite links for those unable to attend in person are available in the alternate building. In the letter that resulted in the EU venue being withdrawn Florence Berteletti Kemp, Director of the Smoke Free Partnership, falsely claims a commercial interest for financial sponsors of the conference offering no factual evidence to back up her allegation. She also states that - the event goes 'against all of Parliament's adopted reports and the European Community's legislation and commitments on this topic', and that 'it violates the spirit of the International Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.' This is clearly a demand to prevent the freedom of speech of some of the most highly recognised scientists in the field; a demand that was upheld by the EU Bureau and hidden from the parliamentary sponsor of the conference, Godfrey Bloom MEP. . . . In an unprecedented move, the EU Bureau cancelled the conference with no record on their meeting agenda and without communication or right of reply to the sponsoring MEP, who was left to discover the truth by rumours almost a week later. These astonishingly undemocratic revelations were based upon unsubstantiated false claims and a demand that no debate should be allowed, and were submitted by an anti smoking group opposed to the content of the event. For decades the anti smoking industry has grossly perverted science for their own ideology; it comes as no surprise to us whatsoever that they are now perverting democracy and freedom in the very heart of the EU. PR Insider Belgium Thu, 22 Jan 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.antiprohibition.org/viewer.php?id=12 http://tobacco.org/news/277583.html Günter Ropohl, Professor Emeritus of General Technology at the University of Frankfurt on Main, Germany, explains to TICAP why he will not be able to attend to the international Conference Against Prohibition. . . . As far as I enjoy smoking I am not allowed to travel by plane or railway, and I am not allowed to visit public facilities for eating and drinking unless I am willing to forsake smoking. If I want to travel I am prevented from smoking by excessive bans. So while I would like to support my right to continue smoking by attending the conference, I would be forced to give up this right just at this very occasion. This is a fundamental contradiction in terms, terms which have been established violently by the anti-tobacco movement. The tobacco prohibitionists are engaging in structural violence as they impede the efforts of defenders of smoking to assert their human rights, the freedom of lifestyle and the freedom of assembly (including the unhindered access to public rallies and meetings). Smoking bans reduce the ability of smoking people to resist effectively against these inhuman machinations. That is what I call the structural inequality of weapons. . . . It is high time for the Supreme Courts of nations everywhere to wrest these weapons of structural violence from that militant and intolerant minority. International Coalition Against Prohibition Belgium Wed, 21 Jan 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://www.antiprohibition.org/documents/invitation_english.pdf http://tobacco.org/news/277582.html Brussels, 27/28 January, 2009 European Parliament, ASP A1E-2 Under the patronage of Godfrey Bloom MEP Conference Topics: • Impact of Smoking Bans • Epidemiology and passive smoking fraud • Toxicology and ventilation • Public health ideology and the pharmaceutical industry • Political fight against tobacco prohibition Conference Aims: Development of methods and strategies to achieve: Reduction of job losses and economic damage to industry and trade Legislative solutions that respect people’s lifestyle Promotion of active and effective political participation of business and consumers, in political decisions that affect them Ending the use of pseudo-science to establish and justify policies, political actions and laws Curtailing the influence of pharmaceutical and other commercial lobbies on political decision-making Reestablishment of the fundamental principle that the body belongs solely to the individual and not the state, and that longevity of life should not compromise quality of life International Coalition Against Prohibition Belgium Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://forces.org/News_Portal/news_viewer.php?id=1645 http://tobacco.org/news/277581.html At the beginning of May 2008 an important meeting took place in Holland (click here and here for further information). The meeting ended with the signing of the Aldebaran Treaty. For the first time in history the Treaty sealed the alliance of a number of regional and national organizations that, up to that point, were acting independently and locally against Tobacco Control in particular and against Prohibition in general. Subsequently, that resulted in the creation of TICAP (The International Coalition Against Prohibition), incorporated in the United Kingdom but with a truly international scope in action and participation. The TICAP organization has been working long and hard to create a milestone conference: the 1st International Conference Against Prohibition, by the title "Smoking Bans and Lies". This conference - hopefully the first one of a triad that will concern food control and the upcoming alcohol repression - is the beginning of a properly organized, funded and structured political action - stemming from grass-root instead of special commercial interests, such as those of Big Tobacco - to oppose the otherwise inevitable outcome of the current international historical trend: the prohibition of tobacco and the full criminalization of its users. . . . Those are the reasons why this conference is exceedingly important. Those are the reasons why YOU must participate. Click here and subscribe. Click here and sponsor. Click here and donate (we will turn your donation to TICAP). We must restore institutions to their original mandates and integrity, so that we can live in freedom and peace. We must do that for ourselves and for future generations. You can afford to ignore this conference only if you think that it is right that, one day soon, the lifestyle police will knock at your door (or smash it open!) to check your fridge for the proper food and your place for illegal alcohol and tobacco - and even to check if your dog is too fat and has been walked "property", and that's no joke. FORCES Belgium Tue, 20 Jan 2009 05:00:00 GMT http://euobserver.com/9/27142 http://tobacco.org/news/274756.html Thousands of raucous tobacco farmers from across Europe mounted a demonstration in the EU capital on Wednesday (19 November), setting alight a bonfire of tobacco leaves outside the European Council building in protest at changes to EU subsidies. Claiming a crowd of 10,000 tobacco growers and workers from processing factories, organisers had called the day of action in Brussels to coincide with a meeting of EU agriculture ministers on the Common Agricultural Policy "health check." The farmers and workers say the proposed cut of half their subsidies from 2010 will result in massive job losses across the industry. The protesters demanded that existing subsidies, which link the money to production volumes, be extended to 2013 to give them more time to adjust to EU agricultural sector reforms and said they were hoping for a favourable decision from the agriculture ministers meeting today. EUobserver.com lp@euobs.com (LEIGH PHILLIPS 19.11.2008 @ 17:44 C) Europe Belgium Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:00:00 GMT