A month before the smoking ban takes effect, the latest figures show Turks smoke 15 million packets of cigarettes a day

ANKARA – Anatolia News Agency

The government’s efforts to limit cigarette smoking and the harm it causes seem to be failing.

Recent figures show the daily consumption of cigarettes in Turkey has reached 15 million packs a month, just one month before a ban comes into effect.

The ban, due to take effect May 19, will outlaw smoking in bars, restaurants, coffee houses and the gardens of schools.

According to official figures, the cigarette industry was one of the few sectors not hurt by the economic crisis in late ‘90s and early 2000. In 1998, cigarette consumption stood at 108.6 billion cigarettes, increasing to 114.4 billion in 1999, 111.7 billion in 2000, 111.8 billion in 2001 and 110 billion in 2002. Since 2003, there has been a downward trend, with consumption dropping to 108.2 billion in 2003, 108.9 billion in 2004, 106.7 billion in 2005, 107.9 billion in 2006 and 107.5 billion in 2007.
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BY JOE MAHONEY
NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF

Tuesday, April 15th 2008, 4:00 AM

ALBANY - The Brooklyn lawmaker who crafted the nation’s first cell-phone driving ban is now taking aim at smoking in cars when kids are in tow.

“When you expose children to secondhand smoke in cars, you are exposing them to enormous risks to their health,” Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Sunset Park) told the Daily News.

Under his legislation, motorists caught puffing cigarettes or cigars while accompanied by passengers under 16 years old would face fines of $100.
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Trevor Wilhelm, The Windsor Star
Published: Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Windsor is being flooded with illegal, unregulated and therefore potentially more deadly cigarettes that are smuggled in from native reserves across Canada and the U.S., according to police.

An estimated 30 per cent of all cigarettes now sold in Windsor and surrounding area are actually illegal, said Const. Dave Ferris, an OPP Crime Stoppers co-ordinator.

“It’s becoming more and more of a problem in Windsor and Essex County,” said Ferris, whose office is at Windsor police headquarters. “These native reserves, you have cigarettes being made there, and they’re only supposed to be sold on the reserve. But people are bringing them down here. Convenience stores are selling them. You have private dealers selling them from their homes and from their place of business. They’re dealing all over the place.”
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Only one area violator is found. Creek Nation stores, however, use low-tax stamps.

After years of violating a tobacco compact with the state, Cherokee-licensed smoke shops are being pressed to sell properly taxed cigarettes with in the Tulsa area, a Tulsa World investigation shows.

Meanwhile, smoke shops licensed by the Creek Nation continue to sell low-tax cigarettes in the Tulsa area without a tobacco agreement with the state. Tulsa, a high-tax zone, requires an 86-cent compact stamp.

The Tulsa World purchased cigarettes last week at 22 area smoke shops or stores. The stores are affiliated with the Cherokee, Creek and Osage nations and are in Glenpool, Sapulpa, Sand Springs, Broken Arrow, Claremore and Tulsa.
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TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ― Supporters of a measure that would place a $1 per-pack tax on cigarettes in Florida may have won another battle in Tallahassee but the war is far from over.

Tuesday the measure was approved in a state Senate committee, but the increase is far from final approval, and even if it does make it to the Governor’s desk, Charlie Crist has said he’ll likely veto it.

Currently, the state taxes cigarettes at a rate of 34-cents a pack; under the proposal the tax would increase to $1.34 per pack.
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SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Senate on Thursday moved to take the flavor out of flavored cigarettes, saying the mint, fruit and candy-flavored smokes are clearly designed to appeal to kids.

The Senate voted 39-12 to ban the sale in Illinois of any cigarette that contains a component that “causes such cigarette or its smoke to have a characterizing flavor.” The flavor of tobacco and menthol would still be allowed, but other popular flavors including chocolate, vanilla, honey, nuts, cocoa and spice would be banned.

The measure now moves to the House.
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AUSTRALIA’S state and federal health ministers will ban fruit- and chocolate-flavoured cigarettes, saying they were used by tobacco marketers to lure children into smoking.

The agreement came at the Australian Health Ministers’ Conference in Melbourne today, along with an accord to step up regulation of the tanning industry.

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said she would also ask Customs Minister Bob Debus to ban the importation of the flavoured cigarettes.

“Each state and territory is going to take steps to make sure that these cigarettes, which are targeted towards children, are about enticing children to smoke, will not be available for sale,” Ms Roxon said.
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