Deadly cost of smuggled cigarettes
Smuggled tobacco kills four times more people than illegal drugs, a study claims.
It causes about 4,000 premature deaths a year in Britain dwarfing the 1,000 killed by cocaine, heroin and other unlawful drugs.[>
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More than a fifth of tobacco smoked in the UK is cheap contraband. [>
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Experts say the issue is a “national emergency”. They accuse the Government of failing to tackle the organised crime gangs who are smuggling cigarettes and tobacco into the country hidden inside everything from teddy bears to oil paintings, children’s lunch boxes to computers.[>
Smuggled tobacco is more dangerous than duty-paid because it brings tobacco on to the market cheaply
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Professor Robert West, who led the research team, said more smokers would quit if cigarettes cost more. But smuggled tobacco, which sells for about half the price of legal products, keeps prices down.[>
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If smuggling was eliminated, the price of legal tobacco would increase by around 12 per cent, say the researchers.[>
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This would lead to between five and eight per cent of smokers quitting, saving at least 4,000 lives a year out of the 80,000 who die from tobacco-related illnesses. [>
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The study, published online by the British Medical Journal, also says a clampdown on smuggling would help low-income smokers who are more likely to quit because of price rises. [>
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They are twice as likely to die from smoking-related illnesses compared with better-off smokers, it says. [>
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Professor West, of Cancer Research UK’s health behaviour research centre at University College London, said: “Smuggled tobacco is more dangerous than duty-paid because it brings tobacco on to the market cheaply.[>
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“Cost is a major deterrent. The Government must treat tobacco smuggling as a national emergency and stop it.”[>
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Counterfeit cigarettes can be made for as little as 9p for 20 in China and Eastern Europe. They look like the real thing but can contain higher levels of chemicals and even sawdust and rat droppings.[>
