‘Furniture’ in container turns out to be cigarettes
A container declared as carrying furniture was actually a cover to smuggle cigarettes worth about RM1mil.
The Selangor Customs Department foiled the smuggling attempt following a tip-off, said its director Roslan Yusof.
Upon inspecting the container, the officers found cigarettes worth RM1.72mil. The unpaid levy for the cigarettes amounted to RM4.23mil. The cigarette packets carried the Malaysian Government’s warning label but not the duty stamp, he said.
Roslan added that the shipment had come from Cambodia to Port Klang. He said a company director would be detained soon to help with investigations.
The officers also seized a variety of liquor from a store at Jalan Bukit Rahman Putra in Sungai Buloh on the same day. The liquor was worth RM248,424 with an undeclared levy of RM379, 001.97.
Roslan said the owner of the premises had been identified and would be questioned soon.
He said the enforcement unit also foiled an attempt to smuggle in kretek cigarettes valued at RM102,672 with an unpaid duty of RM318,762.72 on Jan 25.
Roslan said the officers intercepted two vans at Batang Berjuntai on Jan 25. The drivers of both the vans managed to escape after abandoning their vehicles at an oil palm plantation.
Councilman Proposes Tobacco Sales Buffer Around Schools
Following the Los Angeles City Council’s approval of a marijuana dispensary ordinance that would establish a 1,000 buffer zone around schools, Councilman Bernard Parks has proposed to establish such a zone for tobacco sales.
While few would argue that it’s advantageous to have a pot shop within 1,000 feet of a school, we’re guessing that merchants, especially proprietors who’ve sold groceries and other necessities for years, will be up in arms over this one: Many mom-and-pop shops are near or even across the street from schools.
Parks’ proposal, however, leaves the door open to a law that “grandfathers existing tobacco retailers in close proximity to schools,” but with the caveat that they would face tougher penalties if they’re caught selling cigarettes to minors and with a blackout of sales during school hours.
“Currently, there are no zoning regulations or local laws that prohibit tobacco sales near schools,” Parks writes in his motion. “Community advocates and concerned parents have expressed their desire for policy solutions to address tobacco sales near schools.”
ITC Net Profit Jumps 27%
ITC Ltd., India’s largest cigarette maker by sales, Friday posted a 27% rise in second quarter net profit, helped by an overall strong performance in all its business operations.
Net profit for the October-December period rose to 11.44 billion rupees ($247 million) from 9.03 billion rupees a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
Net sales increased 18% to 45.32 billion rupees from 38.33 billion rupees, helped by higher sales at its tobacco and non-tobacco consumer goods segments, agribusiness and paperboards business.
The results beat analysts’ expectations. A Dow Jones Newswires poll of 10 analysts, on average, expected net profit at 10.80 billion rupees on revenue of 44.32 billion rupees.
ITC, in which British American Tobacco PLC (BTI) owns a 32% stake, said gross revenue from cigarettes rose 13% to 44.23 billion rupees.
Pre-tax losses for the non-tobacco consumer goods segment narrowed to 860.3 million rupees from 1.27 billion rupees a year earlier, while gross revenue grew 24% to 8.92 billion rupees.Quarterly revenue from ITC’s hotels business fell 2.2% to 2.65 billion rupees.
Gross revenue from the company’s paperboard, packaging and printing business grew 26% to 8.45 billion rupees.
Revenue from agribusiness, which involves trading in commodities such as rice, soybeans, coffee and leaf tobacco, rose 46% to 9.05 billion rupees.
Smokers, soda drinkers, students to feel budget pain
It’s a budget that hurts almost everyone — from smokers who would pay $1 more for a pack of cigarettes, to lovers of sugared beverages who would pay a penny more an ounce, to students at public universities who would see their grants lowered.
It’s a spending plan that is full of wish lists and that again proposes selling wine in supermarkets, collecting taxes on Indian- sold cigarettes and closing four prisons in hard-hit upstate counties.
“The days of continuing taxation and the days of continuous spending have got to end,” Gov. David A. Paterson told lawmakers in a theater near the Capitol as he announced the 2010 spending plan that he calls a “recovery budget.”
“The era of irresponsibility has got to stop,” he said. “The age of accountability has arrived.”
To help erase a $7.4 billion deficit, the governor wants to cut $5.5 billion and add $1 billion in taxes and fees.
He urged them to choose “responsibility over popularity” and to join him in standing up to special interests that will demand spending restorations and that have been “demonstrating no responsibility for the times in which we are in.”
“The mistakes of the past … squandering surpluses, papering over deficits, relying on irresponsible gimmicks to finance unsustainable spending increases … have led us to a financial breaking point,” Paterson said.
Even though the cuts far outweigh new taxes and fees, the budget grows slightly because of increases in Medicaid and social services, plus increases in state worker pensions and wages contained in previously signed union contracts. The budget will total $134 billion, which the governor says is 0.6 percent higher than the current year’s fiscal plan but below the expected 2 percent inflation rate.
The budget also counts on another $430 million in revenues that don’t increase fees or taxes, such as more aggressive tax enforcement, and $565 million in various fiscal maneuvers that result in one-year savings … known as one-shots.
The budget also envisions about $4.6 billion in federal stimulus funds coming to New York from last year’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The stimulus pot for 2010 would have been more, but the Legislature grabbed $400 million earmarked for 2010 when it closed a 2009 deficit in December.
Among the major areas covered in the spending plan:
• School aid: Aid will drop by $1.1 billion to an overall level of $20.5 billion, although that follows a 72 percent increase over the past decade.
Paterson said his plan will be based on a district’s wealth and student need formula. That means wealthier suburban districts will take a relatively larger hit than city districts such as Buffalo.
To ameliorate some of the cuts to schools, Paterson proposes steps to help them save money, such as a four-year moratorium on state-imposed mandates that do not include funding to pay for them and repeal of the Wicks Law, a union-friendly statute that drives up construction costs for public works projects like new school buildings.
• SUNY and tuition: The state university system is also in line for major state aid cuts, with state support declining by $118 million and cuts in state payments to community colleges coming to $285 per student, or about $80 million. Students would see individual Tuition Assistance Program awards cut by $75, merit award scholarships eliminated and graduate students ineligible to get TAP awards.
In return, SUNY colleges would get broad new powers to set their own tuition rates, and tuition overall would be permitted to increase based on an inflation formula that the administration believes will help families plan for annual tuition increases.
• Cigarettes and soft drinks: Many of the governor’s proposals for tax increases are tapped for specific purposes. For instance, the $1-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax — to $3.75 — and a tax on beverages containing sugar — one cent per ounce — would go to health care programs.
Paterson said the tobacco tax will reduce smoking rates by 14 percent by making the product too costly for some smokers, while the soda tax will control rising obesity levels, especially in children. Paterson believes that consumption of sugared beverages could drop as much as 10 percent.
• Indian tax collection: Paterson is ordering the tax department to end a policy of “forbearance” on the collection of taxes on cigarette sales by Indian retailers to non-Indian consumers.
While he said he respects Indian sovereignty, Paterson said he is taking a first step that would lead to wholesalers ending tax-free sales of cigarettes to the tribes — a divisive issue for the state and its tribes for two decades. Paterson said he wants to create “equality of opportunity” for non-Indian retailers who have been put at a competitive disadvantage.
The state will ask a state court in Buffalo to lift the current injunction on collecting taxes on Indian cigarette sales. He said the tax agency will take six months to consider public comments on soon-to-be-proposed regulations on the matter.
Paterson said he will work with the Indian tribes to enact the tax collection in “a peaceful and efficient manner.” He did not say how that would work, a key lapse since Indian tribes, led by the Seneca Nation, have repeatedly said the tax-free sales are protected by long-held treaty rights.
During this morning’s address to lawmakers, a handful applauded his vow to begin collecting taxes on Indian cigarette sales - otherwise, lawmakers sat on their hands during most of the speech.” This is no disrespect to the Indian Nations,” Paterson said, adding that he will continue to negotiate with the tribes on the long-simmering dispute.” They need an opportunity to survive,” Paterson said of the non-Indian stores.
No revenues, however, are expected in the coming fiscal year that begins April 1 from taxes on Indian cigarette sales, Paterson said, because the tax collection regulations have yet to be drafted. A state law is already on the books to carry out the edict.
• Aid to local governments: This fund will will drop as much as 5 percent. For Buffalo, a 1 percent cut is proposed, resulting in a $1.7 million cut from current state assistance. Most suburban towns and villages in the region will see this kind of state aid sliced 5 percent.
• STAR property tax: The budget calls for some modest changes to the STAR property tax program, such as cutting benefits to homes worth more than $1.5 million.
• Other cuts: Virtually every area of the budget is on the governor’s cut list, including an $80 million trim for the state’s Environmental Protection Fund. Paterson would impose a moratorium on state purchases of forest preserves and open space.
State Police cadet training classes would be delayed until 2011, resulting in about 250 fewer troopers. Four prisons — in Clinton, Wayne, Essex and St. Lawrence counties — would shut down. The administration said the closings can be accommodated because the prison system has seen a steady drop in inmate levels in recent years.
The budget also seeks to consolidate some courts and state agencies. Summer youth programs would be cut, as would planned increases in public assistance grants. Some psychiatric wards would be shut down, as would some highway rest stops. Critics say the plan will force some parks to close, and maintenance and snow removal spending for roads is cut.
A long-criticized fiscal gimmick … which saw the Thruway provide free maintenance for a downstate highway … would end, with the state picking up the costs.
The governor also wants to raise money by installing cameras on highway work zone areas and roads with “dangerous” stretches. It would be worth $71 million a year.
The state would get out of the business of dog licensing, leaving it—and the revenues— to localities.
• No layoffs: The governor proposes no layoffs of state workers but counts on another pay freeze for non-union state workers. Unions have refused to amend their contracts to permit pay freezes or furloughs. Paterson expects that the portion of the state work force he controls — which totals about 131,000 employees and does not include agencies such as SUNY — will drop by about 625 positions by spring 2011.
• Wine in grocery stores: By permitting grocery stores to sell wine — a long-fought battle between the food and liquor stores — the governor plans to add $93 million in tax revenues.
• Other revenue sources: A tax also would be imposed on the natural gas coming from the Marcellus Shale formation in the Southern Tier, and the state would legalize — to get money — mixed-martial arts contests known as ultimate fighting.
To attract gambling dollars, Paterson proposes a 24-hour-a-day Quick Draw, a game that treatment experts deride as Crack Draw for its addictive ways. The game is now permitted to be played 13 hours a day.
Paterson’s budget would make it more expensive to file a case with the state’s court system, which he says is designed to help slow the number of frivolous cases. The move, however, would also raise $41 million for the cash-starved state.
• Spending cap: The governor is again pushing his state spending cap idea, which would hold spending below the inflation rate. If that is achieved, the resulting $1 billion in savings could be passed along in 2011 to fund a property tax relief effort — worth about $1,000 per recipient — aimed at lower-and middle-income homeowners. Lawmakers last year rejected his spending cap idea.
“The only way we can emerge from this crisis is through shared sacrifice,” Paterson said a letter to New Yorkers. “We must stand up and demonstrate that we can make the tough decisions necessary to address our financial difficulties with honesty, forthrightness and candor.”
Court Reverses Ohio Victory Over Cigarette Ad
An Ohio appeals court has reversed a decision that a cigarette company’s advertisement in Rolling Stone magazine violated a tobacco industry settlement.
Ohio and several other states brought lawsuits over an R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. ad in Rolling Stone that ran alongside a November 2007 feature story illustrated with drawings.
Ohio officials and the lower court said the ad’s placement amounted to using cartoons to sell cigarettes, violating a promise in the industry’s 1998 settlement with multiple states.
The appeals court in Columbus ruled Thursday that Reynolds had no say in the content that Rolling Stone chose to run next to the ad.
The ruling overturns a 2008 decision in the state’s favor. Ohio attorney general’s office spokeswoman Kim Kowalski says the office has not yet decided whether to appeal.
Study Shows Teens More Likely To Drink Alcohol Than Smoke Cigarettes
New research says teens see smoking as being riskier than drinking alcohol or other drug use.News 12’s Jennifer Hudspeth tells us why teens are more likely to pass up a cigarette and why they feel drinking is more acceptable.She’s involved in eight different activities at Loyola High School, but there’s one teenage trend Taylor Clements says she’ll never try… Smoking…Taylor says, “It’s just not even an option, not even something I would consider doing.”And Taylor’s not alone… according to research from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, there are many teens just saying ‘NO’.Taylor says, “I think everybody knows it’s bad, some people might try it once just to see what it’s like but everybody knows the consequences of it and knows it’s not the best decision to make so I think a lot of people stay away from that.”In fact the national study says about 70 percent of 12 to 17 years old see great risk in smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.Mike McGinnis says, “The information is pretty clear cut in terms of the risks of tobacco use and to me it’s very encouraging in terms of kids getting messages.”Jennifer Hudspeth says, “While teens are definitely get the message that smoking is unhealthy, that message gets a little blurry when it comes to drinking and drug use.”McGinnis says, “Alcohol again, this has been a multigenerational issue and drugs always becomes complicated simply because there’s always something new coming along.”Only 40 percent of teens saw binge drinking as risky behavior, and only 34 percent saw great risk in smoking marijuana on a monthly basis.Liz Schmidt says, “It’s something that can make themselves feel good just for the moment and it doesn’t last just for the moment, it has long tem consequences like addictions, things they might not think about at the time.”Whether it’s drugs, drinking or smoking… Taylor will turn it down, and she hopes others will do the same.Taylor says, “I’m confident in the choices that I make, and I know I’m making healthier choices and I hope other people will start to realize that and everybody sees that binge drinking or smoking aren’t the best things to do and just stay healthy, and stay away from it.”In Mankato, Jennifer Hudspeth News 12.
Mixed Tobacco Ruling
A U.S. judge struck down portions of a new federal tobacco law on First Amendment grounds, but largely ruled in favor of the government in a legal challenge brought by tobacco giants Reynolds American Inc. and Lorillard Inc.
Joseph H. McKinley Jr., a federal district-court judge in Kentucky, ruled that the Food and Drug Administration can’t block tobacco companies from using color and graphics in their advertisements. The judge also struck down a provision that bars tobacco companies and others from implying that a tobacco product is safer because it is regulated by the FDA.
However, Judge McKinley upheld many other provisions of the landmark law enacted last June that gave the FDA wide authority to regulate the tobacco industry, including a requirement that companies place large, graphic health warnings on cigarette packs. The judge also upheld a ban on companies sponsoring athletic, social or cultural events using tobacco brand names, as well as the distribution of branded merchandise such as T-shirts.
Reynolds American, Lorillard and several other tobacco companies sued the FDA in August, arguing that various provisions of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act placed unprecedented restrictions on their rights to free speech. Altria Group Inc., the maker of Marlboro cigarettes and the only major tobacco producer to support the legislation, didn’t take part in the lawsuit.
Reynolds, the maker of Camel cigarettes and the No. 2 tobacco manufacturer in the U.S. by sales after Altria, was “pleased” with the decision, according to a spokesman. The company will consider whether to appeal the rulings that went in the government’s favor, the spokesman added.
A spokesman for Lorillard, the Greensboro, N.C., maker of Newport cigarettes, said the company was “gratified that the court upheld our free speech rights to use color and graphics in our advertising.”
An FDA spokeswoman said the agency is “pleased this ruling will allow us to continue, in large part, with the implementation” of the tobacco law.
Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, a Washington advocacy group, called the ruling “a significant victory for public health.” He urged the government to appeal the two provisions struck down by the judge, saying that the rulings were based on misinterpretations of the law.
The ban on color and imagery in tobacco ads “serves the compelling government interest of discouraging tobacco use by children and is narrowly tailored to serve that interest,” Mr. Myers said in a statement.
The advertising industry had supported the tobacco manufacturers in the case, concerned about the potential ripple effects of the marketing restrictions.
The judge’s ruling “is a very important victory,” said Dan Jaffe, head of government relations at the Association of National Advertisers, an industry trade group.
—Jared A. Favole contributed to this story.
Connecticut going after online cigarette buyers
Connecticut officials are going after more than 900 state residents who bought cigarettes on the Internet but didn’t pay state sales taxes as required by law.
The Department of Revenue Services announced Thursday that it mailed sales tax bills to 928 people this week, based on information provided under federal law by companies that sell cigarettes online.
The state’s cigarette tax jumped from $2 to $3 a pack on Oct. 1 as state officials sought to boost revenue because of the state budget deficit. Connecticut’s cigarette tax is the second highest in the country, after Rhode Island’s $3.46 per pack tax.The bills mailed this week are for sales tax and interest owed for online cigarette purchases made between 2007 and 2008.
Hike Prices Of Cigarettes To Curb Addiction?
The problem of smoking is still unsolved everywhere. Why do people smoke? Not because of the low price of cigarettes. It’s because of the habit and influence by others. If people can change the habit of not smoking, I think cigarettes will be no longer sold in shops. If the price of cigarettes increases, people will still buy. It is an addiction.
Students under the age of 18 are smarter. They will share to buy a packet of cigarettes and they still can smoke. The only solution is to stop the habit of smoking. How? It’s from the elders who should show good example to the young. They should not smoke. We should also bear in mind that nobody can change your habits unless we change ourselves.
Each Cigarette Pack Tied to Mutation That May Lead to Cancer
Each pack of cigarettes a person smokes triggers a genetic mutation that may one day lead to cancer, according to researchers who compiled the most detailed analysis of lung cancer and melanoma genes ever conducted. Investigators compared the genetic makeup of a healthy cell and a cancerous cell taken from a 55-year-old man with lung cancer to pinpoint 23,000 mutations, almost all caused by smoking. A similar comparison of tissue taken from a 43-year-old melanoma patient found 33,000 mutations, mainly from exposure to ultraviolet light. Both studies appear in the journal Nature.
The approach is providing a “catalogue of mutations” researchers can use to gather insight into the process of uncontrolled cell growth that leads to cancer in the human body, said Mike Stratton, deputy director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and co-head of its Cancer Genome Project. In the next decade, genetic sequencing may be widely used to identify cancer types and the most effective treatments, researchers said.
“What you’re seeing today is going to transform how we view cancer,” Stratton said at a Dec. 15 press conference. “We were able to get quite profound insight into what processes generated the cancer and why did the cancer occur. We’re seeing every single mutation. It’s a landmark in the development of our understanding of cancer.”
It’s likely that only five or 10 of the genetic variations, dubbed driver mutations, are responsible for the cancers, said Peter Campbell, group leader at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. The rest are “passenger mutations” that were present and doing no harm when the cell turned cancerous, he said. Identifying the dangerous mutations will be the next major challenge, he said.
One of the most surprising findings was the extent to which lifestyle choices, specifically smoking and sun exposure, were responsible for the cancers, Campbell said. While some cancers develop because the body’s natural mechanism to repair damaged DNA is itself broken, that wasn’t the case here, he said.
The researchers found numerous examples of repaired genes, particularly in those cells that multiply most often. It appears that the damage from smoking and ultraviolet light finally overwhelmed the defensive mechanisms, said Campbell, who described smoking as a game of Russian roulette in which mutations were fired again and again until they hit a critical gene.
More than 1.3 million people die each year from lung cancer, making it the most deadly tumor type, according to the World Health Organization. The vast majority stem from genetic mutations caused by smoking, according to the researchers, who said they didn’t find a standout “lung cancer gene.”
The majority of the 23,000 mutations, deletions and rearrangements found in the lung cancer gene were caused by the chemicals found in cigarettes, Campbell said. The mutations likely began occurring as soon as the person began smoking, and many were present for years before the cancer became apparent.
The good news is that 10 years to 15 years after a person stops smoking, their genetic profile returns to the original state, he said. Malignant melanoma is diagnosed in more than 100,000 people in Europe and U.S. each year, causing three out of every four deaths from skin cancer. The melanoma genome carried more than 33,000 mutations, mostly with a typical signature linked to ultraviolet light exposure, the researchers said.
The researchers now plan to sequence at least 50 cancers, with tissue samples from 500 patients for each tumor type. The process, as part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium established in 2007, will take five to 10 years and identify the most common cancer causing mutations, Campbell said.
The process is getting faster and cheaper every day, Stratton said. While it took $100,000 and months to sequence the lung cancer and melanoma samples in the studies, in the next 18 months researchers should be able to complete the process in 10 days at a cost of less than $20,000, he said.
