Cigarette sales dropped nearly 7% last month after a smoking ban was introduced in England...

August 21, 2007 - Cigarette sales dropped nearly 7% last month after a smoking ban was introduced in England. Smokers bought 6.9% fewer cigarettes in the four weeks to July 28, 2007 than in the same period last year, according to figures from consumer research group AC Nielsen. Sales were down 1.2% in June, ahead of the ban. (On July 1, 2007 England introduced a new law to make virtually all enclosed public places in England smoke free.) Anti-smoking campaigners ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) welcomed the news. "This is a good sign," a spokeswoman said. "As expected, smokers appear to be cutting back on the number of cigarettes they smoke. We also expect many will use the smoking ban as a trigger to help them quit altogether." ( Cigarette Sales Drop Nearly 7%, Julia Kollewe, Guardian Unlimited) ASH is the same group that is recommending the use moist snuff - SNUS like products in England as a substitute for tobacco smoking. At present as a result of England being part of the European Union moist snuff is outlawed. The ASH wants this tobacco product introduced in England not even considering the consequences of their actions, e.g. another generation of nicotine addicts. This reminds us of the days that tobacco control people insisted that tobacco companies produce low tar and low nicotine cigarettes. From Business Week Dec 16, 1967 – The government is interested in promoting cigarettes with low tar and nicotine content on the theory that they aren’t quite as bad for you. Says James C. Bowling, a vice-president of Philip Morris Inc.: “Although we maintain that low numbers are not proven meaningful, we will make cigarettes that way if that’s what smokers want.” (TobaccoWatch.org) As Dr. Gunilla Bolinder, director of education at Stockholm's Karolinska University Hospital points out, "To sing the praises of SNUS is a deathblow to 20 years of hard tobacco preventive work. SNUS only saves the life of the tobacco industry" (SNUS gets the thumbs-down NEWS-24 1/31/2007). Click on image to enlarge..