ΠΦΥ -Εκπαίδευση > Αποσπάσματα από τον έντυπο & ηλεκτρονικό τύπο
Κάπνισμα.
Argirios Argiriou:
Καθημερινή, 13/01/2013.
Ελλάδα: Επιστροφή στα χύμα τσιγάρα.
[spoiler]
EΛΛAΔA Hμερομηνία δημοσίευσης: 13-01-13
Οικιακές βιοτεχνίες φτιάχνουν... τσιγάρα
Οργιάζει το εμπόριο λαθραίου καπνού μέσω των αγγελιών
Της Μαριλης Mαργωμενου
Στα περίπτερα γύρω από την Ομόνοια δεν είναι δύσκολο να τα βρεις. «Χύμα τσιγάρα έχετε;». Χωρίς ερωτήσεις, χωρίς καν να διστάσει, ο περιπτεράς ψάχνει κάτω απ’ το ράφι μπροστά του. «Πόσα;», λέει. «Πέντε», απαντώ. «Ορίστε», κάνει. «Ενα ευρώ παρακαλώ». Δύο στενά πιο κάτω, στη Μενάνδρου, κοιτάζω τα τσιγάρα: έχουν τα διακριτικά μιας γνωστής μάρκας κάτω απ’ το φίλτρο. Αν δεν είχα κόψει το κάπνισμα, ίσως να μπορούσα να καταλάβω αν πράγματι είναι της μάρκας που γράφουν. Τώρα, τα δίνω απλώς στον ζητιάνο, στη γωνία με την πλατεία, κι εκείνος με κοιτάζει με ευγνωμοσύνη.
Μέχρι πέρυσι, χύμα τσιγάρα με ντόπιο καπνό έβρισκες κυρίως στο Αγρίνιο και στην Ξάνθη. Στη Μεσσηνία και στο Ηράκλειο οι περιπτεράδες πουλούσαν χύμα ελληνικά τσιγάρα, είκοσι λεπτά το ένα. «Ανοίγεις το πακέτο και πουλάς», όπως έλεγε σ’ ένα ρεπορτάζ κάποιος απ’ αυτούς. «Μπορεί να πουλήσω και 30 πακέτα τη μέρα δίνοντας χύμα τσιγάρα». Αλλά τώρα, χύμα τσιγάρα υπάρχουν και στην Αθήνα. Και όχι μόνο στα περίπτερα γύρω από την Ομόνοια. Γιατί τα φθηνότερα χύμα τσιγάρα είναι αυτά που φτιάχνει κανείς μόνος του, με λαθραίο καπνό που διακινείται μέσω αγγελιών και μηχανήματα γεμίσματος τσιγάρων. Μπορεί να είναι παράνομο, αλλά η κατανάλωσή τους όλο και αυξάνεται: τον Σεπτέμβριο που μας πέρασε, η έρευνα της εταιρείας Nielsen κατέληξε πως 15,7% των τσιγάρων στη χώρα μας είναι παράνομα. Δηλαδή, σχεδόν ένα στα επτά τσιγάρα που καπνίζουν οι Ελληνες!
Πατέντα
Με τη βοήθεια του Αντώνη Τ. καταλαβαίνω πώς τα χύμα τσιγάρα γίνονται οικιακή βιοτεχνία. «Εγώ θυμάμαι τον πατέρα μου να καπνίζει ντόπιο καπνό με ροζ χαρτάκι», λέει ο Αντώνης. «Μπορεί πια να μη ζω στο Αγρίνιο και το χαρτί να μην είναι ροζ, αλλά κατά τα άλλα, δεν άλλαξαν και πολύ τα πράγματα». Στα 34 του, ο Αντώνης έχει πτυχίο μαθηματικών, αλλά είναι άνεργος. «Το μόνο που έχω, είναι χρόνος», απαντάει όταν τον ρωτάω πώς βρήκε την πατέντα με τα χύμα τσιγάρα. «Παλιά πλήρωνα 100 ευρώ τον μήνα για τσιγάρα και τώρα δεν πληρώνω ούτε 30. Δεν είναι κίνητρο αυτό για να ψάξεις και να βρεις;».
Ο Αντώνης ανοίγει μια ιστοσελίδα στον υπολογιστή και μου δείχνει τις μηχανές γεμίσματος των τσιγάρων με καπνό. Υπάρχει ελληνικό e-shop για όποιον θέλει να αγοράσει. Τον ρωτάω εκείνος ποια μηχανή έχει. «Αυτήν εδώ», μου λέει περήφανα κουνώντας το βελάκι του mouse πάνω στη φωτογραφία της. Το μηχάνημα μοιάζει σαν επιτραπέζιο συρραπτικό κι από κάτω γράφει «54 ευρώ».
«Και τον καπνό πού τον βρίσκεις;», τον ρωτάω. Δεν απαντάει, απλώς ανοίγει τρίτη σελίδα και γράφει στην μπάρα αναζήτησης «πωλείται καπνός χύμα». Διαβάζω τις αγγελίες που εμφανίζονται: «Περιοχή Αμπελόκηποι: Καπνός προς πώληση από το Ξηρόμερο Aιτωλοακαρνανίας 35 ευρώ το κιλό. 698…», «Περιοχή Αγία Παρασκευή: Καπνός χύμα βιολογικός χωρίς χημικά, αποστολή σε όλη την Ελλάδα. 200 γρ. 15 ευρώ και 500 γρ. 30 ευρώ. Αποστολή με courier. 694…». Το ίδιο απόγευμα, δοκιμάζω πόσο εύκολο είναι να παραγγείλει κανείς. Η αγγελία που διαλέγω είναι συγχρόνως και διαφήμιση: «Καπνός από το Αγρίνιο, μείξη με ποικιλία Τσεμπέλι, καταπληκτικό άρωμα, όχι αλβανικό, όχι κίτρινο, εξαιρετικό χαρμάνι. 18 ευρώ το μισό κιλό». Στο τηλέφωνο, η φωνή που απαντάει ακούγεται νεανική: «Ναι, παρακαλώ;». «Για τον καπνό ενδιαφέρομαι…», λέω. «Ναι, κυρία μου. Εχετε ξαναπάρει από εμάς;» – σαν να μιλάω με πολυκατάστημα.
Ο νεαρός περνάει το επόμενο πεντάλεπτο αναφέροντας ονόματα ποικιλιών που είναι αδύνατον να συγκρατήσω, μου εξηγεί πώς πρέπει να ψιλοκόβει κανείς τον καπνό, και άλλα πολλά, σαν να μιλάει για το χόμπι του. «Κι εγώ πώς θα τον διατηρήσω για να μην ξεραθεί;», τον ρωτάω. «Θα τον βάλεις σε σακούλες που να κλείνουν αεροστεγώς, από τα Τζάμπο», λέει, «και μετά θα σου δείξω εγώ πώς γίνεται, θα βάζεις λίγο φρούτο στην καθεμία, μήλο καλύτερα, για να κρατάει ο καπνός υγρασία…». Ο νεαρός μου λύνει τις απορίες πριν τις εκστομίσω, με τέτοια ευκολία που είναι εμφανές πως το ’χει ξανακάνει πολλές φορές. «Καλά, πόσους πελάτες έχεις;», τον ρωτάω. «Ουουου! Το τηλέφωνο όλη την ώρα χτυπάει!».[/spoiler]
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Εγγραφή ή Είσοδος
Argirios Argiriou:
Occup Environ Med 2013;70:63-69 doi:10.1136/oemed-2012-100785
Association between environmental tobacco smoke exposure and dementia syndromes.
[spoiler]Ruoling Chen1,6, Kenneth Wilson2, Yang Chen3, Dongmei Zhang1,4, Xia Qin1, Meizi He5, Zhi Hu1, Ying Ma1, John R Copeland2
Correspondence to
Dr Ruoling Chen, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Division of Health and Social Care Research, King's College London, 7th Floor, Capital House, 42 Weston Street, London SE1 3QD, UK; ruoling.chen@kcl.ac.uk
Published Online First 26 October 2012
Abstract
Objectives Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has a range of adverse health effects, but its association with dementia remains unclear and with dementia syndromes unknown. We examined the dose–response relationship between ETS exposure and dementia syndromes.
Methods Using a standard method of GMS, we interviewed 5921 people aged ≥60 years in five provinces in China in 2007–2009 and characterised their ETS exposure. Five levels of dementia syndrome were diagnosed using the Automated Geriatric Examination for Computer Assisted Taxonomy instrument. The relative risk (RR) of moderate (levels 1–2) and severe (levels 3–5) dementia syndromes among participants exposed to ETS was calculated in multivariate adjusted regression models.
Results 626 participants (10.6%) had severe dementia syndromes and 869 (14.7%) moderate syndromes. Participants exposed to ETS had a significantly increased risk of severe syndromes (adjusted RR 1.29, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.59). This was dose-dependently related to exposure level and duration. The cumulative exposure dose data showed an adjusted RR of 0.99 (95% CI 0.76 to 1.28) for >0–24 level years of exposure, 1.15 (95% CI 0.93 to 1.42) for 25–49 level years, 1.18 (95% CI 0.87 to 1.59) for 59–74 level years, 1.39 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.84) for 75–99 level years and 1.95 (95% CI 1.34 to 2.83) for ≥100 level years. Significant associations with severe syndromes were found in never smokers and in former/current smokers. There were no positive associations between ETS and moderate dementia syndromes.
Conclusions ETS should be considered an important risk factor for severe dementia syndromes. Avoidance of ETS may reduce the rates of severe dementia syndromes worldwide.[/spoiler]
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Εγγραφή ή Είσοδος
Argirios Argiriou:
27-01-2013.
The Guardian/Observer.
How cigarette smuggling fuels Africa's Islamist violence.
[spoiler]Contrabrand tobacco is a $1bn trade in north Africa, run by extremists including Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who masterminded the attack on the Algerian gas plant. The trade is highly profitable – and very low risk
Cigarette sellers waiting for customers at a street stall in Benghazi, Libya. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP
For many years Mokhtar Belmokhtar was little more than a footnote in the intelligence reports analysing the increasingly muscular presence of Islamist groups in Saharan Africa.
The man whose al-Qaida-inspired Signed in Blood Battalion led the attack on the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria, in which at least 38 people were killed, was considered a relatively unimportant figure in the political ecosystem of the vast region. But Belmokhtar, who fought for the mujahideen in Afghanistan and the Islamist GIA in the Algerian civil war before becoming a commander in the Mali-based al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), was ambitious.
In 2003 he masterminded the kidnapping of 32 European tourists whom he successfully ransomed. The money gave him the seed capital he needed to develop a sophisticated trading business throughout Saharan Africa, along the ancient 2,000-mile salt route used by the Tuareg tribesmen to transport goods from the continent's west coast through to Timbuktu in Mali, then on to Niger before arriving in the Algerian south, gateway to the Mediterranean.
But while the Tuareg made their money in trading salt, gold and silk, Belmokhtar, who secured close links with the tribesmen through marriages to the daughters of several of their most prominent families, made a fortune through a different commodity: smuggled cigarettes. Such was the volume of his trade that he earned himself the sobriquet "Mr Marlboro".
"He was not an important figure in AQIM, he was quite different from al-Qaida and Bin Laden," said Morten Bøås, a senior research fellow at Oslo University and editor of African Guerrillas: Raging Against the Machine. "He is generally known as one of the more pragmatic figures, more interested in filling his own pockets than fighting jihad."
The key role cigarettes play in facilitating terrorism has been inexplicably ignored. But it has become of urgent interest to western intelligence agencies as they seek to check al-Qaida's diverse factions operating across the Saharan region.
Tracking the contraband flow in Africa Source: UNODC 2009. Credit: Observer graphics
Indeed, after interviewing numerous agents and experts in the field, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has concluded that "cigarette smuggling has provided the bulk of financing for AQIM". AQIM's affiliates include Ansar al-Sharia, an offshoot blamed for the killing of the American ambassador, Chris Stevens, in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and was thought to be behind threats last week that prompted the Foreign Office to urge Britons to leave the city.
The total value of the illicit tobacco trade in north Africa is thought to exceed $1bn (£632m). The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that Africans smoke 400bn cigarettes a year, of which 60bn are bought on the black market.
However, five countries – Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia – smoke 44% of Africa's cigarettes, and their black markets are significantly larger. More than three-quarters of all cigarettes smoked in Libya, for example, are illicit.
Controlling the flow of contraband into these counties has triggered a turf war as Belmokhtar and other AQIM factions compete with each other, as well as with Tuareg tribes and corrupt army and government officials, in an attempt to "own" the trade. Some of the cigarettes transported across Saharan Africa are fakes produced in China and Vietnam. But most are genuine branded product, sourced through the Middle East and shipped through a multitude of countries via a Byzantine network of middle-men and companies, many in offshore tax havens.
The cigarettes often enter west Africa through Ghana, Benin and Togo. A second route is via Guinea, where the supply, according to UNODC, vastly exceeds the country's demand. The cigarettes are then moved to Mali by road or by boat on the Niger river, where there is little risk of detection. A third distribution hub – for Senegal, Morocco and Algeria – is provided by Mauritania.
In each case, Mr Marlboro and AQIM clean up, either by charging a "tax" for the safe passage of the cigarettes along the salt route, or facilitating their transport, using 4x4s, trucks, motorcycles and even bicycles.
Often the smuggled products are not a premium western brand, such as Marlboro, but one of the cheaper, less prestigious marques that the tobacco giants are keen to introduce to developing nations as a way of gaining a foothold in their markets.
Inevitably, the endemic smuggling of cigarettes in such countries has raised questions about the role played by big tobacco, and in particular the extent to which it should be made responsible for distribution routes being used to fill the coffers of some of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world.
Internal company memos show that in the 1980s British American Tobacco in Africa used a Liechtenstein-based company, Sorepex, as a key distributor. BAT documents reveal that the company saw Sorepex as a "gravy train" and a way of providing "cover, albeit increasingly flimsy, for BAT in some fairly shady business". The company insists that it condemns all forms of smuggling.
In 2002, RJ Reynolds, owner of the Winston brand, was accused by the EU of selling its products in Iraq in breach of embargoes. The cigarettes were allegedly smuggled into the country by the PKK (Kurdish Workers' party), named by the American government as a terrorist group. Documents allegedly revealed that the cigarettes were transported from the US and shipped to Spain and then to Cyprus and Turkey before arriving in Iraq. The case is currently before a federal appeal court in the US.
More recently, Japan Tobacco confirmed last year that it is being investigated by the EU amid claims it broke sanctions by shipping cigarettes to a firm linked to the Syrian regime. The company has denied any wrongdoing.
Experts say that the profits provided by cigarette smuggling fuel other criminal activities, including drug, oil and human trafficking, activities which often use the same distribution networks. But cigarettes remain the most profitable and least risky form of contraband. As Louise Shelley, a crime expert at Washington's George Mason university, told the ICIJ: "No one thinks that cigarette smuggling is too serious, so law enforcement agencies don't spend resources to go after it."
This helps explain why terrorist groups exploit the illicit trade. According to the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the IRA made as much as $100m between 1999 and 2004 by smuggling cigarettes into Northern Ireland. Hezbollah ran a successful smuggling operation in the US, shipping cigarettes from low-tax North Carolina to higher- tax Michigan.
"Tobacco smuggling is lucrative and widespread," said Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the charity Action on Smoking and Health. "It helps to fund global terrorism and conflict, encourages corruption and remains a source of funds for some of the most repressive regimes in the world."
Intelligence experts told the Observer that pushing illicit cigarettes into north Africa was at the "low end" of cigarette smuggling. The real money, they said, comes from shipping big-brand products back into Europe via Greece, Spain or sometimes Italy. So far, this is believed to be a small but growing market for the smugglers.
While there is no suggestion that the tobacco giants are actively working with terrorist groups, monitoring where their products end up is extremely difficult. The companies' use of well-connected middlemen makes tracing their cigarettes almost impossible. Documents shared with the Observer by intelligence experts show how one middleman, who regularly buys product from a major tobacco company, has a complex operation involving offices, warehouses and bank accounts in Cyprus, Brussels, Dubai, Malaysia, Egypt, Israel, Uruguay, Panama and Singapore that allows him to move cigarettes around the world without being traced.
"Those providing 'protection' along the routes – often customs officers or security services, but in some instances 'terrorists' – make good money for little or no work," said one intelligence expert who has worked in counter-smuggling operations. "What's best for them is that the trade is either in US dollars or euros. It's hard currency into clean accounts which they can then use at their leisure to buy whatever they need."
Experts want countries to ratify the international treaty on the illicit trade in tobacco that would force cigarette companies to monitor and trace the distribution of their products while conducting due diligence on their customers.
"The only way you can effectively police this is if the manufacturers accept legal responsibility for their products all along the chain of supply – that will force them to deal with reputable agents," said Eric LeGresley, a Canadian lawyer who has studied tobacco companies.
Ironically, Belmokhtar may have been too successful at smuggling cigarettes. It is rumoured that late last year he was forced out of AQIM and his base in Mali after the organisation's leaders questioned his commitment to their cause. Mr Marlboro, they suggested, was more interested in money than ideals.
The slaughter in the Sahara may have been Belmokhtar's grotesque attempt to prove them wrong, something that has huge consequences for his smuggling operations.
"His days as a smuggler are over," Bøås predicted. "No bandits or traders will want to be within a kilometre of him now. They don't want to be targeted by American drones."
But, given the money at stake, there will be no shortage of others ready to take his place.
Tobacco and Terrorism
The Taliban Across the tribal belt of Pakistan, Taliban militias collect money from cigarette smugglers in exchange for allowing counterfeit Marlboro and cheap local brands into Afghanistan and China. Cigarettes have become an increasingly important source of financing for the groups, second only to the heroin trade, according to Pakistani intelligence officials.
The PKK Charges a fee for every container of cigarettes allowed to pass through its territory. Controlled the flow of contraband cigarettes into Iraq during the 1990s; now controls the flood of counterfeit cigarettes out of the same country.
Farc The world's largest supplier of cocaine often uses its well established drug smuggling routes to move American cigarettes according to evidence given to the US Senate.
The CNDP In 2008, the UN claimed that The Congres National Pour la Defense du Peuple, a Tutsi-backed rebel group accused of atrocities, was being funded by Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa, a tobacco tycoon who pleaded guilty to cigarette tax evasion charges in South Africa.
Sources: the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
[/spoiler]
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Εγγραφή ή Είσοδος
Argirios Argiriou:
19-02-2013
The New Zeeland Herald.
New Zeeland to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products.
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Εγγραφή ή Είσοδος
Argirios Argiriou:
J Anesth. 2013 Feb 9. [Epub ahead of print]
The effects of secondhand smoke on postoperative pain and fentanyl consumption.
Aydogan MS, Ozturk E, Erdogan MA, Yucel A, Durmus M, Ersoy MO, Colak C.
Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Inonu University, Faculty of Medicine, Malatya, Turkey, dr_mustafasaid@hotmail.com.
[spoiler]Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Although the need for increased postoperative analgesia in smokers has been described, the effect of secondhand smoke on postoperative analgesia requirements has not been studied. We examined the effects of secondhand smoke on fentanyl consumption and postoperative pain.
METHODS:
In this study, 101 patients (American Society of Anesthesiology physical status I and II) who underwent abdominal hysterectomy were divided into 3 groups according to history of exposure to cigarette smoke as per medical records which was retrospectively confirmed by measurement of serum cotinine: smokers (n = 28), nonsmokers (n = 31), and secondhand smokers (n = 32). All patients received propofol-remifentanil total intravenous anesthesia and used fentanyl patient controlled analgesia for postoperative pain. The fentanyl consumption visual analogue scale-pain intensity (VAS-PI) score and side effects were recorded in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) and at 2, 4, 6, and 24 h after surgery.
RESULTS:
Fentanyl consumption at all the evaluation time points was significantly higher in secondhand smokers than in nonsmokers (P < 0.05). However, fentanyl consumption in secondhand smokers was lower than that in smokers in the PACU and at 24 h (P < 0.05). VAS-PI scores during movement and at rest in the PACU and at 4, 6, and 24 h after surgery were higher in secondhand smokers than in nonsmokers (P < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups with regard to side effects such as nausea, vomiting, and dizziness (P > 0.05).
CONCLUSION:
Secondhand smoking was associated with increased postoperative fentanyl consumption, and increased VAS-PI scores. These findings may be beneficial for managing postoperative pain in secondhand smokers.[/spoiler]
CONCLUSION:
Secondhand smoking was associated with increased postoperative fentanyl consumption, and increased VAS-PI scores. These findings may be beneficial for managing postoperative pain in secondhand smokers.
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