Tag: UK

  • Inconvenience: Philip Morris report says plain packaging could cost 30,000 jobs

    Thousands of jobs could be lost if plain packaging for cigarettes and tobacco products is introduced, according to a story in the South Wales Evening Post, citing a report released and commissioned by Philip Morris Ltd.

    The report suggests up to 30,000 of the 182,300 jobs in Britain’s small, independent retailers are at risk and concludes tobacco purchases will migrate to illegal street vendors, larger stores and purchases from abroad.

    Douglas McWilliams, co-author of the report, said, “Convenience stores depend  heavily on tobacco sales and the associated spending by those who drop in to buy cigarettes.

    “All the survey evidence and simulation exercises available suggest that plain packaging would cause spending to move to illegal street vendors, larger stores and purchases from abroad. If this is replicated in real life, high streets up and down the country would be dealt a body blow.”

  • Further delay to UK e-cigarette regulations

    The UK government’s plans to license e- cigarettes have been delayed further, according to a story in the Times Of London.

    The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency began a consultation in February 2010, but it said in March 2011 that it would take another 18 months to gather greater evidence on the health risks of using these products and the consequences of regulating them.

    Now it emerges that whereas the government had expected to announce its regulatory plans this spring, it is no longer in a position to meet that deadline.