Interesting Facts

31st May World No Tobacco Day

Since 2012 all large shops and supermarkets in England had to hide tobacco products from public view, and now all shops will have to do so from 6th April. (The original ban only applied to shops of more than 280 sq m (3,014 sq ft), and small outlets were exempt until 2015, but that is about to end as the ban comes into force across the UK.  The ban will stop cigarettes being visible at the point of sale in any small shops and other premises selling tobacco such as cafes, pubs and clubs. It seems to be working too, with smoking rates for England at their lowest ever levels: the latest figures show only 8% of 15 year olds are now regular smokers, compared with 22% in 2003. Interestingly on a recent trip to France, every other shop seemed to sell e-cigarettes.)

The first patent for a "a smokeless non-tobacco cigarette" was made in 1963 by Herbert Gilbert. (Gilbert described a device that replaced burning tobacco and paper with heated, moist, flavoured air, but his device involved no nicotine, it was more flavoured steam and didn't prove a commercial success. It wasn't until 2003 that the first nicotine based electronic cigarette was patented, by Mr Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacologist. Manufactured to look like a traditional cigarette, the batter powered product contains liquid nicotine that is turned into a vapour which is then inhaled. Just another way to part a fool from his / her money. I wonder if it could be turned into something useful like a drug delivery system.)

According to a poll conducted by Populsus, even banks are more popular than the 'big six' energy giants in the UK. (Only the tobacco industry, and payday loan firms were less popular. Supermarkets were the most positively viewed companies with a "Like" rating of 58.6. They can't have included chocolate manufacturers in the list!) Source

Major cigarette firms in the UK have been accused of fueling black market in smuggled tobacco. (The accusation is that UK tobacco manufacturers turn a blind eye to the avoidance of UK tax by supplying more of their products to European countries than the legitimate market in those countries could possibly require. The “high-risk” oversupply countries included the Benelux nations – Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and of course Spain, where many Britons go on holiday. Just one “white van man” bringing back a single load of tobacco is estimated to cost the Exchequer £60,000 in lost revenue. He probably tells customs it's for "personal use".)

A newly discovered letter reveals that doctors knew about the risk tobacco posed to people's health as early as the 18th century. (Medical student William Adams, wrote to his father in 1799 saying how he feared his mother's pipe-smoking habit was harmful. He said tobacco had a narcotic power, and its use destroyed digestion. Adams, who was studying in Edinburgh, also referred to a case where a woman had died after being given the wrong dose of tobacco by a chemist.)

According to the Global Times, officials in a county in central China have been told to smoke nearly a quarter of a million packs of locally made cigarettes annually. (The Gong'an county government in Hubei province, instead of banning cigarettes in the work place, has ordered its staff to puff their way through 230,000 packs of Hubei-produced cigarette brands a year, or risk being fined. I would look into the share holdings of the people making this ridiculous demand.)

A £30,000 statue of Sir Walter Raleigh that stands in the Devon village of East Budleigh, his birthplace, was sponsored by British American Tobacco. (Raleigh brought tobacco from America, so I guess BAT are very grateful to him.)