Contraband and Counterfeit Tobacco - exploring an economic disincentive to the denormalization of tobacco

在英国，吸烟是头号可预防的疾病和死亡原因。鼓励吸烟者减少消费或最好戒烟，以及从一开始就阻止儿童和年轻人吸烟的努力，正受到席卷全国的走私香烟浪潮的阻碍(据估计，走私香烟占英国烟草总消费量的16%)。贫困社区尤其成为提供非法烟草产品的犯罪团伙的目标，非法烟草产品的价格有时不到正常香烟价格的一半。英格兰东北部是这一活动的中心。香烟走私每年给英国财政部造成超过30亿英镑的收入损失，并对人们S的健康产生巨大影响，因为吸烟者如果能买到便宜的香烟，就没有动力戒烟，而且可能会抽更多的烟。此外，超过一半的走私香烟被认为是假烟，由中国和东欧的非法工厂生产。假烟的重金属和焦油含量特别高，因此对健康的危害甚至比普通香烟更大。这个项目旨在增加我们对家门口运行的鲜为人知的犯罪经济的了解。利用通过早先欧盟资助的一个项目获得的详细案件记录，它将更多地揭示这种破坏性贸易是如何组织和运营的，发生的不同类型的走私，从事走私的犯罪公司及其供应的人。这项研究将帮助健康促进工作者更好地针对这一主题开展活动，并帮助英国税务和海关总署更好地针对他们防止非法货物进入该国的努力。

Smoking is the number one preventable cause of illness and death in the UK. Efforts to encourage smokers to reduce consumption or preferably quit, and to discourage children and young people from starting to smoke in the first place, are being stymied by the tide of smuggled cigarettes engulfing the country (an estimated 16% of the total tobacco consumed in the UK). Deprived communities in particular are being targetted by criminal gangs offering illegal tobacco products, sometimes at less than half the price of normal cigarettes. The North East of England is a hub for this activity. Cigarette smuggling costs the UK Treasury over #3 billion per year in lost revenue and has a massive impact on people s health, since smokers have less incentive to stop smoking if they can buy cheap cigarettes, and are likely to smoke more. In addition, over half the smuggled cigarettes are thought to be fakes, made in illicit factories in China and Eastern Europe. Fake cigarettes have particularly high levels of heavy metals and tars, and hence are even more hazardous to health than ordinary cigarettes. This project aims to increase our knowledge of the little understood criminal economy operating on our doorstep. Using detailed case records obtained through an earlier, EU fundedproject, it will reveal more about how this damaging trade is organized and run, the different kinds of smuggling that take place, the criminal firms that do it and the people they supply. The research will help health promotion workers to better target their campaigns on this topic, and HM Revenue and Customs to better target their efforts to prevent illegal shipments coming into the country.