An undercover crackdown has highlighted that shops and pubs across Cornwall are still selling tobacco to children. In an undercover operation to crack down on the problem of underage sales of 33 premises visited, 60 per cent sold tobacco to young volunteers.The operation saw 15 and 16 year old children visite shops and pubs across mid and west Cornwall under the supervision of Trading Standards officers, and attempted to test-purchase OK cigarettes and tobacco to test compliance with the laws.Thirteen...

In recent days, Rep. Cameron Wheeler has fielded numerous phone calls from voters in his eastern Idaho district that took him a little off-guard. “They told me, ‘Vote for the Winston cigarette tax increase,’ ” said Wheeler, R-Ririe, of the callers’ message. “I told them, ‘There isn’t anything to vote for.’ ”The people lighting up Wheeler’s House floor phone’s display panel were responding to full-page newspaper ads — in Boise, Idaho Falls, Nampa and Twin Falls last week — from a coalition of anti-smoking...

MOSCOW — One woman said children as young as 10 working in the fields developed red rashes on their stomachs and necks as they harvested tobacco for use in cigarettes made by Philip Morris.Another migrant laborer working in the tobacco fields in Kazakhstan said a farmer confiscated her identification papers and withheld pay to force her to continue working despite dismal conditions.Human Rights Watch, the group best known for documenting governmental abuse and war crimes, plans to release a report...

CIGARETTE sales are down by 15 per cent, compared to this time last year but rolling tobacco sales are up 25 per cent, since the tobacco tax hike was imposed in December, a leading importer said yesterday.The importer, who wished to remain anonymous, told reporters yesterday: “Smokers have abandoned cigarettes in favour of rolling tobacco,” The reason is that rolling tobacco is now cheaper, even with the new tax.Following a smoking ban at the start of 2010, parliament approved a tobacco tax hike...