Toxic Black-Market Cigarettes Fuel Mesothelioma Concerns

The Australian government’s plan to see around 300,000 people quit smoking by 2020 has backfired.
A tobacco tax hike of a 12.5 percent over a four-year span has driven the price of cigarettes to $40 a pack and rising.
As a result, avid smokers are turning to illegally imported cigarettes to fuel their habit. The trend has resulted in the emergence of a flourishing black-market industry linked to organized crime.
Up to 14.3 percent of tobacco consumed in Australia comes through the black market, with a wide range of brands and counterfeit imitations sold “under the counter” by shop owners and other individuals across the country.
The trend has financially impacted small business owners selling legitimate tobacco products. For consumers of the illegal cigarettes, it has caused a far more sinister reason for concern — the possible contamination of carcinogens such as asbestos.
Asbestos and Other Impurities Found in Illegal Cigarettes
Tests on counterfeit cigarettes from China have shown alarming results.
Each cigarette is packed with up to 80 percent more nicotine and emits 130 percent more carbon monoxide.
Worse still, many contain other impurities such as rat poison, traces of lead, dead flies, human and animal feces and asbestos.
Asbestos is a known carcinogen responsible for mesothelioma and other life-threatening respiratory diseases.
The majority of illegal cigarettes come from Asia, predominantly out of Yunxiao County in China.
Production of fake cigarettes in Chi...

Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - January 22, 2018 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Daniel King Tags: asbestos in cigarettes Australian Border Force Tobacco Strike Team Australian Customs and Border Protection Service black market cigarettes Chinese cigarettes counterfeit cigarettes from China fake cigarettes fake Marlboros illegal cigaret Source Type: news