Department of Health written question – answered on 20th October 2014.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the threat to public safety of counterfeit tobacco products.
All tobacco use is harmful, whether legal or illegal (counterfeit, smuggled or other illicit). HM Revenue and Customs reports that the proportion of illicit tobacco sold in the UK has fallen from one in five cigarettes in 2000-01 to less than one in ten in 2012-13 (9%). The figures for hand rolled tobacco fell from 42% in 2009-10 to 36% in 2012-13.
This decline has been as a result the United Kingdom government implementing a package of measures and a continued commitment to strengthen the anti-smuggling strategy including tightening controls along the supply chain of tobacco industries.
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