Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Criminologist: Crime will flow from tobacco rules

http://www.euractiv.com/health/criminologist-crime-flow-tobacco-rules-interview-511919


"The crime proofing exercise we have conducted has shown that some of the policy options envisaged by the European Commission carry significant risks of creating unintended opportunities for the illicit trade in tobacco products.  In particular, there is a high risk that a measure such as generic packaging may increase the counterfeiting of tobacco products and make it difficult for consumers to distinguish legitimate products from illegitimate ones," said the report's author, Professor Ernesto Savona.
Available information on the currently on-going impact assessment for the revision of the TPD indicates that the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO) paid almost no attention to the potential impacts on the illegal trade in tobacco products.
"Contrary to their own guidelines, European policymakers rarely consider the crime risk implications when drafting new legislation and the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive by DG SANCO seems to confirm this," continued Professor Savona.

Surely that's not possible,since every single thing they do is for our own good?
Makes me wonder if they truly have any sort of grasp on what could happen if they go ahead with their plan.

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