VOA常速英语2008年-Study: Cigarette Smuggling Causing Public Healt

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
13 February 2008

Anti-tobacco campaigners negotiating a treaty to combat the illicit¹ tobacco trade say cigarette smuggling² is big business throughout the African continent and is resulting in serious health problems.  Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

Studies by a consortium of anti-tobacco groups find the illicit trade in tobacco products represents about 10 percent of global sales, and cost governments between $40-$50 billion every year in lost revenue.

"It puts lower cost tobacco products on to the market and that...correlates with higher consumption," said Kathryn Mulvey, Director of International Policy for Corporate³ Accountability International. "It correlates with more young people getting addicted⁴ to tobacco.  So, that is helping⁵ to grow their markets for their deadly products.  And, they also benefit because often it is a way of getting their brands into markets that they might not yet be established in." 

This is borne out by the situation in Nigeria.  Akinbode Oluwafemi is a member of the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals.  He says smuggled⁶ cigarettes carrying the Japan Tobacco brand name became so popular throughout Nigeria that the company last year set up a factory there.  He says the possibility for lucrative⁷ sales is enormous in a country with a population of 140 million.

He says cigarette smuggling is widespread throughout Africa and marketing⁸ strategies employed by the tobacco companies are very successful.   He says cigarette smoking among young people has increased from four percent in 1990 to 13 percent now. 

"Africa is the market to conquer, you know...Here we have this huge population of the young you know and impressionable people in Africa...And, these companies are using all these marketing strategies to target our people...particularly, the rate is becoming more alarming among the women population because they are being targeted through fashion shows, consults and all the rest that appeal to women," Oluwafemi said.

Oluwafemi says a survey in 2006 of 26 government hospitals in Lagos found two people a day died from tobacco-related illnesses in each of those facilities.  This comes to 10,000 deaths a year in just those 26 hospitals.  Lagos alone, he says, has 3,000 hospitals.

He says a national survey of all hospitals throughout the country is being planned.  He says he is afraid to think of what those results might show.

The World Health Organization predicts as many as one billion people will die prematurely⁹ from tobacco by the end of this century, if current smoking trends are not reversed.

1 illicit   

adj.非法的，禁止的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He had an illicit association with Jane.他和简曾有过不正当关系。
• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year.今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。

2 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

3 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

4 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

7 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

8 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

9 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句