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French biotechnological company Biosyntec wants to invest in Zakłady Tytoniowe Lublin (ZTL), the last state-owned company on the tobacco market in the EU. "The first meeting concerning terms for the sale of company shares has been held," announced Agnieszka Żukowska of the Treasury Ministry, which plans to finish the privatization procedure in Q2 2008.

ZTL has been losing its share of the cigarette market over the past few years, however, it is the leading domestic producer of tobacco.

Biosyntec's capital should open ZTL to the global market. The firm has plans to produce a new type of cigarette filter that would reduce the risk of cancer cells caused by cigarette smoke by 80%.

Experts from the tobacco industry unofficially said that if the performance of the filters is confirmed, no tobacco company will be able to ignore them.

The cigarette market in Poland is worth almost zł.20 billion annually.

Shopkeepers could be banned from displaying cigarettes under Government plans.
The Department of Health said it was launching a consultation to look at ways to stop children smoking. In a bid to cut the number of smokers and prevent children taking up the habit, ministers have drawn up proposals including a bar on displaying tobacco products and the removal of pub vending machines.
Measures making it easier to sell nicotine replacement gums and patches are also on the table. The proposals follow on the July introduction of the ban on smoking in public places.
According to the Department of Health, the strategy - coupled with wider smokefree legislation - will save hundreds of lives. Someone who starts smoking at 15 is three times more likely to die of cancer due to smoking than someone who starts in their late twenties, the department said.
Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said: "Children who smoke are putting their lives at risk and are more likely to die of cancer than people who start smoking later. It's vital we get across the message to children smoking is bad. If that means stripping out vending machines or removing cigarettes from behind the counter, I'm willing to do that." According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, the proportion of adults who smoke has dropped by two per cent from 24 to 22 per cent. About 165,000 smokers quit between April and September - an increase of 28 per cent compared with the same period the previous year.
The Government has set a target of reducing the proportion of smokers in England to 21 per cent by 2010. In this year's Budget, Chancellor Alistair Darling increased the duty on tobacco, adding 11p to the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes and 4p to five cigars. He said the Government was continuing the five per cent reduced rate of VAT on smoking cessation products beyond June 30.
Mark Littlewood, communications director of liberal think tank Progressive Vision, said: "Cigarettes are a product for adults and steps need to be taken to prevent youngsters buying them. But banning the display of cigarettes would be petty, pointless and patronising."

A meeting of emergency services ministers in Canberra on Wednesday deliberated upon the need for introducing "fire-proof" cigarettes that get extinguished on their own as the smoker drops the butt, a measure that may help reduce the risk of fires in homes and the bush.
New South Wales (NSW) Emergency Services Minister Nathan Rees moved the resolution to make the reduced fire risk (RFR) cigarettes, which are already produced overseas in Canada and New York, mandatory under the Trade Practices Act as early as next year.
"We hope this will be law by early 2009, requiring all cigarettes manufactured and sold throughout Australia to be self-extinguishing," the Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying.
"Every day's delay is another day we live with the risk that someone will be killed or injured or homes or bush land destroyed because cigarettes keep burning when they are dropped or thrown from a car window," he added.
Each year, around 4500 fires are caused by cigarette ignitions in Australia. Fires, directly attributed to cigarettes, claimed about 65 lives between 2000 and 2005.
A significant decline has resulted in fire deaths in New York since the introduction of RFR cigarettes in New York in 2004, according to preliminary data.
According to NSW Fire Brigades, a normal cigarette dropped on furnishings may start a fire in less than 18 minutes, whereas an RFR cigarette extinguishes on its own.
Rees said that some people in the industry had expressed non-acceptance to the introduction of the RFR cigarette, complaining about costs, difficulties in testing, and compliance and production lead times.
"NSW does not accept that the industry needs an 18-month to two-year time frame to introduce these cigarettes, which are already being produced and sold in Canada and a number of states in the US," he said.
The newspaper report says that the Australian tobacco industry is concerned that no testing has been done to ensure that the cigarettes do not pose a further risk to smokers' health.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, gave a cautious welcome to proposals for a further crackdown on smoking which would ban shopkeepers from displaying cigarettes and pubs from having tobacco vending machines. "I think this is worth looking at. As someone who struggled with giving up smoking, it helps if you take away some of the temptation," he told the BBC.
The Association of Convenience Stores warned that the proposed move to force the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products under the counter would pose practical difficulties and increase costs for shop owners.
The proposals, to be included in a Department of Health consultation later this spring, follow the ban on smoking in public places last July.
Dawn Primarolo, public health minister, said: "It's vital we get across the message to children that smoking is bad. If that means stripping out vending machines or removing cigarettes from behind the counter, I'm willing to do that."

As Chancellor Alistair Darling prepares to balance the UK's books, attention has turned to the other darling of Budget Day - sin taxes. The Conservatives have called for higher taxes on alcopops amid growing concern about drunken behaviour. Are we taxed too heavily on cigarettes and alcohol or not enough? And do we pay more for our sins than our European neighbours?