Posts tagged “smuggling”

Designed for smuggling

(originally posted at Core77)

From a recent Fresh Air is a profile of the Tobacco Underground, an investigation by The Center for Public Integrity about how money from cigarette smuggling is sometimes used to fund terrorism. Of note is Jin Ling, a smuggled-only brand “virtually unknown to the authorities three years ago, [it] has grown so rapidly that law enforcement officials say it now rivals Marlboro as the top smuggled brand being seized in the European Union.” Of course, underground brands are unlikely to pay attention to intellectual property rights, hence the familiar packaging design, with the Camel camel replaced by a goat.

ChittahChattah Quickies

  • Spokane residents "smuggling" banned phosphate-containing detergents from out of county and out of state – The quest for squeaky-clean dishes has turned some law-abiding people in Spokane into dishwater-detergent smugglers. They are bringing Cascade or Electrasol in from out of state because the eco-friendly varieties required under Washington state law don't work as well. Spokane County became the launch pad last July for the nation's strictest ban on dishwasher detergent made with phosphates, a measure aimed at reducing water pollution. The ban will be expanded statewide in July 2010, the same time similar laws take effect in several other states.
    Many people were shocked to find that products like Seventh Generation, Ecover and Trader Joe's left their dishes encrusted with food, smeared with grease and too gross to use without rewashing them by hand. The culprit was hard water, which is mineral-rich and resistant to soap. As a result, there has been a quiet rush of Spokane-area shoppers heading east on Interstate 90 into Idaho in search of old-school suds.

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