International Updates

15 May 2020 Dr. Mark Calarco, NBC News The research is new, but evidence suggests smoking may dramatically worsen COVID-19.   In early March, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told journalists that a 22-year-old Brooklyn man had been hospitalized with a COVID-19 diagnosis. The man didn’t appear to have any pre-existing conditions; all doctors knew …

Coronavirus may be worse for smokers and vapers. And youth won’t save you. Read More »

11 May 2020, World Health Organization Tobacco kills more than 8 million people globally every year. More than 7 million of these deaths are from direct tobacco use and around 1.2 million are due to non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke. Tobacco smoking is a known risk factor for many respiratory infections and increases the …

WHO statement: Tobacco use and COVID-19 Read More »

27 May 2020 Patricio V. Marquez, World Bank As we mark World No Tobacco Day on May 31, let’s consider the impact of tobacco use on coronavirus (COVID-19) outcomes.  The virus has infected more than 5.5 million people in 188 countries and territories, killing more than 350,000. Tobacco use is causally linked to diseases of nearly all organs of …

Tobacco use and coronavirus (COVID-19): A deadly but preventable association Read More »

25 May 2020 Matthew Chapman, The Bureau of Investigate Journalism The tobacco giant Philip Morris has taken advantage of the UK’s ban on menthol cigarettes to promote its new tobacco product, despite heavy restrictions on advertising tobacco. In the run up to the ban the company hired sales reps to promote its menthol heated tobacco …

Big Tobacco use menthol cigarette ban to promote rival products Read More »

20 May 2020 Independent Online/UNB The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday urged the authorities concerned to suspend production, supply, marketing, and sale of all kinds of tobacco products in Bangladesh to help fight against coronavirus. The Health Services Division of the ministry issued a letter to the Industries Ministry in this regard, …

Health Ministry for halting production, sale of tobacco products Read More »

15 May 2020 Robert Preidt, WebMD FRIDAY, May 15, 2020 (HealthDay News) — COVID-19 hits smokers much harder than nonsmokers, according to a new review. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), analyzed 19 studies that included data on smoking and severity of COVID-19 among nearly 11,600 patients in the United States, China and Korea. …

COVID-19 Is More Severe in Smokers Read More »

4 May 2020 Matthew Chapman, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism More than a fifth of 15-year-olds in Yorkshire and the Humber vape, according to NHS figures that suggest a stark north-south divide in underage vaping. The data – based on a survey of 13,000 children produced after inquiries by The Bureau – found that teenagers …

Underage vaping spikes in the north of England Read More »

1 May 2020 Jones, A., Ingenta Connect Abstract: The denial of children’s rights is at the heart of the tobacco industry’s interference in health policies. Big Tobacco (composed of the five largest tobacco companies) controls 80% of the global market, and mergers and acquisitions have solidified interference on an industrial scale. Driven by shareholder demand …

How Big Tobacco uses disruptive tactics to deny child rights to be tobacco-free Read More »

29 April 2020 Aimee Cunningham, ScienceNews Both vapers and smokers show signs of blood vessel damage, compared with people who do neither Switching from smoking to vaping may not help with cardiovascular health. Researchers performed tests on the vascular systems of more than 400 healthy adults aged 21 to 45. Study participants who use cigarettes, e-cigarettes …

Vaping may damage the heart just as smoking does Read More »

26 April 2020 Ian Hamilton, Independent Far from viewing the coronavirus pandemic as a problem, the tobacco industry thinks it is great opportunity – even offering to deliver to those in isolation Without a puff of irony, British American Tobacco announced earlier this month it was making making progress in its research towards developing a vaccine for Covid-19. If successful, …

The tobacco industry is trying to get cigarettes classified as an ‘essential’ item during lockdown Read More »