Regional Updates

10 September 2020 NewsLine Philippines: DAVAO CITY — A top health official says Communal eating and smoking together in chambers are seen to open opportunities for COVID-19 to spread as these require masks to be taken off. A report published by the Philippine Information Agency stated that no less than Health Undersecretary for Vis-Min Field Implementation Office, …

Philippines: Communal eating and smoking noted to cause Covid-19 spread Read More »

5 September 2020 Sethe, Philippines News: FDA Warns Public Against Vape Juice Containing Illegal Drugs Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned the public about a brand of Vape juice containing illegal drugs or Marie Juana being sold on the market. The FDA blocked a brand of e-cigarette or vape juice when it was found to contain liquid, …

Philippines: FDA Warns Public Against Vape Juice Containing ‘Mamon’ or Illegal Drugs Read More »

Mikael Angelo Francisco, flip science: “Never mind the law. The law will come.” On November 19, 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte declared an immediate ban on the use and importation of e-cigarettes in the Philippines. Delivered in his signature tough-talking demeanor, his proclamation came four days after the country’s first confirmed e-cigarette-associated lung injury (EVALI) case, a 16-year-old …

More than just hot air: The Philippines’ need for science-based vaping regulations Read More »

On 2 September 2020, SEATCA gathered public health experts, tobacco control advocates and government agencies online for a webinar to expose the tobacco industry’s smoke-free deception.  The webinar entitled ‘#TheUnfilteredTruth Webinar Series: EXPOSED: The tobacco industry’s smoke-free deception’ moderated by SEATCA Executive Director, Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo, featured several experts including Asian Consultancy on Tobacco Control Director, Dr. …

EXPOSED: The Tobacco Industry’s Smoke-Free Deception Webinar Read More »

9 September 2020 Malaymail: I am responding to the article highlighting BAT Malaysia’s survey on tobacco black market in Malaysia published in the Malay Mail on 3 September 2020. According to this survey two thirds of the Malaysians believe high tobacco pries is the cause of black market and want the government to take action. This industry led conclusion …

Malaysia: Government must use tax measures to protect public health — Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance Read More »

11 August 2020 Arianne Merez, ABS-CBN News: MANILA — Eating in canteens and smoking in common areas are prohibited in workplaces in modified enhanced community quarantine areas, Malacañang said Tuesday. The prohibition comes as the government revised health protocols after it found that spots of convergence in workplaces such as canteens and smoking areas were …

Philippines: Workplace under MECQ? Gov’t prohibits dining in canteens, common smoking areas Read More »

24 July 2020 Jean Iau, The Straits Times: Ten tobacco retailers who sold cigarettes to people under the minimum legal age had their licences suspended by the authorities. The punishment was meted out between August 2019 and June 2020. In a statement on Friday (July 24), the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) said the retailers were …

Singapore: 10 tobacco retailers have their licences suspended for selling cigarettes to underage buyers Read More »

21 July 2020 Sophapan Ratanachena-McWhortor and Dr. Hana Ross, SEATCA: BANGKOK, Thailand, Jul 21 2020 (IPS) – A factoid is unreliable information repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact. One such factoid repeatedly echoed across the globe by the tobacco industry is that tobacco tax increases worsen cigarette smuggling. For governments facing challenges to …

Tobacco Industry Factoid on Illicit Trade Leading Governments Astray Read More »

On 3 July, SEATCA gathered public health experts, tobacco control advocates and government agencies online for #TheUnfilteredTruth Webinar Series: Protecting tobacco tax from industry sabotage to educate government agencies and advocates how the tobacco industry undermines tobacco tax policies especially during this COVID-19 pandemic.  We heard from several experts including World Health Organization (WHO) Tobacco Control Economics …

Protecting tobacco tax from industry sabotage webinar Read More »

July 2020 Katia De Pinho Campos, Mina Kashiwabara, Ashlee Teakle, Ramon De Guzman, Kate Lannan, and Susan Mercado, Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention: Abstract Tobacco use has detrimental effects in the Western Pacific Region. The World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) came into effect in 2005 to address the global …

Investing in Tobacco Control: Twelve Years of MPOWER Measures and Progress in the Western Pacific Region Read More »