Tobacco treaty has helped cut smoking rates, but more work needed
21 March 2017: A customer smokes a cigarette in a cafe in Prague, Czech Republic, May 25, 2016. REUTERS/David W Cerny/File Photo A global tobacco treaty put in place in 2005 has helped reduce smoking
Smoking paradise Japan tries to kick the habit
10 March 2017: TOKYO – Japan is moving to pass its strictest-ever smoking laws, but the country’s powerful tobacco lobby wants to stub out measures that were adopted years ago by other developed nations. The
Cancer-causing benzene found in e-cigarette vapors operated at high power
8 March 2017: Portland State University scientists have found that significant levels of cancer-causing benzene in e-cigarette vapors can form when the devices are operated at high power. The finding by a research team headed
Smoking banned at all New Taipei bus stops from Friday
3 March 2017: Taipei, March 3 (CNA) Smoking is banned at all 6,309 bus stops in New Taipei beginning Friday as part of the city’s efforts to create a smoke-free environment, Lee Shu-chuan (李四川), deputy
Just one $2000 fine issued since tough new plain packaging laws introduced
5 March 2017: Big tobacco has exploited a loophole in Australia’s world-first plain-packaging laws, which allowed smokers to ditch the now famous drab packaging. The Department of Health has received 1054 individual complaints involving 746
The shifting rationales for vaping
1 March 2017: A new study harnesses social media data to explore—in their own words—the reasons people use e-cigarettes and why they started vaping in the first place. Nearly half of people say they began
Shanghai expands anti-smoking rules
2 March 2017: SHANGHAI — Shanghai widened its ban on public smoking Wednesday as China’s biggest city steps up efforts to stub out the massive health threat despite conflicts of interest with the state-owned tobacco
Business groups, once tobacco-friendly, switch sides in fight
28 February 2017: The local chamber of commerce is usually a reliable ally in battles against regulation. But when it comes to smoking rules, many business groups have decided they would rather switch than fight.
Plain packets help smokers quit by killing brand identities
23 February 2017: By Alice Klein The proof is in the packaging. Making all cigarette packets look the same reduces the positive feelings smokers associate with specific brands and encourages quitting, Australian research shows. The
Australia found the Achilles’ heel of tobacco companies, and a record number of smokers quit
27 February 2017: Putting health warnings on cigarette packets reduces smoking (pdf). But what you take off a packet may be just as important as what you put on it. In 2012, Australia became the
The great mystery of e-cigarettes
15 February 2017: Do e-cigarettes help smokers kick their bad habits, or do they end up promoting tobacco use among young people? It’s one of the most intensely debated questions in drug abuse research, but
BAT loses bid to ban grisly photos from cigarette packs
18 February 2017: The Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the constitutionaity of a law regulating tobacco and requiring warning labels and repulsive pictures. The ruling was a setback to tobacco manufacturers who said the law
Philip Morris’s ‘smoke-free’ cigarette seems unlikely to ignite in Australia
16 February 2017: Cigarette giant Philip Morris, which professes it wants a smoke-free future, is facing major regulatory obstacles to its plan to introduce to Australia a new cigarette that eliminates smoke by heating tobacco rather than burning
Addressing the tobacco industry vector
22 February 2017: The tobacco industry’s escalating attacks on public health are replicated across the world, as is the harm caused by its products. In the address I quoted Dr. Margaret Chan, director- general of
Czech President, Chain Smoker, Approves Smoking Ban in Bars
14 February 2017: PRAGUE (AP) — President Milos Zeman has put to an end the Czech Republic’s status of one of the last havens for tobacco smokers in Europe. Zeman, a chain smoker, signed into
Extinguishing the flame of big tobacco
8 February 2017: In the 19th century, British opium profiteers were persistent in their efforts to penetrate untapped Chinese markets. Despite a legal prohibition on opium, the British bribed officials, planned intricate smuggling plots and
truth® Calls Out Tobacco Industry for Profiling Disguised as Target Marketing
12 February 2017: WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/— Tobacco is not an equal opportunity killer. For decades, African Americans, low-income neighborhoods, LGBTQ communities and those with mental illness have been disproportionately affected by tobacco use—a
The IMF Finally Speaks on Tobacco Taxes
6 February 2017: Last November, I got a birthday gift from the International Monetary Fund: my very own copy of “How to Design and Enforce Tobacco Excises?” I don’t blame you for missing it—it came
Corruption perceptions index 2016
Let’s get straight to the point: No country gets close to a perfect score in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2016. Over two-thirds of the 176 countries and territories in this year’s index fall below the
E-cigarette smoking linked to heart disease risk
1 February 2017: Electronic cigarettes may increase the risk of heart disease, researchers at UCLA report. The team found that two risk factors for heart disease were elevated in 16 e-cigarette users compared with 18
It’s time to focus on an endgame for tobacco regulation
1 February 2017: New comprehensive research shows smoking imposes a heavy economic burden throughout the world, gobbling up almost 6% of global health spend and nearly 2% of the world’s GDP. In 2012 this amounted
What Finland’s plan to be tobacco-free can teach the world
26 January 2017: (CNN)The Finnish government has set an ambitious goal for residents in a bid to benefit their health — and their bank balances. Officials plan to make the country tobacco-free by 2040, meaning
What a Tobacco Company’s Office Party Would Feel Like If Everyone There Were Totally Honest
23 January 2017: Tobacco is the No. 1 cause of death in the Netherlands, taking 20,000 people to the Big Sleep every year. Frustratingly, it’s also the most preventable one. But research also shows that
E-Cigarettes Not a Smoking Deterrent for Kids
23 January 2017: MONDAY, Jan. 23, 2017 (HealthDay News) — There’s no evidence that e-cigarettes are driving down teen smoking — and, in fact, they may be drawing in kids who otherwise would never have
Tobacco elimination: an economic and public health imperative
21 January 2017: Last week, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the US National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with WHO, released The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control—the 21st volume in a series of
E-cigarettes are getting non-smoking teens hooked on nicotine
23 January 2017: Electronic cigarettes are getting a generation of teenagers hooked on nicotine, a study has warned. Researchers claim that teenagers who would never normally smoke are now starting out with so-called vaping before
Russian Proposal Would Phase In Cigarette Ban, but Current Smokers Get a Pass
12 January 2017: Russia’s millennials may be the country’s last generation of cigarette smokers. If a proposal introduced by the Health Ministry is adopted, Russia will ban the sale of cigarettes to people born in
Seeing vape pen in use boosts desire to smoke among young adults
12 January 2017: Although they look less like cigarettes than first-generation e-cigarettes, a new study found that the newer generation e-cigarette vape pens (also known as vaporizers) stimulate the urge to smoke as powerfully as
NEW LAWSUIT AGAINST BIG TOBACCO WINS BACKING OF DUTCH DOCTORS ASSOCIATION
12 January 2017: A Dutch association of doctors NTvG is financially supporting a criminal case filed by some 1,300 smokers and ex smokers against the tobacco industry, the Volkskrant reports. The association, which has about
Poorer countries fail to act on smoking due to big tobacco threats, says WHO
10 January 2017: Industry lobbying means low- and middle-income countries fear raising cost of cigarettes which is most effective way to curb smoking High school students smoke cigarettes after class in Bogor, Indonesia. Photograph:
The man who studies the spread of ignorance
6 January 2016: How do people or companies with vested interests spread ignorance and obfuscate knowledge? Georgina Kenyon finds there is a term which defines this phenomenon. In 1979, a secret memo from the tobacco
Light up, pay up: Smoking to be banned at all bus stops in Taipei Jan. 1
10 December 2016: A full smoking ban on all bus stops will be implemented in Taipei City on Jan. 1 with a maximum fine of NT$10,000 for violators (File photo courtesy of Taipei City) A
Sneaky tobacco companies use mystery shoppers to exploit ciggie loophole
15 December 2016: TOBACCO companies are offering gift cards, flights and hotel stays to retailers to try and encourage them to push their brand onto customers. With the battle for Australia’s $2.6 billion tobacco industry
Australia’s plain cigarette packs get more support than expected
8 December 2016: (Reuters Health) – Young Australians say they’re less likely to try smoking and more likely to quit since the country’s mandatory plain packaging for all tobacco products was implemented, according to a
Surgeon general calls youth e-cigarette smoking ‘a major public health concern’
8 December 2016: The surgeon general on Thursday called the skyrocketing use of e-cigarettes among youth “a major public health concern,” saying that while more research needs to be done on its potential harms, policymakers should
Bloomberg Expands Effort to Curb Tobacco Use World-Wide
5 December 2016: Commits $360 million to help raise tobacco taxes and implement other tobacco control policies in the developing world By BETSY MCKAY Dec. 5, 2016 12:00 a.m. ET Former New York City mayor and
Global public health advocates open new fronts in war on tobacco
5 December 2016: Efforts to control tobacco as a public health threat have escalated as clinicians and public health advocates have coalesced to beat back threats from tobacco companies through public advocacy, public health, and
One of the world’s largest tobacco companies has launched an electric cigarette that might be just as bad for you as a normal one
30 November 2016: Marlboro-producer and tobacco giant Philip Morris International on Wednesday launched a non-burning cigarette alternative in the UK in a bid to phase out traditional cigarettes. The Iqos device looks similar to an
Philip Morris’s vision of cigarette-free future met with scepticism
30 November 2016: Campaigners and analysts question Marlboro maker’s claims that new heat-not-burn iQos could see cigarettes phased out. Claims by tobacco giant Philip Morris, the US company behind brands including Marlboro, that conventional cigarettes
Tobacco firms fail to stop UK introduction of plain packaging
30 November 2016: Court of appeal rejects companies’ latest attempt to block rules that will force them to remove distinctive branding from packs. The latest attempt by tobacco companies to prevent the introduction of mandatory
Smoking harms not just your physical health, but your mental health too
24 November 2016: A middle-aged cigarette smoker who has smoked for decades is two to three times more likely to die early than someone similar who has never smoked. Tobacco smoking is well known to
China to introduce national smoking ban in public places
23 November 2016: SHANGHAI – A national regulation banning smoking in public places is expected to be issued by the end of this year, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission. The regulation
Flavors influence appeal and use of most tobacco products, especially for youth
21 November 2016: Source:University of North Carolina Health Care System Summary:The impact of non-menthol tobacco flavors on consumers’ perceptions and tobacco use behaviors have been demonstrated in the results of a systematic review of 40
Reducing tobacco consumption, and giving growers an alternative crop
20 November 2016: India aims to reduce tobacco consumption by 30 per cent in the next three years, but it also needs to quickly promote the farming of alternate crops by tobacco growers, whose exports
Groups demand tobacco lobbyist stops claiming links
7 November 2016: Nestlé and World Bank request to be removed from website Nestlé and the World Bank are among a number of organisations to demand that a controversial lobby group for tobacco companies stops claiming links
Smoking ’causes hundreds of DNA changes’
3 November 2016: Smoking leaves an “archaeological record” of the hundreds of DNA mutations it causes, scientists have discovered. Having sequenced thousands of tumour genomes, they found a 20-a-day smoker would rack up an average
Exclusive – Tobacco treaty leaders propose barring delegates linked to state firms
3 November 2016: By Duff Wilson and Aditya Kalra | NEW YORK/NEW DELHI The leadership of a World Health Organization (WHO) treaty on tobacco control has proposed barring delegates with ties to state-owned tobacco firms
Uruguay: A giant leap to prevent tobacco-assisted suicide
25 October 2016: Tobacco is arguably one of the most significant threats to public health we have ever faced. Since the publication of the landmark U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Tobacco and Health in 1964,
Over 100 organisations call upon governments to protect WHO FCTC from tobacco industry interference
2 November 2016: With a week left for inter-governmental meeting of global tobacco treaty (formally called World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control or WHO FCTC), 115 civil society organisations from India and several
Exclusive: India’s tobacco industry, government face off ahead of WHO conference
27 October 2016: India’s $11 billion tobacco industry has urged the government to take a softer line on tobacco control efforts when it hosts a WHO conference in New Delhi next month, but officials say