Jennifer Fang China National Tobacco Company (CNTC) is the world’s largest manufacturer of cigarettes, accounting for a third of the total global output. The powerful state-owned tobacco monopoly, previously focused on the vast domestic market with 350 million smokers, has been nurturing growing global ambitions since the early 2000s. Faced by an increasingly saturated domestic […]
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The “Messi” problem of bidi branding in India
Kevin Welding The Tobacco Pack Surveillance System (TPackSS) has been systematically collecting and digitally archiving tobacco packs in low and middle-income countries since 2013. In 2016, we added the “Share-a-Pack” feature to the website to allow the uploading of packaging images by anyone around the world. In July 2018, a bidi (or biri) pack with […]
Beverly Hills, CA is the New Norm for Tobacco Sales, Not the Outlier
Megan Arendt, ASH Late on June 4th, 2019, the Beverly Hills City Council unanimously voted to ban the sale of tobacco products in their city. The lifesaving sales ban will apply to gas stations, convenience stores, pharmacies, and grocery stores starting January 1, 2021. Exemptions are in place for hotel concierge services and a few […]
Euromonitor International now accepts tobacco industry funding: a win for PMI at the expense of research on the tobacco industry
Allen W A Gallagher and Anna B Gilmore On the 18th and 19th March 2019, respectively, the market research organisation Euromonitor International, which describes itself as “the world’s leading independent provider of strategic market research”, became the recipient of funding from not one, but two initiatives solely-funded by Philip Morris International (PMI)- the Foundation […]
Chevrons, barcodes and arrows: PMI’s continued subliminal promotion of combustible products
John Baker and Pascal Diethelm Philip Morris International (PMI) has both actively and subliminally advertised its Marlboro brand in F1 since the 1970’s. Several host countries gradually implemented advertising bans, however at many of these venues, Marlboro-backed teams and drivers raced with chevrons, and chevron-themed track signage was also visible. At other venues, teams used a […]
The 2020 Tokyo Olympic & Paralympic Games: time for Japan to showcase smokefree hospitality
Authors: Shuhei Nomura and Haruka Sakamoto with Yusuke Tsugawa, Naoko Iwanaga, Seiichiro Kuchiki, Ichiro Kawachi, Kenji Shibuya Despite its outstanding health record in other areas, Japan is a global laggard in tobacco control, and does not meet standards set by the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), particularly for smoke-free public spaces. The […]
Netherlands: National Prevention Accord to improve health and reduce smoking
Dirk Jan A van Mourik and Marc C Willemsen The Netherlands has been criticised for its slow implementation of FCTC measures, with even a short period of reversal of tobacco control progress between 2010 and 2012. More recently, however, the government has taken a much more positive stance towards tobacco control. One year ago, a four-party […]
Austrian citizens: now is the time to support smoke free areas
Austrian citizens have a chance this week to show their support for their right to smoke free public spaces with a referendum on laws to protect non-smokers from tobacco smoke exposure. Voting is open until 8 October. Voting and information about the process can be found here: https://dontsmoke.at/. Austria has long been known as the ashtray […]
Taking the E-asy path: E-cigarettes not the only option to address tobacco harms
May C.I. van Schalkwyk Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London. m.van-schalkwyk@imperial.ac.uk There has, and continues to be, much debate about the stance taken by some organisations in the United Kingdom (UK) on the role of e-cigarettes in the battle to avert the unparalleled harm caused by the consumption of tobacco products. […]
How should governments deal with multinational consulting firms that work for the tobacco industry?
George Thomson, Louise Delany Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand george.thomson@otago.ac.nz The New Zealand Ministry of Health is currently using a consulting firm EY (formerly Ernst & Young) to research the impacts of tobacco taxation, despite EY’s work locally and internationally for tobacco companies. This decision may breach the Framework […]