By Dr Adriana Blanco Marquizo, Head of the Secretariat of the WHO FCTC We live in an interconnected world, a fact that has never been as clear as it is now, during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are very few issues that can be considered simply ‘health problems’, as nearly every aspect of life is connected […]
Latest articles
Malaysia: did the tobacco industry collaborate with media to defeat tax increase?
Mohamad Haniki Nik Mohamed It has been five years since Malaysia last had a tobacco tax increase. The 2021 budget, announced in November 2020, was an opportunity to correct this shortcoming and use one of the most cost-effective measures available to governments to reduce smoking. Instead, tobacco taxes remained static for the sixth year. The […]
WHO Knowledge Hub on tobacco taxation and illicit trade launches e-library
Samantha Filby The WHO FCTC Secretariat’s Knowledge Hub on Tobacco Taxation and Illicit Trade, hosted by the Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP) at the University of Cape Town, recently launched an e-library on tobacco taxation and illicit trade in tobacco products. It can be accessed at https://untobaccocontrol.org/taxation/e-library/ The purpose of the […]
Monitoring and Exposing Tobacco Industry Interference in U.S. Public Policy
Nichelle Gray, Kathleen Hoke and Doug Matheny As the United States and the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to recognize underlying issues that still drastically impair public health. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of disease and early death in the U.S., accounting for 480,000 deaths annually, including 41,000 from secondhand […]
Spain: Civil Rights and Public Health Organizations Press Government for a Tobacco Endgame by 2030
Laurent Huber, Ubaldo Cuadrado García de Arboleya, Raquel Fernández Megina and Leonardo Visconti More than twenty civil rights associations and public health organizations in Spain have backed a Declaration asking the Spanish Government for a Tobacco Endgame by 2030. The goal is ambitious: to decrease smoking prevalence in Spain to under 5% by 2030. The […]
30th Anniversary collection – call for papers
Ruth Malone 2022 marks 30 years of publication of Tobacco Control. To celebrate this milestone, we are planning a special anniversary issue of the journal, to be published in conjunction with the next planned World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Dublin in 2022. The issue will aim to provide a snapshot of global tobacco control […]
Philip Morris and the Government of Canada collaborate on COVID-19 vaccine development
Joanna Cohen and Simon Chapman Does the control of one pandemic justify the promotion of another? The news of a new COVID-19 vaccine collaboration between Philip Morris International and the Government of Canada has set off alarm bells in the tobacco control community. The vaccine developer at the middle of the controversy—Quebec-based Medicago Inc.—is owned […]
GLOBAL TOBACCO INDUSTRY INTERFERENCE INDEX HIGHLIGHTS CSR AND LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
Mary Assunta Many governments found themselves between a rock and a hard place during the COVID-19 pandemic when offered donations of goods and funds by the tobacco industry. However, opening the door to the tobacco industry’s charity also paves the way to a relationship that the industry will exploit to further its business. A collaborative […]
Illicit Tobacco Trade not exacerbated by tobacco tax increases in low & middle income countries, research shows
Priscilla Tiigah and Erika Dayle Siu The health and economic consequences of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are well documented. The question of how best to control and prevent NCDs is urgent in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs), where the burden is disproportionately rising compared to high income countries. Tobacco, the only common risk factor for the four […]
Spain: COVID-19 prompts smoking regulation in streets and terraces
Esteve Fernández, Cristina Martínez Spain has been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. From the first diagnosed case on January 31 this year to August 13, there were 337,334 cases, 129,009 hospitalizations and 28,605 deaths. After a growing number of daily cases of coronavirus across the country in recent weeks, Spain is going to regulate […]