Mary Assunta On May 20-21, heads of state and dignitaries from Southeast and South Asia gathered virtually to discuss the post-COVID “Future of Asia” at Nikkei’s flagship annual event. The conference was tobacco industry-free, thanks to a concerted effort by health and tobacco control advocates. Philip Morris Japan (PMJ) had been named as a main sponsor, with […]
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New Zealand Government proposes world-leading action plan to achieve Smokefree 2025 goal
By Richard Edwards and members of the ASPIRE 2025 Research Centre In April 2021 the New Zealand government published a discussion document with a draft action plan for Smokefree 2025. The goal itself is not new; it was first announced by the New Zealand government in 2011, following a recommendation from the Māori Affairs Select […]
Menthol: Tobacco Companies are exploiting loopholes in the UK’s characterising flavours ban
Sarah Dance and Karen Evans-Reeves A ban on characterising flavours in tobacco products (including menthol), as part of the European Union’s revised Tobacco Products Directive (or TPD2), was introduced in the UK in May 2020. Flavourings, particularly menthol, appeal to young people and are erroneously perceived as less harmful. Menthol cigarettes represent 10% of the […]
As we reflect on COVID-19’s toll, the US must also act on the tobacco pandemic
John Maa and Jeff Wigand On February 22, 2021, the United States paused to honor the tragic milestone of 500,000 COVID-19 deaths, just one year and 16 days after the first fatality was recorded in California. The peak of 5,427 new US deaths reported on Feb 12, 2021 exceeded the 4,414 Allied deaths at Normandy […]
Who should we trust on science diplomacy and COVID-19 recovery? Not Big Tobacco
Alice Fabbri, Louis Laurence, Mateusz Zatoński, Anna B Gilmore On April 20th the magazine Foreign Policy will hold a Virtual Dialogue on “Science Diplomacy”. The event will focus on “elevating the role of science in addressing global challenges” including recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the event’s aims is to “energize international cooperation on […]
Perils of the tipping point of Big Tobacco 2.0 taking over the legal cannabis industry
Andy SL Tan and Shaleen Title Big Tobacco is increasingly poised to become a significant player in the new legal cannabis industry and potentially crowd out smaller businesses. In January 2016, Philip Morris International invested $20 million in Israel-based Syqe Medical that developed a medical cannabis inhaler. In June 2018, Britain’s Imperial Brands invested through […]
Australia: Big Tobacco wins in defeat of T21 age bill
Kathryn Barnsley An innovative legislative reform in Tasmania, Australia has been defeated, after what appears to be tobacco industry interference via third parties, with support from vaping lobby groups. A 2018 bill to gradually phase in and raise the minimum legal sales age of e-cigarettes and tobacco to 21 years (T21) now law in […]
Tobacco Control Reviewers of the Year for 2020
Annually, the editors of Tobacco Control honor journal reviewers who have gone “above and beyond” in contributing their expertise toward ensuring the high quality of papers the journal publishes and enhancing the likelihood that even those papers we don’t publish will eventually be improved by their constructive critiques. The role of a good peer reviewer […]
Planet earth: another victim of the tobacco epidemic
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 […]
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 […]