Ross MacKenzie, Jennifer Fang, Julia Smith In July this year, China Tobacco International (CTI) Hong Kong, the international arm of the China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), launched into the stock market with an initial public offering (IPO). Outside of the financial media, the IPO attracted relatively little attention. However, the offering has implications far beyond […]
Latest articles
World: Gandhi’s legacy and a Tobacco-Free World
From Indian public health researchers Amit Yadav and Prashant Kumar Singh, a call to action for world leaders to take action at the UN General Assembly on the eve of Gandhi’s 150th birthday. “A correspondent who is interested in a variety of reforms asks what the nation pays for her tobacco bill. I find that […]
Canada: government releases consumer research on vaping and tobacco
Cynthia Callard, Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada The Canadian nicotine market was transformed virtually overnight after the government of Canada legalized the sale of vaping products in May 2018. Previously, Canadians were able to buy unregulated vaping devices and liquids online or in a modest number of illegally-operating shopfronts. Their choice of device, however, was […]
World: PMI-funded Foundation for a Smoke-Free World adding insult to injury
Jennifer Fang and Kelley Lee Despite 7 million deaths annually and counting, tobacco control worldwide continues to be seriously underfunded as a public health priority. This funding gap is especially acute in low-income countries and among certain historically disadvantaged populations. It is into this space that the Philip Morris International (PMI) financed Foundation for a […]
Responding to public health emergencies in an age of distrust: the current lung damage epidemic in the United States
Bill King, Coral Gartner and Ron Borland In April 2019, the first case appeared of what soon became an epidemic of highly unusual lung damage cases in the United States, with the patients first presenting for medical treatment with a form of lipoid pneumonia. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food […]
USA: Setting the Sun on Big Tobacco
Megan Arendt, ASH USA The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) held their National Conference on Tobacco or Health (NCTOH) in Minneapolis, MN from August 27 – 29, 2019. It was an exciting week for public health experts, advocates, researchers, and policymakers to network and learn from each other, in turn strengthening public health policies […]
Indonesia: the continued expansion of JUUL from the USA
Elizabeth Orlan, Rachel Grana, and Mark Parascandola In early July, we authored an industry watch article JUUL from the USA to Indonesia, published in Tobacco Control. It outlined moves by JUUL to formally enter the Indonesian market, where the products were already being sold both online and in vape shops. JUUL has now officially launched […]
China: Tobacco and Belt and Road Initiative – the new ‘Go Global’?
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 […]
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 […]