Deborah Sy In the ongoing battle against plastic pollution to protect the marine environment, a decision at COP10 on the implementation of Article 18 (Protection of the Environment) serves as a beacon of hope. Every year, some 4.5 trillion littered plastic cigarette butts contribute to the consistent ranking for the top plastic items in debris […]
Category: Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
Global Plastics Treaty must align with Global Tobacco Control Treaty
Debby Sy and Laurent Huber In March 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) mandated the negotiations of a global plastics treaty which is expected to include Single Use Plastics (SUPs), under which cigarette butts have been categorized. The UNEA Resolution encourages broad multi-stakeholder involvement including the private sector. There is no indication that the […]
Japan Tobacco International sponsored event cancelled at Scottish Nationalist Party conference but Coca Cola obesity event goes ahead
Sheila Duffy The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) is a political party which was just one seat short of a majority in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. The SNP currently runs the administration of the Scottish Government in a cooperation agreement with the Scottish Green Party. ASH Scotland became aware of a proposed fringe event organised […]
Will a new FIA President help Formula One Quit Tobacco?
Phil Chamberlain As the season ends, recent trends suggest Formula One will be congratulating itself on record global audiences through 2021. Arguably, the sport’s wider impact is not as healthy. STOP published a report this year that revealed how Philip Morris International (PMI) and British American Tobacco (BAT) are using their sponsorship of the Ferrari […]
This product kills: lessons from tobacco control to help tackle the climate emergency
Sean Semple, Kate Hunt, Martine Stead. Two products that history is unlikely to reflect upon kindly are tobacco and petrol/diesel. The first kills two-thirds of those who consume it regularly and has led to more than 100 million deaths in the past century with many more deaths to occur in future, particularly in lower and […]
Philip Morris International’s partnerships with local authorities in Europe violate Article 5.3 of the FCTC
Nefely Taravira, Louis Laurence and Filippos T Filippidis Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) explicitly recommends that parties should not form partnerships with or participate in activities of the tobacco industry. Although more than 180 signatories have ratified the FCTC, including the European Union (EU) and all […]
WHO FCTC Article 5.3 – A vaccine for curbing the tobacco pandemic
Mary Assunta & Jennie Lyn Reyes A powerful tool to protect governments from tobacco industry interference remains underutilised, while the tobacco industry stepped up its meddling in health policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the main finding of the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index (Index) which reviews government efforts in 80 countries to implement […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]