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 […]
Category: Framework Convention on 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 […]
The urgent need for a human rights approach to improving smoking cessation treatment
Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy with Carolyn Dresler, Chris Bostic, Cheryl Healton, Laurent Huber, Harry Lando, and Martin Raw When thinking of human rights crises, people often think of violence – child soldiers, genital mutilation, concentration camps – rather than health epidemics. However, tobacco corporations are guilty of one of the greatest human rights abuses in history. Tobacco […]
Tobacco industry lobbies Bangladesh Government Agency to champion its business during COVID-19 pandemic
ABM Zubair Bangladesh has seen an unprecedented level of tobacco industry interference during the COVID-19 crisis. The tobacco industry in Bangladesh, dominated by two transnational tobacco companies, British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI), has exploited the ongoing pandemic to protect its cigarette business. While publicly building their image by making donations […]
Tobacco Control and Human Rights Before, During, and After COVID-19
Neil Sircar and Stella Aguinaga Bialous The global COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant disruption and trauma, and with it a rise in threats to human rights. UN Secretary-General Guterres remarked on April 23rd, 2020 that the pandemic was “fast becoming a human rights crisis” as nations grapple with detecting, preventing, and responding to overlapping […]
Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control & the COVID19 Pandemic
Stella Aguinaga Bialous & Becky Freeman Article 5.3 implementation guidelines of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) remind all parties to protect public health against the “commercial or other vested interests” of the tobacco industry. The guidelines recognize a “fundamental and irreconcilable” conflict of interest between tobacco industry ambitions and public health policy […]
Foundation for a Smoke Free World is not complementary to public health efforts – it’s undermining them
Heather Lusardi, Anna Gilmore, Ulysses Dorotheo The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), established with almost US $1 billion from Philip Morris International, is essentially operating as a front group for Philip Morris International’s (PMI) interests. Unsurprisingly, therefore, overtures to the public health community have been repeatedly, firmly and publicly rejected: WHO has made clear […]
The Philippines: Pioneering the Tobacco Endgame
Kathleen de Leon and Jacky T Sarita In global tobacco control, the Philippines is known as a particularly challenging environment due to long-standing tobacco industry influence. Over 15 years ago, it was termed the “strongest tobacco lobby in Asia”. The 2019 Southeast Asia Tobacco Industry Interference Index ranked the Philippines fifth among nine nations […]