Laura LlambÍ, Diego Rodriguez, Beatriz Goja, Adriana Rodriguez, Ana Lorenzo Over the past few decades, Uruguay has secured great achievements in tobacco control, followed in turn, by favourable health outcomes. After becoming the first indoor-smoke-free country in the Americas region in 2006, a comprehensive tobacco control law was passed in 2008. By this time, the Uruguayan government […]
Category: Lobbying
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
How should governments deal with multinational consulting firms that work for the tobacco industry?
George Thomson, Louise Delany Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand george.thomson@otago.ac.nz The New Zealand Ministry of Health is currently using a consulting firm EY (formerly Ernst & Young) to research the impacts of tobacco taxation, despite EY’s work locally and internationally for tobacco companies. This decision may breach the Framework […]
#QuitBigTobacco: saying no to helping the tobacco industry’s dirty work
A campaign launched at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Cape Town, South Africa in March, is aimed at separating the tobacco industry from the vendors that make their dirty work possible, especially advertising agencies. Quit Big Tobacco is an initiative of Vital Strategies. It is calling on non-profit organizations with health in their […]
Both Sides of the Argument? JTI-MacDonald’s Anti-Plain Packaging Spin in Canada
Julia Smith Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University JTI-MacDonald recently launched a multimedia campaign, Both Sides of the Argument, to sway public opinion against proposed plain packaging legislation in Canada. The campaign includes advertisements on popular radio stations, a website, posters in restaurant and bar bathrooms, advertisements in national newspapers and sponsored posts […]
Big Tobacco’s dirty tricks in opposing plain packaging
Jenny Hatchard, University of Bath Tobacco companies want to sell you cigarettes – today, tomorrow and for the foreseeable future. Whether you’re at the tobacco counter or out with friends, glitzy cigarette packaging is a really important part of their sales pitch. Tobacco companies are aware of this. It’s why they are so opposed to […]
Southeast Asia: Indonesia lags in curbing tobacco industry interference in policy making
Indonesia has once again emerged as a clear laggard in curbing tobacco industry interference in policy-making, according to a report ranking countries in the Southeast Asia region based on their level of implementation of Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). It is the third annual report on tobacco industry interference […]