Rauchverbot-Volksbegehren: https://dontsmoke.at/ MedizinerInnen kontra Rauchen: Jährlich 6 Millionen Todesfälle durch Tabakkonsum, 14.000 in Österreich Österreich hat im März 2018 einen tristen Meilenstein erreicht, als seine Regierung die bescheidene (und längst überfällige) Gesetzgebung für rauchfreie Gaststätten annullierte. Das neue Gesetz sollte im Mai 2018 in Kraft treten. Unter den Ländern mit hohem Einkommen war Österreich bereits ein […]
Category: Smoke-free public spaces
Reports, interviews and photos from #WCTOH2018 Uniting the World for a Smoke Free Generation
The 17th World Conference on Tobacco or Health was held in Cape Town, South Africa from 7-9 March 2018. It was a landmark event in tobacco control; the first time the conference has been held on the African continent – where the tobacco industry is aggressively expanding new markets – and the first to have […]
Austria’s new government: a victory for the tobacco industry and public health disaster?
Manfred Neuberger In Austria the conservative Austrian People’s Party (Oesterreiche Volkpartei, OeVP) won the 2017 elections, and negotiated with the third-largest party, the right-wing nationalist Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei Oesterreichs, FPOe) to form a new government. In its election campaign, the FPOe had promised to attack the tobacco law, which had been […]
New Zealand to have world’s first smoke-free military by 2020
New Zealand has kicked off World No Tobacco Day by announcing a plan for its defence force to become the world’s first smoke-free military by 2020. Initiatives to achieve the goal include banning the sale of cigarettes on camps and bases and making NZ defence force housing smokefree. It will also evolve camps and bases into smokefree […]
Fashion and smoking: Celebrities “rebel” at the MET Gala
Fashion and the tobacco industry have a long and intertwined history. Dated images of fashion models smoking while looking impossibly glamorous seem clichéd and old fashioned. Now, smoking is more a symbol of addiction, death, and corporate manipulation – no longer is smoking shorthand for rebellion, coolness and aspiration. But, that didn’t stop celebrities attending […]
Southeast Asia: Tobacco Industry Interference Index
Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) Tobacco industry interference in public health policy making continues to be a significant problem in ASEAN countries. This is the main finding of the recent report, Tobacco Industry Interference Index: 2015 ASEAN Report on Implementation of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article 5.3, released last month by the […]
Urgent action to amend Austria’s tobacco control laws
Prof. Manfred Neuberger writes: Since 2007 Austria has received the poorest score on the Tobacco Control Scale. While smoking prevalence and tobacco consumption decreased on average in the European Union, an opposite trend has occurred in Austria. Child smoking has increased dramatically since the 1990s. Cigarettes are available around the clock in thousands of vending […]
Indonesia: court upholds tobacco tax to fund health
Abdillah Ahsan Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia Good news on tobacco control from Indonesia is rare. Recently, however there was a victory in the area of tobacco tax. On 1 January 2014, Law No. 28 of 2009 on regional taxes was introduced, which allows local provinces in Indonesia to charge a local tax to […]
Postcard from Myanmar: tea houses and tobacco promotion
Guest post by Peter Worland The ubiquitous Myanmar tea house. You can hear the buzz of Burmese conversation emanating from such meeting places day and night. Old people on their daily catch up with neighbours meet here. Young people hang out and compare their new mobile phones here. New mums show off their beautiful […]
Eurovegas and the challenge to Spain’s smoke-free law: neoliberalism vs public health
Aser García Rada, Madrid The Spanish law banning smoking in all public premises since January 2010 has become one of the greatest national public health achievements in decades. It modified a previous law from 2006 that banned smoking in enclosed working environments but allowed it in certain bars and restaurants. The tobacco lobby fought […]