Karen Evans-Reeves and John Baker As many will be aware from an earlier blog post, in March 2019, the market research organisation Euromonitor International, which describes itself as “the world’s leading independent provider of strategic market research”, accepted funding from Phillip Morris International initiatives, namely the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World and PMI IMPACT. In the past […]
Category: Tobacco Industry
“BAT in Blood”: British American Tobacco in Belarus
Last month, the US, UK and Canada announced sanctions targeting individuals and entities understood to be financing Belarussian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. This legislation follows similar action from the EU in June. These sanctions build on reports of police violence against protesters, mass arrests and even torture, with a U.N. official comparing Belarus to a ‘totalitarian’ […]
Smuggling Networks Linked to China Tobacco Revealed in OCCRP Investigative Series
Charles Turner The China National Tobacco Corporation has grown into the world’s biggest cigarette company by feeding the addiction of China’s approximately 300 million smokers. But now the state-owned giant is ready to take over the rest of the globe. Since jumping on China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” in 2015, CNTC brands have increasingly been […]
World: Advocates end Philip Morris International’s involvement in international events
Mary Assunta On May 20-21, heads of state and dignitaries from Southeast and South Asia gathered virtually to discuss the post-COVID “Future of Asia” at Nikkei’s flagship annual event. The conference was tobacco industry-free, thanks to a concerted effort by health and tobacco control advocates. Philip Morris Japan (PMJ) had been named as a main sponsor, with […]
As we reflect on COVID-19’s toll, the US must also act on the tobacco pandemic
John Maa and Jeff Wigand On February 22, 2021, the United States paused to honor the tragic milestone of 500,000 COVID-19 deaths, just one year and 16 days after the first fatality was recorded in California. The peak of 5,427 new US deaths reported on Feb 12, 2021 exceeded the 4,414 Allied deaths at Normandy […]
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 […]
Perils of the tipping point of Big Tobacco 2.0 taking over the legal cannabis industry
Andy SL Tan and Shaleen Title Big Tobacco is increasingly poised to become a significant player in the new legal cannabis industry and potentially crowd out smaller businesses. In January 2016, Philip Morris International invested $20 million in Israel-based Syqe Medical that developed a medical cannabis inhaler. In June 2018, Britain’s Imperial Brands invested through […]
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 […]
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 […]