“The aim is to inhibit incorporation of ILO into WHO Anti-Smoking Program” So states a Philip Morris memo from December 1988, available through the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents (see page 8). Nearly 30 years on, the tobacco industry appears to be doing very well at nurturing its alliance with the International Labour Organization […]
Category: Tobacco Industry
Tobacco Carve-Out in TPP
While good news for tobacco control, it is important to note that other important health regulations are not likely to be given similar treatment. The necessity of a carve out for tobacco control shows that health laws are extremely vulnerable to corporate abuse of investor-state dispute settlement provisions. from Action on Smoking and Health Tobacco […]
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 […]
World: US Chamber of Commerce shills for Big Tobacco
In 2009, when tobacco plain packaging legislation was first being considered in Australia, the president of the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington made a submission to the country’s preventative health taskforce, which was appointed by the Australian Government to provide recommendations about national tobacco control measures. At the time, the move by the US […]
Should a hunger charity accept support from a tobacco company?
article by Simon Chapman, University of Sydney I recently noticed a tweet from @CareersatBAT about how British American Tobacco South Africa had packed 200,000 meals of donated food for the Million Meal Challenge being run by Stop Hunger Now Southern Africa. BAT South Africa is stamping out hunger by packing 200k meals as part of […]
Jamaica: United Way charity under pressure over tobacco industry links
Tobacco industry corporate philanthropy and social responsibility has been under the international spotlight recently with the revelation that the American Red Cross continues to accept tobacco industry donations, despite concerns of the International Red Cross that US Red Cross risks damaging the global reputation of the network. Accepting tobacco industry donations is particularly problematic for charitable […]
Canada: Smokers awarded $15 billion in damages as tobacco companies ordered to pay
Quebec, Canada. Three tobacco companies have been ordered to pay $15 billion in damages after losing a historic court case. In making his judgement, THE HONORABLE BRIAN RIORDAN, J.S.C, wrote: “these companies colluded among themselves in order to impede the public from learning of health related information about smoking, a collusion that continued for many decades […]
Reuters reports U.S. to roll back ‘lost pleasure’ approach on health rules
(Reuters) – The U.S. government is preparing to roll back a widely criticized approach to public health, in which the “lost pleasure” people might suffer if they quit smoking or chose to eat healthier foods was used to reduce the projected benefits of new regulations, government officials told Reuters. Kenneth Warner, a University of Michigan […]
Blockbuster Special Issue: Evaluation of the Australian tobacco plain packaging policy
The latest supplement from Tobacco Control is a must read. All papers mentioned below are available open access. Features audio and news grabs are also available from the Cancer Council Victoria. Key findings of the evaluation include: • Plain packaging has delivered on its aim to reduce appeal of packs, particularly with adolescents and young […]
The European Tobacco Products Directive and the Tobacco Industry
Listen to this BMJ talk medicine TC podcast discussion with Silvy Peeters, University of Bath, about her paper: The Revision of the 2014 European Tobacco Products Directive: An Analysis of the Tobacco Industry’s Attempts to ‘break the health silo’ The full paper is also freely available to all as an open access publication. https://soundcloud.com/bmjpodcasts/the-2014-european-tobacco-products-directive-and-the-industrys-attempts-to-break-the-health-silo?in=bmjpodcasts/sets/tc-podcast […]