Thailand: tobacco industry takes legal action to block public health measures

In a story familiar to Health Ministries who act in accordance with the requirements of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to protect the health of their citizens, the Thai Ministry of Health is facing legal action from the tobacco industry against a policy to increase the size of cigarette pack health warnings to 85%. Japan Tobacco filed […]

Read More…

Southeast Asia: New report on child labour in the tobacco industry

A new report has been released by The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) entitled Child labour in tobacco cultivation in the ASEAN Region. Launched in Jakarta, Indonesia on 12 June in commemoration of World Day Against Child Labour, the report is a response to the major problem of child labour in the cultivation of tobacco in […]

Read More…

Tobacco industry-commissioned report: large decline in EU consumption, almost no change in illegal trade

Konstantin Krasovsky Alcohol and Drug Information Center (ADIC-Ukraine), Kiev, Ukraine krasovskyk@gmail.com On April 17, 2013 Philip Morris International (PMI) issued a press release, based on an annual study conducted by KPMG. PMI claimed the most significant finding of the study is that: “For the sixth year in a row, the illegal trade of cigarettes in […]

Read More…

Tobacco harm reduction and e-cigarettes: setting a unified research agenda

  Marisa de Andrade & Gerard Hastings Institute for Social Marketing, University of Stirling marisa.deandrade1@stir.ac.uk Recent discussions about an endgame for tobacco have built on a sense that we in the tobacco control (TC) movement know where we are going. The consistent application of evidence based strategies, from adbans to tax increases, was, it seemed, […]

Read More…

Timor-Leste: Asia’s newest country in Marlboro’s sights as company targets growth markets

Mary Assunta Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance At its annual shareholder meeting in New York on 8 May, Philip Morris International (PMI) celebrated yet another successful year selling tobacco in more than 180 markets. In 2012 the company shipped 927 billion cigarettes, and earned revenue of more than $31 billion. It applauded the fact its […]

Read More…

#keeptheban: Welsh Government drops contested proposal to amend smokefree premises legislation

Rosanne Palmer Ash Wales/Ash Cymru Editors note: this is an update to a blog post published on 3 May about a proposed amendment to Wales’ smoke free legislation to allow cast members to smoke on film and television sets. The Welsh Government announced on 15 May that the proposals were being dropped. This move followed a […]

Read More…

New study: partial smoking bans in hotels fail to protect guests from tobacco smoke

Non-smokers should shun hotels operating partial smoking bans, advise authors Non-smoking rooms in hotels operating a partial smoking ban don’t protect their occupants from tobacco smoke, reveals new research published online in Tobacco Control. [Thirdhand smoke and exposure in California hotels: non-smoking rooms fail to protect non-smoking hotel guests from tobacco smoke exposure Online First […]

Read More…

UK: Government condemned for bowing to tobacco industry over plain packs

Author credit: Marita Hefler and Stan Shatenstein On 2 May, the Sun newspaper reported that the UK government had decided to abandon cigarette plain packaging legislation. An announcement about the legislation had been widely tipped to be included in the Queen’s speech at the start of the next parliamentary session on 8 May. No other […]

Read More…