Jodie Briggs and Andrew B. Seidenberg In 2020, California lawmakers achieved a public health victory in passing a law banning the sale of flavoured tobacco products. The law came in response to the toll that menthol plays in smoking initiation, youth use, and the disproportionate impact on Black communities, as well as the high rates […]
Category: Uncategorized
Is tobacco promotion through music making a comeback?
Alexander Barker We know that there are tobacco references in music and in the image portrayed by musicians, often associated with themes of rebellion. Smoking content in the media is a causal factor in experimentation and uptake by young people, likely due to social learning. Furthermore, the tobacco industry has previously attempted to target ‘hip’ […]
Bhutan reverses sales ban on tobacco
Kashish Aneja and Sanjana Gopal In 2010, Bhutan was lauded globally for being the first country to ban tobacco sales and smoking in public places. The ban lasted for over a decade until the circumstances posed by the COVID-19 pandemic compelled policy makers to change course, legalising the sale of tobacco within the country. In […]
Goodbye, PMI. Philip Morris removed from Canadian COVID-19 vaccine collaboration
Les Hagen and Daniel Dorado Tobacco giant Philip Morris (PMI) was recently removed from Canada’s Medicago Inc vaccine collaboration following a determined two-year global advocacy campaign led by ASH Canada and Corporate Accountability (CAI). This development represents an enormous win for global public health, ensuring that the control of one pandemic doesn’t compromise that of […]
Exposing the tobacco industry’s allies: an investigation by STOP
Rachel Maynard and Raouf Alebshehy A recent investigation carried out by global tobacco industry watchdog, STOP, has resulted in over 20 additional organisations being added to its Tobacco Industry Allies database. The database is an important resource to help researchers, advocates and policymakers identify third-party organisations that may be acting to promote the industry’s business […]
Government picking up the reigns on tobacco control in Australia
Michelle Scollo and Sarah Durkin Australia was one of the first countries in the world to introduce large-scale Quit smoking public education campaigns and to introduce tobacco package health warnings. It was one of the first countries to end the advertising of tobacco products in print media, in cinemas and outdoors. It was the first […]
Interference by Big Tobacco in South Asia warrants a closer look
Aishwarya Ashok, Upendra Bhojani, Shivam Kapoor and Pranay Lal South Asia experiences unprecedented levels of tobacco industry interference and the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the sheer vulnerability of the region. When Bangladesh was on the brink of a nationwide lockdown, two Transnational Tobacco Companies (TTCs) lobbied the government to continue cigarette production claiming them to be […]
Bangladesh: Bidi Industry Forces Workers to Demand Tax Reduction
ABM Zubair In Bangladesh, the bidi industry has been capitalising on the financial vulnerabilities of its workers to shield itself against any taxation or tobacco control measures. The Bidi industry has been criticized for abusing human rights by offering extremely low wages, the average in Bangladesh being US$ 0.77-1.57 per day according to a 2019 […]
The Tobacco Enforcement Reporting Movement (TERM): An Early Warning System to Track Digital Tobacco Marketing
Nandita Murukutla, Sharan Kuganesan, Namrata Kumar, Vaishakhi Mallik, and Rebecca Perl At the World Health Organization’s 150th Executive Board meeting, in January 2022, the Director-General remarked that 60 countries are on track to reduce tobacco use as per agreed targets. While this is undoubtedly good news, significant challenges persist advancing tobacco control measures among the […]
A Q&A with Tobacco Control’s Editor-in-Chief, Professor Ruth Malone
To mark the 30th anniversary of the first publication of Tobacco Control journal we asked current Editor-in-Chief (EiC), Professor Ruth Malone, about her background, what being EiC really means day-to-day, where she would like to take the journal during her remaining tenure and finally, for authors, some key advice if you are thinking of preparing […]