Kathleen de Leon and Jacky T Sarita In global tobacco control, the Philippines is known as a particularly challenging environment due to long-standing tobacco industry influence. Over 15 years ago, it was termed the “strongest tobacco lobby in Asia”. The 2019 Southeast Asia Tobacco Industry Interference Index ranked the Philippines fifth among nine nations […]
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Pakistan: time for stronger enforcement on tobacco control
Musaddique Hussain, Abdul Majeed, Imran Imran, Muhammad Fawad Rasool, Ikhlaq Hussain, Qasim Barkat, Ximei Wu Tobacco use continues to grow in Pakistan due to lack of awareness about its dangers, low prices, aggressive tobacco industry marketing efforts and steady population growth. According to Dr. Abid Saeed Nima, WHO’s acting chief in Pakistan, new estimates show […]
World: International Labour Organization (ILO) ends tobacco industry funding
Alice Grainger Gasser, corresponding author. Contributing authors: Leonce Dieudonné Sessou, Fastone Goma, Lutgard Kokulinda Kagaruki, Marty Otanez, Hellen Neima At the end of October, the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) endorsed its new integrated strategy for the tobacco sector. The decision ends ILO’s involvement in over a decade of tobacco industry corporate […]
World: PMI in global motorsport smoke-free PR spin
John Baker Mission Winnow (MW) is a PMI campaign claiming to focus on “…innovation and technology to expedite change” through sponsorship of the Ferrari Formula One (F1) team, the Pramac MotoE team and the Ducati MotoGP team. Ducati launched its 2019 bikes at PMI’s Cube building, with PMI’s Miroslaw Zielinski and the MW logo designer, […]
Tobacco is deadly. Calling it ‘popular’ may send the wrong message
Stephanie R. Land and Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou National Cancer Institute, USA Tobacco control efforts are regularly complicated by the entry of new tobacco products into the marketplace. New products are often not well understood by the public, including members of the target markets, healthcare professionals, and community leaders. For example, we may lack information […]
China: CTI’s quiet expansion strategy should be a concern for global public health
Ross MacKenzie, Jennifer Fang, Julia Smith In July this year, China Tobacco International (CTI) Hong Kong, the international arm of the China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), launched into the stock market with an initial public offering (IPO). Outside of the financial media, the IPO attracted relatively little attention. However, the offering has implications far beyond […]
World: Gandhi’s legacy and a Tobacco-Free World
From Indian public health researchers Amit Yadav and Prashant Kumar Singh, a call to action for world leaders to take action at the UN General Assembly on the eve of Gandhi’s 150th birthday. “A correspondent who is interested in a variety of reforms asks what the nation pays for her tobacco bill. I find that […]
Canada: government releases consumer research on vaping and tobacco
Cynthia Callard, Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada The Canadian nicotine market was transformed virtually overnight after the government of Canada legalized the sale of vaping products in May 2018. Previously, Canadians were able to buy unregulated vaping devices and liquids online or in a modest number of illegally-operating shopfronts. Their choice of device, however, was […]
World: PMI-funded Foundation for a Smoke-Free World adding insult to injury
Jennifer Fang and Kelley Lee Despite 7 million deaths annually and counting, tobacco control worldwide continues to be seriously underfunded as a public health priority. This funding gap is especially acute in low-income countries and among certain historically disadvantaged populations. It is into this space that the Philip Morris International (PMI) financed Foundation for a […]
Responding to public health emergencies in an age of distrust: the current lung damage epidemic in the United States
Bill King, Coral Gartner and Ron Borland In April 2019, the first case appeared of what soon became an epidemic of highly unusual lung damage cases in the United States, with the patients first presenting for medical treatment with a form of lipoid pneumonia. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food […]