Angeliki Balantani & Kris Schürch In recent years, tobacco multinationals such as Philip Morris International (PMI) have rapidly expanded the global market for heated tobacco products (HTPs) and have intensified its promotion through paid media content that imitates independent journalism. We document the systematic use of this strategy in Switzerland, where HTP use has risen […]
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“#Anywhere, Anytime:” Smartphone Vape Cases
Eric Shanazari, Reid C. Whaley, Jennifer B. Unger & Artur Galimov. Smartphones and social media dominate the lives of young adults and e-cigarettes are increasingly also part of the picture. Emerging nicotine products enable users to engage in all three behaviors through a single device. E-cigarette companies have produced products that appeal to youth, including […]
Vale Prof William (Bill) Bellew – Public health policy leader and mentor who championed chronic disease prevention and tobacco control
Rana J Singh, Nevin Wilson, Anne Jones OAM and Pranay Lal. Professor William (Bill) Bellew – Born: London, UK, 1955. Died: 30 October 2025, Sydney, Australia, aged 70. Prof Dr William (Bill) Bellew, public health expert, policy strategist, ardent advocate and generous mentor, whose work shaped prevention and health promotion across continents, died in October […]
Do almost 200 billion unique identifiers on tobacco products facilitate investigations on illicit tobacco trade?
Luk Joossens, Senior Advisor, & Erin Roman, Director. Smoke Free Partnership, Brussels, Belgium. Thirty years ago, the main type of illicit trade was large-scale cigarette smuggling: containers of cigarettes were exported, legally and duty unpaid, to countries where they had no market, and where they then disappeared into the contraband market. More traceability was considered as […]
The Return of IQOS – A Visit to Austin, Texas
Victoria Churchill, East Carolina University, USA. Vanessa Mallory, Katherine C. Henderson, Claire A. Spears, Nurul Kodriati, Terry F. Pechacek, Scott R. Weaver, Lucy Popova, Georgia State University, USA. Heated tobacco products have been gaining attention around the world, often marketed as sleek alternatives to cigarettes. In March 2025, Philip Morris International (PMI) relaunched IQOS in the […]
Report Reveals that Tobacco Control Treaty Progress is Slipping
Les Hagen, Garima Bhatt, Rakesh Gupta, Sonu Goel, Opinder Preet Kaur Gill & Tara Singh Bam Twenty years after the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) came into force, the landmark treaty has reduced global tobacco use by an estimated 118 million people. However, according to a new civil society report produced […]
UK: Old habits die hard at the tobacco point-of-sale
Karen Evans-Reeves On June 1st 2025 a ban on the sale of single-use vapes came into force in the UK. The law, introduced by the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) aims to reduce the appeal of vaping to youth and stem the environmental damage of plastic and toxic waste. This law comes ahead […]
World Health Assembly 78, the WHO Pandemic Agreement, Financing for Development, Plastics Treaty and World No Tobacco Day: Reflections on tobacco control in health, development and justice
Deborah Sy Just days after the close of the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA78) in Geneva which highlighted the adoption of the pandemic treaty and lung health (Promoting and Prioritizing an integrated lung health approach), the global community marked World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) 2025. WNTD is an opportunity to reflect on how global health […]
Arkansas’s Pathway to Prosperity
Travis Douglass Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death worldwide, claiming millions of lives each year and placing a heavy burden on healthcare systems across the globe. In the United States, Medicaid acts as a critical safety net, offering free or low-cost healthcare coverage to low-income individuals, including seniors, children, and people with […]
Canada: Polluter pays – tobacco industry required to reimburse annual costs in government’s national tobacco control strategy
Rob Cunningham In Canada, national regulations have been adopted requiring tobacco companies to reimburse to the Canadian government the annual costs of tobacco-related expenses in the national tobacco control strategy. This tobacco manufacturer cost recovery fee, which implements the principle of polluter pays, will require companies to pay proportionately based on their market share. The […]