John Maa and Jeffrey Wigand A long-awaited advance in global tobacco control to address the “Low Tar Lie” is currently playing out in the Netherlands. After a five-year legal process, the Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal heard final arguments in June 2023 in a lawsuit brought by the Dutch Youth Smoking Prevention Foundation. This […]
Latest articles
Uruguay: civil society challenges tobacco industry interference
Laura LlambÍ, Diego Rodriguez, Beatriz Goja, Adriana Rodriguez, Ana Lorenzo Over the past few decades, Uruguay has secured great achievements in tobacco control, followed in turn, by favourable health outcomes. After becoming the first indoor-smoke-free country in the Americas region in 2006, a comprehensive tobacco control law was passed in 2008. By this time, the Uruguayan government […]
Changing the Business Climate
Adriana Blanco Marquizo United Nations bodies already offer the tools to remove industry obstacles from the path of a liveable climate and improved public health. The global community must use them. For decades, the vehicle industry produced vehicle fuel with lead additives. The decision by carmakers and refiners to use lead helped vehicles achieve greater […]
Honouring Tobacco Control’s Reviewers of the Year for 2021 AND 2022
Ruth Malone Beginning in 2015, Tobacco Control’s senior editorial team has honoured individuals as Reviewers of the Year, awarding them a one-year electronic subscription to the journal and accolades that are well-deserved. As noted in this editorial introducing the awards, these individuals are a “generally invisible group whose unpaid and too-often unheralded work is critical […]
Tobacco Companies target customers with menthol alternatives to circumvent upcoming California sales ban
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 […]
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 […]