Akihiro Nishi, Tetsutaro Matayoshi, Takahiro Shimizu, Masako Kinkozan, Ichiro Kawachi At the end of January, a local newspaper company in Okinawa, Japan, Ryukyu Shimpo, published an opinion letter from a young reader, entitled “Cool Big Brother”. The author, a first-year elementary school girl (aged 6 or 7) related a warm-hearted story of an affectionate granddaughter […]
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SENEGAL: FIRST EVER NATIONAL TOBACCO CONTROL MASS MEDIA CAMPAIGN
Senegal has launched its first national mass media campaign about the harms of tobacco. Developed by the Ministry of Health and Social Action and World Lung Foundation, the campaign graphically depicts the tar that collects inside an average smoker’s lungs. It is hoped that the campaign will empower citizens with new knowledge, and also spur […]
Thailand leads the way with graphic health warnings
Thailand has long been at the forefront of tobacco control in Southeast Asia. On 8 March 2013, it took another step forward when the health minister Dr Pradith Sinthawanarong signed a regulation requiring 85% pictorial (graphic) health warnings on cigarette packs. Current pictorial warnings are 55%. The regulation is expected to take effect in approximately six […]
Good news despite the profit increase: analysis of BAT 2012 preliminary results
Pascal Diethelm OxyRomandie, Switzerland On 28 February 2013, British American Tobacco (BAT) published their preliminary results for 2012 and issued an accompanying news release in which the chairman of BAT expressed his satisfaction that BAT was able to deliver “strong profit growth in 2012, achieved through good pricing and an outstanding improvement in operating margin”. […]
US Food & Drug Administration appoints new director of Center for Tobacco Products
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that Mitchell Zeller, J.D., will assume the role of director of the Center for Tobacco Products on March 4, 2013. He will replace Dr Lawrence Deyton, who, as the first head of the Center for Tobacco Products, led the unprecedented charge by the FDA to implement […]
Imperial Tobacco awarded for “social and economic contribution to Polish society”
Seems this business award committee forgot about all of Imperial’s sick, dying and dead customers. I wonder if the local community contributions included addicting children to tobacco and breaking up families? This latest award provides yet further evidence of the tobacco industry using corporate social responsibility programs to polish is tarnished image and avoid government […]
New Zealand government to introduce tobacco plain packaging
The New Zealand government has announced it will introduce tobacco plain packaging. The announcement follows cabinet consideration of a public consultation process, held in late 2012, which received approximately 300 substantive submissions together with an additional 20,000 responses. The announcement puts New Zealand on track to become the second country in the world to introduce plain packaging. In […]
Nicotine replacement therapy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The original URL is here. Ross MacKenzie, Macquarie University A study published in the latest edition of the journal Tobacco Control confirms what we’ve long suspected about nicotine replacement therapy (NRT): smokers don’t need to resort to these pharmaceuticals to quit. Researchers at the Harvard School of […]
Same meeting, different day – FDA fails to make real change to tobacco product consultation
Following Ruth Malone’s earlier letter declining to be part of a “facilitated dialogue” with the tobacco industry sponsored by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the FDA revised the schedule and invited her again to a meeting with public health, academic and government tobacco control leaders on the first day and invited tobacco industry […]
A letter to the US FDA from Tobacco Control Editor, Ruth Malone
This post from editor Ruth Malone is a response to an invitation from the US Food and Drug Administration to participate as a speaker on a panel with the tobacco industry focused on the topic of industry-funded research. I was very surprised to be invited to present as part of an FDA-sponsored “Facilitated Dialogue” panel […]