“BAT in Blood”: British American Tobacco in Belarus

Last month, the US, UK and Canada announced sanctions targeting individuals and entities understood to be financing Belarussian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. This legislation follows similar action from the EU in June. These sanctions build on reports of police violence against protesters, mass arrests and even torture, with a U.N. official comparing Belarus to a ‘totalitarian’ […]

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Bangladesh Disqualifies Tobacco Companies from the President’s Award: A Welcome Step in the Right Direction

ABM Zubair  The Ministry of Industries (MoInd) of Bangladesh has issued a new policy that prevents tobacco manufacturers and associated companies from receiving the prestigious President’s Award for Industrial Development. The MoInd has recently been criticised by public health activists after it selected British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB), the largest manufacturer of tobacco products in […]

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Global Youth Tobacco Survey-4: A Glimmer of hope for India

Ravi Mehrotra and Kavita Yadav The fourth round of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS-4) was conducted in 2019 by the International Institute for Population Sciences under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India. These data provide a useful cross-sectional picture of youth tobacco use, and repeat surveys at regular intervals provide useful […]

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Smuggling Networks Linked to China Tobacco Revealed in OCCRP Investigative Series

Charles Turner The China National Tobacco Corporation has grown into the world’s biggest cigarette company by feeding the addiction of China’s approximately 300 million smokers. But now the state-owned giant is ready to take over the rest of the globe. Since jumping on China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” in 2015, CNTC brands have increasingly been […]

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Foundation for a Smoke Free World (funded by Philip Morris International) recruiting for its “Advisory Board for Smoking Cessation Research”

Tim McAfee & John Baker The Foundation for a Smoke Free World (FSFW), wholly funded by Philip Morris International (PMI), is attempting to recruit physicians from 12 countries to serve on its “Doctors and Health Professionals Global Poll 2021 National Advisory Board” (NAB). The NAB is characterized as an 8-month “study” beginning in June 2021 […]

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Smoke-free homes Innovation Network (SHINE) Charter: Priorities for future collaboration

Rachel O’Donnell, Sean Semple, Thilo Kroll and Kate Frazer, on behalf of the Smoke-free Homes Innovation Network (SHINE) Co-Investigators and Collaborators* The UK and Ireland are both widely regarded as world leaders in tobacco control measures, introducing comprehensive smoke-free public places legislation between 2004 and 2007. Substantial gains were made through these policy changes leading […]

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Where there’s smoke, there’s fire—the Dumpster Fire that is the journal “Tobacco Regulatory Science”

 Cristine Delnevo The passage of the 2009 United States Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA) spurred new research in tobacco regulatory science. Led by the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products Office of Science, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and FDA partnered to establish a comprehensive research agenda in […]

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Obituary: Simon McNabb

On 14 February 2021, tobacco control sadly lost one of its greatest advocates, Simon McNabb. Simon had a long and distinguished career in public health in the U.S. and will be greatly missed by all whose lives he touched. On 26 February, Simon’s family and friends were joined by his colleagues, including both the current […]

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