Both Sides of the Argument? JTI-MacDonald’s Anti-Plain Packaging Spin in Canada

  Julia Smith Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University JTI-MacDonald recently launched a multimedia campaign, Both Sides of the Argument, to sway public opinion against proposed plain packaging legislation in Canada. The campaign includes advertisements on popular radio stations, a website, posters in restaurant and bar bathrooms, advertisements in national newspapers and sponsored posts […]

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Big Tobacco’s dirty tricks in opposing plain packaging

Jenny Hatchard, University of Bath Tobacco companies want to sell you cigarettes – today, tomorrow and for the foreseeable future. Whether you’re at the tobacco counter or out with friends, glitzy cigarette packaging is a really important part of their sales pitch. Tobacco companies are aware of this. It’s why they are so opposed to […]

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Southeast Asia: Indonesia lags in curbing tobacco industry interference in policy making

Indonesia has once again emerged as a clear laggard in curbing tobacco industry interference in policy-making, according to a report ranking countries in the Southeast Asia region based on their level of implementation of Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). It is the third annual report on tobacco industry interference […]

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Finally, some truth in advertising from the tobacco industry

Stan Shatenstein Editor & Publisher, STAN Bulletin JTI-Macdonald is one of Canada’s big three tobacco firms. On Saturday 17 September, it ran an ad in several of Canada’s leading newspapers to argue against tobacco plain packaging legislation, which the Canadian government is currently considering. The ad is shown here:             […]

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Australia: progress on Tasmania’s tobacco free generation legislation

Kathryn Barnsley, University of Tasmania In 2012 and 2014 we reported that the Australian state of Tasmania was developing mechanisms for implementing the tobacco free generation (TFG). Tasmania has been paradoxically both a leader in legislative reform and a laggard in allocating resources to tobacco control. The Public Health Amendment (Tobaccofree Generation) Bill 2014 was […]

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Tobacco industry attacks WHO, but only incriminates itself

  Mary Assunta, Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance The tobacco industry lost the health argument 50 years ago, and in the past decade the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) developed the antidote to reverse the smoking epidemic. However the tobacco industry is stepping up direct attacks, particularly at WHO. Recently the industry took […]

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Big tobacco, child labour and the International Labour Organization

    “The aim is to inhibit incorporation of ILO into WHO Anti-Smoking Program” So states a Philip Morris memo from December 1988, available through the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents (see page 8). Nearly 30 years on, the tobacco industry appears to be doing very well at nurturing its alliance with the International Labour Organization […]

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Jamaica: United Way charity under pressure over tobacco industry links

Tobacco industry corporate philanthropy and social responsibility has been under the international spotlight recently with the revelation that the American Red Cross continues to accept tobacco industry donations, despite concerns of the International Red Cross that US Red Cross risks damaging the global reputation of the network. Accepting tobacco industry donations is particularly problematic for charitable […]

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The European Tobacco Products Directive and the Tobacco Industry

Listen to this BMJ talk medicine TC podcast discussion with Silvy Peeters, University of Bath, about her paper: The Revision of the 2014 European Tobacco Products Directive: An Analysis of the Tobacco Industry’s Attempts to ‘break the health silo’ The full paper is also freely available to all as an open access publication. https://soundcloud.com/bmjpodcasts/the-2014-european-tobacco-products-directive-and-the-industrys-attempts-to-break-the-health-silo?in=bmjpodcasts/sets/tc-podcast […]

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New Zealand: Dirty Politics raises conflict of interest concerns

Nathan Cowie, MPH. Cowie Research and Communications Disclosure: The author has previously undertaken paid employment for Centre for Tobacco Control Research, University of Auckland, and Action on Smoking and Health New Zealand. Investigative journalist Nicky Hager released a book in August 2014 on the seamier side of New Zealand politics. Dirty Politics: How attack politics […]

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