Blockbuster Special Issue: Evaluation of the Australian tobacco plain packaging policy

The latest supplement from Tobacco Control is a must read. All papers mentioned below are available open access. Features audio and news grabs are also available from the Cancer Council Victoria. Key findings of the evaluation include: • Plain packaging has delivered on its aim to reduce appeal of packs, particularly with adolescents and young […]

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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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Academics and The Australian go up in smoke

By Alan Austin This post originally appeared on Independent Australia. We post it here under Creative Commons license. Prominent Australian professors have been caught out making false statements in the tobacco wars started by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. SEVERAL ACADEMICS used by the Murdoch-owned newspaper The Australian have been seriously singed in the last week. […]

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Debunking the tobacco industry take on Australia’s plain packaging laws

Not having succeeded in preventing Australian plain packaging laws from being enacted, the tobacco industry has now turned its efforts to convincing other nations to not follow Australia’s lead. Last week it was reported that smoking had actually increased under the plain packaging laws – a claim that has been expertly taken down by ABC […]

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Standardised packaging – UK moves closer

The UK is one step closer to introducing standardized packaging for tobacco products. In an address to the House of Commons, Jane Ellison MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, called for swift action in light of the recent report confirming the likely positive impact standardized packaging would have on the health of children. […]

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Will the UK government go ahead with standardised tobacco packaging or not?

   Deborah Arnott Chief Executive, ASH UK It seems like a straightforward question, but as is often the case there isn’t a simple answer. The UK parliament has passed primary legislation which allows it to introduce standardised packaging by regulation, but the government hasn’t yet made a decision to go ahead. This primary legislation is […]

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Waiting out the legal challenges to plain packaging – playing into the tobacco industry’s hands?

  Editor’s note: This article was first published by the McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer (Australia). It is republished here with permission. The original article can be accessed here. The McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer is a joint initiative of Cancer Council Victoria and the Union for International Cancer Control. Its mission is to […]

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While the UK calls for more evidence, new Australian study shows cigarette plain packaging works

Plain cigarette packaging works: study By Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation and Alexia Attwood, The Conversation This article was originally published at The Conversation. Plain packaging on tobacco products is associated with lower smoking appeal, greater support for the policy and a higher urgency to quit among adult smokers, a new study has found. Since last […]

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