Tobacco industry-commissioned report: large decline in EU consumption, almost no change in illegal trade

Konstantin Krasovsky Alcohol and Drug Information Center (ADIC-Ukraine), Kiev, Ukraine krasovskyk@gmail.com On April 17, 2013 Philip Morris International (PMI) issued a press release, based on an annual study conducted by KPMG. PMI claimed the most significant finding of the study is that: “For the sixth year in a row, the illegal trade of cigarettes in […]

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Timor-Leste: Asia’s newest country in Marlboro’s sights as company targets growth markets

Mary Assunta Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance At its annual shareholder meeting in New York on 8 May, Philip Morris International (PMI) celebrated yet another successful year selling tobacco in more than 180 markets. In 2012 the company shipped 927 billion cigarettes, and earned revenue of more than $31 billion. It applauded the fact its […]

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Japan Society for Tobacco Control warns against appointing ex tobacco executive to national broadcaster

Manabu Sakuta President of the Japan Society for Tobacco Control According to an article published on 13 May in Nihon Keizai Shinbun (Japan’s equivalent of the Wall Street Journal ) the former president of Japan Tobacco Company Mr Katsuhiko Honda is being considered for appointment as the next Chief Executive Officer of Japan Broadcasting Company […]

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UK: Government condemned for bowing to tobacco industry over plain packs

Author credit: Marita Hefler and Stan Shatenstein On 2 May, the Sun newspaper reported that the UK government had decided to abandon cigarette plain packaging legislation. An announcement about the legislation had been widely tipped to be included in the Queen’s speech at the start of the next parliamentary session on 8 May. No other […]

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“If it’s not cancer, I’ll give up smoking”

“I promise you, I will do everything I can to make sure you did not die in vain. I will tell the world your story, and the story of other people killed by tobacco. I will challenge the tobacco industry, the tobacco lobbyists, and the politicians who listen to them.” Replacement smokers are the lifeblood of the […]

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The marketing of e-cigarettes: a UK snapshot

Marisa de Andrade & Gerard Hastings Institute for Social Marketing; University of Stirling marisa.deandrade1@stir.ac.uk Editor’s note: The United Kingdom’s health regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), is currently considering how to regulate ecigarettes. Given that marketing of these e-cigarettes is of particular concern, Marisa de Andrade and Gerard Hastings were commissioned by […]

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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”. […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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