India: steep decline in tobacco consumption in India reported in second Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS 2017)

Authors: Chaturvedi Pankaj , Sarin Ashima, Seth Sanjay, Gupta PC On 8th June 2017, results from the second Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS 2) of India were released. GATS is a global standard for systematically monitoring adult tobacco use and tracking key tobacco control indicators. India is the world’s largest democracy, and the second largest […]

Read More…

World No Tobacco Day 2017: how different countries are celebrating

This page brings together coverage from around the world of World No Tobacco Day. It will be updated regularly with tweets, photos and links to news coverage. The theme of World No Tobacco Day 2017 is Tobacco – a threat to development.  Tobacco threatens development on many fronts – health, poverty, women & children, and […]

Read More…

New Zealand to have world’s first smoke-free military by 2020

New Zealand has kicked off World No Tobacco Day by announcing a plan for its defence force to become the world’s first smoke-free military by 2020. Initiatives to achieve the goal include banning the sale of cigarettes on camps and bases and making NZ defence force housing smokefree. It will also evolve camps and bases into smokefree […]

Read More…

Fashion and smoking: Celebrities “rebel” at the MET Gala

Fashion and the tobacco industry have a long and intertwined history. Dated images of fashion models smoking while looking impossibly glamorous seem clichéd and old fashioned. Now, smoking is more a symbol of addiction, death, and corporate manipulation – no longer is smoking shorthand for rebellion, coolness and aspiration. But, that didn’t stop celebrities attending […]

Read More…

A Tobacco Endgame for Scotland?

A Tobacco Endgame for Scotland? Katherine Smith and Jasper Been An editorial in the November 2016 edition of Tobacco Control argued that talk about ‘tobacco endgames’ and policies that go ‘beyond ‘business as usual’ is becoming mainstream in a small number of countries, of which Scotland is one (others include New Zealand, Canada, Finland and […]

Read More…

France: breaking new ground in tobacco control

The start of 2017 has seen tobacco control in France boosted with a series of ground-breaking tobacco control measures, as detailed in a recent article by Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. After a phase-in period, cigarette plain packaging is fully in force as of 1 January 2017. As in other countries that have already introduced plain […]

Read More…

Is Philip Morris’ claim it wants to phase out conventional cigarettes credible?

In recent months, Philip Morris International has been claiming it wants to lead the push to a smoke free world and  wants to work with governments towards the phase out of conventional cigarettes. The claims have been met with scepticism, but do they stand up to scrutiny? At an investor day held in late September 2016, […]

Read More…

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 […]

Read More…

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 […]

Read More…