Japan: Prime Minister appoints tobacco executive to board of national broadcaster

  Earlier this year, tobacco control advocates from around the world supported an effort by their counterparts in Japan to block a proposed appointment of Mr Katsuhiko Honda, former President of Japan Tobacco, to serve on the Board of Governors of NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster (Japan’s equivalent of the BBC). Unfortunately, the temporary success there […]

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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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China’s investment in Africa: consequences for tobacco control?

    Sue Lawrence, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Recently, China’s economic growth recently may have fallen below its expected 6% rate, but it is more of dip than an indication of decline. Its pursuit of new markets is likely to continue undeterred (1) and this may have spillover effects for tobacco control. […]

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Stopping tobacco industry interference: using The Union Toolkit on FCTC Article 5.3

  Anne Jones, Technical Advisor The Union http://www.theunion.org/  (Formerly International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease) 12-14 August Jaipur, India: Stopping tobacco industry interference in health policies was high on the agenda for 24 policy makers and health leaders when they met to workshop a new toolkit on implementing Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article 5.3.  […]

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Reports from the Asia Pacific Association for the Control of Tobacco #APACT2013 Conference

  Editor’s note: The first edition of the ASEAN Tobacco Control Atlas was launched to coincide with the conference. Click here to read additional reporting by SEATCA and download the report. Dr Marewa Glover from the University of Auckland Centre for Tobacco Control Research writes here about how e or m health ideas are an area […]

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New WHO report: more tobacco advertising bans, smoke free spaces save millions of lives

  The World Health Organisation Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2013 was launched in Panama City on 10 July. Panama was selected as the venue for this high level, global event in recognition of the country’s leadership in tobacco control. The report shows the number of people worldwide covered by at least one life-saving […]

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Thailand: tobacco industry takes legal action to block public health measures

In a story familiar to Health Ministries who act in accordance with the requirements of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to protect the health of their citizens, the Thai Ministry of Health is facing legal action from the tobacco industry against a policy to increase the size of cigarette pack health warnings to 85%. Japan Tobacco filed […]

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Tobacco harm reduction and e-cigarettes: setting a unified research agenda

  Marisa de Andrade & Gerard Hastings Institute for Social Marketing, University of Stirling marisa.deandrade1@stir.ac.uk Recent discussions about an endgame for tobacco have built on a sense that we in the tobacco control (TC) movement know where we are going. The consistent application of evidence based strategies, from adbans to tax increases, was, it seemed, […]

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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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