February 2022
Swiss voters approve near-total ban on tobacco advertising
Nearly 57 percent of voters and 16 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons approve the tightening of the country’s notoriously lax tobacco laws. The Swiss voted on Sunday to tighten their notoriously lax tobacco laws by banning virtually all advertising of the hazardous products, with nearly 57 percent of voters and 16 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons backing...
The Tobacco Giant That Won’t Stop Funding Anti-Smoking Programs for Kids
obacco giant Altria, which owns the maker of Marlboro cigarettes and a stake in vaping company Juul Labs, has for years quietly funded substance-use-prevention training for middle and high school students, despite ample research suggesting that industry-sponsored school programs do not discourage teenagers from smoking—and may in fact do the opposite. Altria has for more than...
Africa – Imperial Tobacco’s “unloved asset to a platform for future growth”
Tobacco giant, Imperial Brands, at its annual shareholders meeting recently in the UK, announced its profits and plans for the next five years - these plans depict a bleak future for Africa. The tobacco multinational plans to turn Africa “from an unloved asset to a platform for future growth.” According to Imperial Brands, tobacco sales...
Synthetic nicotine: Unregulated and increasingly popular
To users, these vapes are identical. But because of an obscure loophole, they skirt the FDA’s regulatory umbrella. While top tobacco regulators dawdle over the fate of the e-cigarette industry, another class of vape is quietly restocking the market with unregulated, flavored products — and it’s drawing in a growing number of kids. To users, these...
Health Ministry urged to operationalise Tobacco Control Fund
The Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance (KETCA) is urging the Ministry of Health to operationalise the Tobacco Control Fund and add two new non-nicotine tobacco cessation medicines to Kenya’s 2022 essential medicines list. KETCA is also calling upon the government to hasten measures to control the use of harmful tobacco substances in Kenya, including the nicotine...
Specific tax on tobacco needed to improve public health – Study
A study by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), has said if excise tax was levied as a specific tax on tobacco, it would significantly improve the fiscal and public health effects in Ghana. However, it said, since the specific tax would be eroded by inflation, the Ministry of Finance should regularly...
Secondhand smoke in homes: A bigger problem than Singapore authorities think?
How far can cigarette smoke travel between flats? How much secondhand smoke is enough to start affecting your health? Is regulation the only option? The programme Talking Point looks for some answers. SINGAPORE: He has approached his town council and the Housing and Development Board (HDB). He also tried speaking to his neighbour “on many...
UNEP, Secretariat of the WHO FCTC partner to combat microplastics in cigarettes
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today launched a partnership with the Secretariat of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) to raise awareness and drive action on the extensive environmental and human health impacts of microplastics in cigarette filters. Through an extensive social media campaign, the partnership will aim to...
