New WHO report sheds light on the dark impact of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products
Novel and emerging tobacco products are the subject of a new WHO report that looks at a range of issues, from the harm caused by toxic ingredients and nicotine exposure to how, with hardly any regulation, new nicotine and tobacco products are aggressively marketed to potential users, including children and adolescents. The WHO study group...
After buying health company Vectura, tobacco giant Philip Morris will profit from treating the illnesses its products create
Cigarettes are the only legal consumer product that kill up to half of their users when consumed exactly as the manufacturer intended. The diseases they cause cost Australia’s health system A$136.9 billion a year. Philip Morris International (PMI) is one of the global leaders in the cigarette supply chain. But with steady declines in cigarette sales over the past 20 years, tobacco companies...
CISLAC advocates increased taxation on tobacco
A civil society organization, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has called on the federal government to increase tax on tobacco to reduce the health hazards and the corresponding deaths associated with cigarettes smoking. The Programme Manager of CISLAC, Mr. Okeke Anya who made the call in Umuahia, Abia State, during a one-day training for media...
Illicit cigarettes a window for organised crime into Uganda — BAT
BAT Uganda last month released its half-year results and area director BAT East Africa market, Crispin Achola, was in town to appraise the business. Senior content producer Paul Busharizi met up with him to talk about the business. Below are excerpts from the interview. Q: BAT has remained profitable through the pandemic, what do you...
There Are No Holds Barred In Big Tobacco’s Fight For Africa
Several shocking new reports, released by tobacco industry watchdog STOP and covering whistleblower accounts and leaked industry documents, have laid out the latest damning evidence of the tobacco industry’s relentless campaign of dirty dealings in Africa. Tobacco giant British American Tobacco (BAT) apparently ran a mass surveillance operation to spy on its rivals, as well as doling out...
Smokers up to 80% more likely to be admitted to hospital with Covid, study says
Data also finds smokers more likely to die from disease compared with those who have never smoked. Smokers are 60%-80% more likely to be admitted to hospital with Covid-19 and also more likely to die from the disease, data suggests. A study, which pooled observational and genetic data on smoking and Covid-19 to strengthen the evidence base,...
Profit At All Cost: The Sins Of The Tobacco Industry In Africa
“As countries step up efforts to strengthen their tobacco control measures, the tobacco industry is also intensifying its interference.” – Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2020. Sandisiwe Kela started smoking when she was 15, and by age 18, she smoked every day. As a curious kid, she could only fight the urge to try out...
Tobacco industry’s interference unstoppable as officials sleep on the job, a new report claims
The government is not doing enough to stop the tobacco industry interfering with policy, the 2021 Tobacco Industry Interference Index Report for SA has claimed. The report states that several government departments have partnered unchecked with the tobacco industry. The index, which is an annual review of how governments protect public health policies from tobacco industry...
BAT accused of undue influence to undermine tobacco control efforts
Summary Watchdog says BAT gave cash and cars to dozens of politicians, civil servants, journalists as well as people working at competitor companies to help influence and secure health policies that favour their business activities in key African countries. The whistleblower documents connected to BAT’s questionable dealings in East and Central Africa revealed evidence...
Hike tobacco excise tax – WHO
The government should consider increasing excise taxes on tobacco products to at least 75 percent of the average retail price to generate additional revenue for COVID-19 measures. Jeremias Paul Jr., a former undersecretary at the Department of Finance who now leads the World Health Organization (WHO)’s fiscal policy unit, said raising tobacco taxes would also...
