Ghana: Chairman of MATCOH calls for probe into the suspension of Tobacco Contract
Chairman of the Media Alliance in Tobacco Control and Health (MATCOH), Mr. Jeorge Wilson Kingson, has called for a probe into circumstances that led to the suspension of a contract between the government of Ghana and the United Kingdom (UK) security printing firm De La Rue. MATCOH is a group of media professionals and practitioners...
Raising Legal Age for Tobacco Cuts Teen Smoking
Raising the legal age for buying tobacco is effective in cutting teen smoking rates, a new study shows. Researchers compared teen and young adult smoking patterns before and three years after a 2016 California law that increased the legal age for tobacco sales from 18 to 21. The University of California, Davis team found that the...
USA: FDA Moves To Ban Cigarettes And Flavored Cigars
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it is moving to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, based on the evidence of the addictiveness and harm of the products. Tobacco companies have long targeted African Americans with advertising for menthol cigarettes. "Banning menthol — the last allowable flavor — in cigarettes and banning all flavors...
Growing pains: Zimbabwe’s female tobacco farmers struggle to compete
At the mercy of international markets and denied access to mainstream finance, the enterprising growers face a precarious existence Moreen Tanhara waits patiently for officials to inspect her tobacco. The 49-year-old has travelled nearly 100 miles (150km) overnight in an old lorry to reach Tobacco Sales Floor, an auction house in Harare. Tanhara sits quietly...
Malawi President Proposes Switch from Growing Tobacco
Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera said Tuesday the country should move away from growing tobacco, although it contributes to more than 60 percent of the country's earnings, because he sees no future in continuing to grow it. At the opening of tobacco selling season, Chakwera said Malawi should switch to other cash crops like cannabis, which...
New Zealand wants a young, smoke-free generation
A completely smoke-free future. This is the goal of the New Zealand government, which has announced a strict action plan: the gradual increase in the age at which smoking becomes legal (which could even become Banning the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2004), The marked reduction of the permissible level of nicotine...
Pakistan: Eliminating illicit tobacco trade is a step towards #EndTobacco and SDGs.
Ending tobacco use globally is not just a compelling public health imperative but is also key for social justice and corporate accountability. Let us not forget that each of the diseases caused by tobacco could have been prevented, and every tobacco-related death averted. Add to this that every health condition that increases the risk...
SEATCA says new WHO technical manual on tobacco taxation is vital for Covid-19 recovery response
Tobacco use costs the world over USD 1.4 trillion annually from health expenditures and lost productivity, says the World Health Organization (WHO), which, on 12 April 2021, released a new technical manual on tobacco tax policy and administration, an update of its 2010 publication. This latest report comes with a clear message: a robust...
Tobacco Stocks Drop as U.S. May Curb Nicotine in Cigarettes
Tobacco stocks plunged after a report said the U.S. government may only allow cigarettes with nicotine levels so low they’d no longer be addictive, and may also move to ban menthol. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to rule on menthol cigarettes by the end of the month under pressure from a deadline...
Jamaica: Tobacco bill ‘may have gone too far’
The constitutionality of tough restrictions in the Tobacco Control Act, 2020, which seeks to create a firewall between players in the tobacco industry and government workers, was questioned by one legislator who is of the view that the proposed law may be too intrusive. Clause Eight of the bill states that “a person who acts...
