On World No Tobacco Day, WHO urges governments to stop subsidizing tobacco farming and support more sustainable crops that could feed millions. “Tobacco is responsible for 8 million deaths a year, yet governments across the world spend millions supporting tobacco farms,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “By choosing to grow food instead of tobacco, we...
Seventy-sixth World Health Assembly Strategic Roundtable As part of WHO's 75th anniversary, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of the key milestones in the history of WHO: the adoption of the first international public health treaty. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), an evidence-based instrument, provides new legal dimensions for international...
Every year, WHO recognizes individuals or organizations in each of the six WHO Regions for their accomplishments in the area of tobacco control. This recognition takes the form of WHO Director-General Special Recognition Awards, World No Tobacco Day Awards, and in 2023, one WHO Director-General's Special Recognition Certificate. WHO Director-General Special awards Dr Odete Maria...
Scientists are therefore calling for these filters to be banned entirely. On the beach or cityscape, cigarette butts can be seen everywhere. An estimated 4.5 trillion filter-only cigarettes are smoked and butted annually. More than half of these butts—65%—are not discarded in a trash can or ashtray. Unused cigarette filters contain 4,000 compounds, many of...
The Australian government will ban e-cigarettes through a heavy set of controls on imports and packaging to discourage vaping, especially among teens, under its biggest smoking reforms in more than a decade. Australian Health Minister Mark Butler on Tuesday said vaping has become a top behavioral issue in high schools and a growing problem in elementary schools...
Health minister announces new tax measures shortly after revealing sweeping reforms to crack down on vaping The Albanese government will increase the tax on tobacco by 5% per year over the next three years, the health minister has revealed, alongside a suite of measures to crack down on vaping. But he said Australia has no plans to...
The percentage of adults who smoked cigarettes in the United States fell to a historic low last year, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. However, e-cigarettes are becoming even more popular. About 11% of adults told the CDC last year that they were current cigarette smokers, according to the latest preliminary data...
WHO is concerned with continued attempts by the tobacco industry and their surrogates to further its interests to influence scientific research, public perception, policy making, and the media; all aimed to ensure proliferation and sale of nicotine and tobacco products. The tobacco industry continues to amplify misinformation in the media, including the recent egregious attacks on...
Last year, the Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban on menthol flavored cigarettes, a product historically marketed to Black people. Now health advocates are urging the FDA to move forward. GPB’s Ellen Eldridge has more. Decades have gone by since the first data indicated that smoking cigarettes is hazardous to one's health and nicotine...
Although smoking rates for adults in the US are at their lowest recorded levels, more must be done to stop children from using tobacco, according to a new set of policy statements from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The statements, published Monday, are the association’s first tobacco policy update since 2015. They’re based on newer science and...
