May 2021
India: A Pandemic Driven Approach to Tobacco Control
As India fights the pandemic with its back to the wall, medical experts have flagged the need to strengthen the tobacco control movement countrywide. Addressing experts from across the country on Sunday at an event organised by the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, health expert Dr Rana J Singh...
Tanzania: About 500 containers of ‘shisha’ still held at Dar port
Dar es Salaam. About 500 containers of expired ‘shisha’ products have been detained at the port of Dar es Salaam, the government revealed. The minister of State in the Vice President’s Office Union Affairs and Environment, Selemani Jafo said yesterday during his visit that the 40ft containers (2TEUs) have been imported since 2019. Shisha usually contains...
USA: Advocates welcome federal step to ban menthol cigarettes
Smoke-free advocates are applauding a recently proposed federal ban on menthol cigarettes, while calling on area cities to pass their own bans sooner. The Food and Drug Administration announced last week it would take steps to ban menthol-flavored cigarettes over the next year. It was a long-awaited response to a petition submitted by public health...
Pakistan’s fight against tobacco is getting harder
Pakistan made a commitment in 2005, when it signed the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), to reduce tobacco consumption and ensure the right of people to the highest standards of health. At the moment, 19.1% of people, over the age of 15 years, in the country use tobacco in any form...
Study exposes link between illicit tobacco trade and tax evasion
The multinational tobacco companies have been trying to evade millions of rupees in taxes under the pretext of exaggerated illicit trade of the product in the country, reveals a study. The Center for Global and Strategic Studies [CGSS] has conducted a research study titled “Illicit Trade in Tobacco: A Dossier on Contributing Factors and its...
Nigeria: Teenage ‘shisha’ video reinforces need to ban sale of tobacco near schools
A non-governmental organisation, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), has commended the Lagos State government over its decision to rehabilitate the five students smoking ‘shisha’ in a recent viral video on social media. The group, however, urged the state government to complement the action by enforcing the ban on the sale of tobacco products...
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...
