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Articles on Tobacco control

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The tobacco industry warned smokers would use special covers to conceal the large-scale graphic warnings on packs. This hasn’t happened. Lucas Cock/AAP

Cluster bomb of new research explodes tobacco industry lies about plain packs

There is near-universal agreement that Australia’s implementation of tobacco plain packaging in December 2012 has seen the most virulent opposition ever experienced from the global tobacco industry.
Despite all we know about tobacco harm, many countries still look the other way. Ehab Edward

Five reasons why some countries are so lax at regulating smoking

Tobacco policy is a global issue. Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death and disease in the world. There are well over one billion smokers in the world, smoking rates are still rising in…
E-cigarettes should not be sold in Australia, as a therapy or a consumer product. gdvcom/Shutterstock

Health risks of nicotine cast doubt on ‘safer’ e-cigarette

British American Tobacco Australia has lobbied Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration to have electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) classified as a harm-reduction pharmaceutical product. If successful…
Not enough tobacco company money is going into public health campaigns. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz

True cost of diverted tobacco payouts measured in lives

The #20 Million Memorial created earlier this month by the United States Centers for Disease Control, is an online tribute to honor the 20 million spouses, mothers, fathers, children, sisters, brothers…
Tobacco companies cajole, convince, and promote their deadly products to billions across the globe. Nikolai Vassiliev

Profits, death and disease: big tobacco’s business model

Lung cancer, a leg amputation, or gasping for air as a result of emphysema are not fun ways of ending one’s life. All are common outcomes of smoking, and if current global patterns of smoking continue…
The clock is ticking for Coles and Woolworths to announce they’ll stop selling cigarettes. Image from shutterstock.com

US chain CVS stops tobacco sales: over to you, Coles and Woolworths

The announcement by CVS, one of the largest drug store chains in the United States, that it will cease selling tobacco by October this year will have Coles’ and Woolworths’ public relations in a spin…
Statistics on tobacco deaths have become banal for many. Image from shutterstock.com

Beyond statistics: the hidden face of smoking-related cancer

The Russian dictator Joseph Stalin infamously said that a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic. And in tobacco control, there are statistics to die for. Tobacco caused about 100 million…
Just over 15% of Australians smoke daily and a further 1.5% smoke each week. Flickr/benessere

Health Check: how harmful is social smoking?

If you only light up when you’re drinking or out with friends, you probably don’t identify as a smoker or consider the health impact of the occasional fag. Social smokers don’t usually smoke every day…
E-cigarettes are battery operated units that vapourise fluids into fine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs. Image from shutterstock.com

Explainer: what are electronic cigarettes?

As rates of smoking fall in Australia, electronic cigarette manufacturers are moving in. Liberty Flights last week released an (awful) online ad to “create awareness” of electronic or e-cigarettes in the…
Tobacco, like other substances, are likely to become part of the prison contraband trade. Image from shutterstock.com

Total smoking bans aren’t the answer to better prisoner health

From May next year, Queensland prisoners will no longer be able to smoke cigarettes. Smoking in cells was prohibited in Queensland facilities in 2008, but as of next year the prohibition will extend to…
Plain packaging isn’t really plain - it has warnings not branding. PA/Niall Carson

Industry trumps evidence in tobacco packaging U-turn

The government’s disappointing U-turn over plain packaging of tobacco has dealt a blow to campaigners and shows a government attempting to subvert its own consultation process. The Conservative party’s…
The tobacco industry has stated publicly that it’s helping countries bring claims against Australia’s tobacco plain packaging law. LUKAS COCH/AAP

Australia’s plain tobacco packaging law at the WTO

Earlier this month, Cuba became the fourth country to challenge Australia’s plain tobacco packaging law by requesting consultations with Australia through the World Trade Organization (WTO). Tobacco companies…
Big Tobacco’s planners eye their world maps and salivate over large, poorly educated populations. Image from shutterstock.com

Big Tobacco losing ground on plain packs but homing in on world’s poor

Plain packing has been a reality for Big Tobacco in Australia for three months now; New Zealand announced last week it will follow suit; and at least four other nations, including India, are also considering…
The tobacco and alcohol industries have more in common than it seems. Benjamin Wilken

Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco – boozem buddies?

In Australia, the most effective and efficient ways to reduce alcohol-related harm – increasing taxation, and restricting availability and alcohol promotion – are politically unpopular. This mismatch between…
There’s little evidence to support a ban based on the health harms of cigarette smoke in wide, open spaces. AAP/April Fonti

Blanket bans on outdoor smoking no panacea for tobacco control

Support for smoke-free laws is near universal in Australia. In the late 1980s and 90s, these laws were primarily advocated and adopted on the premise that employees shouldn’t be continuously exposed to…

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