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Why Increasing Tobacco Taxes in El Salvador is an Excellent Idea
Currently, about 430,000 people smoke in El Salvador, roughly half of them will die from tobacco consumption. A significant proportion of young Salvadorans (one in ten) consume tobacco, which typically translates into higher healthcare costs and, for many, illnesses that will disable them and / or lead to death. Every year, about 1,600 people die…
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Tobacco 21 Policies: Raising the Minimum Age of Sale of Tobacco to Curb Youth Smoking
In the U.S., such policies started at the local level. Beginning with Needham, Massachusetts, in 2003, individual localities and states passed laws at different times, initially creating a patchwork of policies that was followed by a national law passed in December 2019. Singapore, on the other hand, is taking a phased approach by raising the…
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“Greenwashing” and Other Pernicious Tobacco Industry Strategies Featured on Newly Revamped TobaccoTactics Website
The Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG) at the University of Bath recently re-launched the website TobaccoTactics to monitor and report on the tobacco industry. It’s well worth a long visit, especially for researchers, policymakers, journalists, and others wanting to find out more about the various strategies and arguments tobacco companies use to promote their products,…
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Malawi: Legislative Malfeasance and a Meaningful Shift to Viable Alternatives to Tobacco Growing
Malawi remains the world’s most tobacco-dependent country, with more than 48% of the country’s export value generated from tobacco leaf production in 2019. Not surprisingly, tobacco control initiatives have been challenging to advance due to the dominant role that tobacco plays in the economy. It is also not surprising that Malawi remains one of the…
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Philip Morris makes profit on cigarettes smuggled to Ecuador and now seeks government compensation for these same cigarettes
Philip Morris lucra de los cigarrillos contrabandeados al Ecuador y ahora busca compensación del gobierno por estos mismos cigarrillos Proteger la salud de los ciudadanos de los efectos letales del consumo de tabaco ha sido una de las prioridades claras del gobierno de Ecuador. En los últimos años, el país ha implementado estrictas políticas de…
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Welcome to the New (FCTC) Party, Andorra
Andorra is a microstate located in the Pyrenees mountain range between Spain and France. Andorra is also the newest party to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). It is a major win for public health to have a tobacco-producing country join the FCTC. We welcome this development as a positive…
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International Community Welcomes Kenya to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products
On May 4th, 2020, Kenya became the 59th country to ratify the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products. The Protocol is an international treaty aimed at combating the illicit tobacco trade through an array of measures including supply chain control, offense prosecution, and international cooperation. Illicit trade makes tobacco products more available and…
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Starting Today, Flavored Cigarettes Can No Longer Be Sold in the EU
In response to the ban on flavored tobacco products, tobacco companies are attempting to sell workarounds to their customers. Imperial Tobacco is selling a cardboard strip that imbues the cigarettes in a pack with menthol oil. Japan Tobacco is adopting the same tactic that Indonesian tobacco companies used to avoid the United States’ 2010 ban…
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Indonesian Farmers Better Off Growing Crops Other Than Tobacco: New Research
Tobacco control policies—such as increasing cigarette excise taxes—are often opposed by tobacco companies and their allies. In tobacco-growing countries, these entities argue that tobacco farming provides viable economic livelihoods and tobacco control policies would negatively affect the livelihoods of tobacco farming households. However, the argument that tobacco farming provides a viable economic livelihood is not…
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Youth Vaping in the United States: Risks, Trends, and Potential Policy Solutions
The use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (or ENDS) among youth in the United States has become a serious public health concern for many reasons. These systems — commonly referred to as electronic cigarettes (or just, “e-cigarettes”), vape pens, or even “juuls” — work by heating nicotine-containing fluid to form an aerosol that users inhale.…