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Author Archives: ash

Swiss Reject Full Ban on Smoking in Public Spaces

Voters in Switzerland have rejected a total ban on smoking in enclosed public places at a referendum. Although Geneva voted slightly in favour, results from the country’s other 25 cantons showed a majority of voters rejected a full ban. Hotels, restaurants and bars are allowed rooms for smokers but critics say workers’ health is at… Read the full article >

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Holy Smokes! Some People Spend 25% of Their Income on What?!

As far as money-draining (and life-shortening) habits go, smoking is a popular example of one to give up. Now there’s a new report that makes an even more dramatic financial case for quitting: In New York State, which levies some hefty taxes on tobacco, low-income smokers are spending roughly one-quarter of their income on cigarettes. If you’re… Read the full article >

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FC Barcelona and the European Commission Join Forces to Help Millions of Europeans to Give up Smoking

FC Barcelona have reached an agreement with the European Commission to launch a campaign aimed at helping Europe’s 28 million smokers to give up tobacco “With this joint action, we aim to help football fans all over Europe to retake control over their health and their lives, encouraging them to be as passionate and committed… Read the full article >

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More Resources Needed to Decrease Tobacco Dependence Prevalence

In the decade since the adoption of the FCTC, we have seen significant progress in the area of tobacco control policies that have helped decrease smoking prevalence. We have also seen increased demand in cessation support, in the form of a short intervention by a health care provider, counselling, or other treatment modality. However, medical… Read the full article >

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Plain Cigarette Packaging: Australia’s Victory

“We have taken on big tobacco… and we have won”, said Australia’s Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, hailing the judgement from Australia’s High Court that the country’s tobacco companies had failed in their challenge to the Australian Government’s plans to introduce plain packaging for all cigarettes from Dec 1, 2012. From this date forward, all cigarettes will… Read the full article >

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FCAP Protests Tobacco Industry-Backed Party-List Group

A NETWORK of anti-tobacco advocates is asking the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to disqualify a party-list organization, accusing it of being a front group for the powerful tobacco industry In a letter addressed to Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP), an umbrella organization of groups and individuals from medical… Read the full article >

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Big Tobacco Warning at Free-Trade Talks

Delegates attending trans-Pacific free-trade negotiations in the United States are being warned their countries could end up like Australia if they agree to allow corporations to sue governments in international courts. Australia is fending off a challenge to its plain cigarette packets legislation from Philip Morris International under the terms of an obscure Hong Kong… Read the full article >

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Tobacco A Big Issue Among TPP Negotiators

At yesterday’s TransPacific Partnership stakeholder event – a bit of political theater set up by the United States Trade Representative to demonstrate the “transparency” of the highly-secretive negotiations – negotiators from other countries eagerly sought us out to hear about how tobacco regulation is threatened by trade law. ASH’s Chris Bostic and Georgetown University law… Read the full article >

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Does Cigarette Marketing Count as Free Speech?

Historians of free expression will one day write that early 21st century America was a place where the Supreme Court held that schools could punish kids who make a dumb joke that some humorless prig might think advocated drug use, but that tobacco companies could not be stopped from marketing their products near schools, and… Read the full article >

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Business Representatives Working on TPP Issues Start New Jobs This Fall

A handful of business representatives that are closely following the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations have taken new jobs over the last few months. Linda Menghetti, an expert on investment issues who formerly served as vice president of the Emergency Committee for American Trade, left that position at the end of August and has moved over… Read the full article >

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Plain Package Cigarettes Reduce Smoking Appeal: Study

A new study has discredited the tobacco industry’s assertion that there is no proof plain packaging on cigarette packs reduces the appeal of smoking. Scientists from Canada, the United States and Brazil conducted a study of 640 young Brazilian women to determine if cigarettes had the same appeal when presented in plain packaging. “The women… Read the full article >

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What is ISDS and What Does it Mean for Tobacco Control

ISDS stands for Investor State Dispute Settlement. I know, spelling it out doesn’t help comprehension much. It is a term of art for trade law policy wonks. Unlike most unnecessarily long bits of lingo, this one is dangerous, especially for tobacco control. The United States is insisting that it be included in the TransPacific Partnership… Read the full article >

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Unleashing the Campaign Contributions of Corporations

Way back in February of this year, more than two-thirds of Californians believed raising more money from tobacco companies to finance cancer research was a good idea. That was before industry money kicked in. Don Blankenship, former chief of Massey Energy, supported Brent Benjamin. In just over three months, opponents spent $41 million to defeat the initiative… Read the full article >

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Smoke Signals: Plans of Big Tobacco Plain to See

IT’S easy to laugh at Big Tobacco. Fresh from defeat in Australia’s High Court, it has taken its fight against plain cigarette packets to New Zealand where British American Tobacco warns such legislation could expose the nation to legal challenges (no kidding), and to Hong Kong where Philip Morris moved the shares of its Australian… Read the full article >

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Two Silver Linings to Graphic Warnings Decision

As anyone who follows tobacco-related news now knows, last Friday an appeals court upheld a lower court ruling striking down the FDA’s proposed graphic warnings for cigarette packages. In a 2-1 decision, the court found that the warnings violated “corporate speech” rights. The finding places the rights of tobacco companies to market an addictive and deadly… Read the full article >

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Reynolds Adds Aids to Stop Smoking

Reynolds American Inc. is taking a bold — perhaps audacious — approach to entering the nicotine-replacement therapy marketplace, analysts say. With the Zonnic gum of its Niconovum pharmaceutical subsidiary, Reynolds is asking consumers, particularly smokers, to trust the company that got smokers hooked on nicotine to have the expertise to produce the right cessation product… Read the full article >

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States Urge USTR To Seek Tobacco Carve Out from TPP

Two state governments have called on the USTR to carve tobacco out of the TransPacific Partnership Agreement over well-grounded concerns that their own state and local tobacco control initiatives will be threatened by international trade tribunals. Maine and Vermont, both leaders among U.S. states in protecting their people’s health, sent letters to U.S. Trade Representative… Read the full article >

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U.S. Court Strikes Down Graphic Warnings on Cigarettes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Friday struck down a law that requires tobacco companies to use graphic health warnings, such as of a man exhaling smoke through a hole in his throat. The 2-1 decision by the court in Washington, D.C., contradicts another appeals court’s ruling in a similar case earlier this… Read the full article >

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Tobacco Boss Says Some Regulation OK

New Zealand’s tobacco industry is already heavily regulated and the Government’s plain packaging proposals for cigarette packets is a step too far, the country’s biggest cigarette manufacturer has said. In a rare media interview, Steve Rush, general manager of British American Tobacco New Zealand, agreed smoking was harmful and that it should be regulated. But… Read the full article >

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14th Round of TPP Negotiations – SEP 6-15, 2012

(Sept. 6-15, 2012/Leesburg, VA) The next negotiating round of the Trans- Pacific Partnership will take place in Leesburg, Virginia from September 6-15, 2012. USTR will be hosting a Direct Stakeholder Engagement event on Sunday, September 9, 2012. ASH urges the United States Trade Representative to submit its draft tobacco exception when negotiators meet in Leesburg… Read the full article >

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Hidden Hand of Big Tobacco Leads to WTO Challenge

BIG tobacco has opened a new front in its war against Australia’s plain packaging law. The World Trade Organisation has revealed that within hours of the government’s victory in the High Court, Ukraine upgraded to formal a complaint against Australia’s law and demanded the establishment of a disputes panel. Australia will have to argue its… Read the full article >

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Philip Morris International Expands its Portfolio

Dips toe into alternative tobacco products worldwide NEW YORK – Philip Morris International, the largest tobacco company in the world recently announced yet another stream of revenue growth. With more regulation threats being imposed on tobacco companies and smokers, Philip Morris is looking to explore alternatives, according to a contributed column on Seeking Alpha. Governments… Read the full article >

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The Global Tobacco Epidemic is Far from Over

The global tobacco epidemic is far from being over. A recent study published in the Lancet suggests that the number of tobacco users remains very high in many parts of the world, particularly low and middle income countries.  Over 60% of Russian men and over 28% of Bangladeshi women use tobacco.  No wonder tobacco stocks are… Read the full article >

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World Cancer Leaders’ Summit – AUG 27-30, 2012

UICC and partners will be hosting the 2012 World Cancer Leaders’ Summit in Montreal Canada.  The 2012 summit provides education and training opportunities throughout the program linked to one or more of the World Cancer Declaration targets.  For more information please visit the UICC website >

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UB Researcher Finds Big Tobacco Has Powerful Global Grip

A new study led by a University at Buffalo researcher shows that Big Tobacco has a strong grip globally, making for a huge challenge when it comes to curbing tobacco use around the world. In what is being described as the world’s largest tobacco-use study, the survey of people from more than a dozen nations… Read the full article >

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