Philip Morris International was fined in Brazil for targeting youth The consumer protection agency from the Brazilian state of São Paulo has fined Philip Morris over $480,000. The agency acted after a formal complaint was filed against Philip Morris by tobacco control activists who documented how its marketing tactics in
Australian expertise in tobacco control is helping save lives around the world, but that work could be undone. Every day, 5500 children in India start using tobacco. If they continue the habit, as many do, the illnesses brought about by tobacco addiction will kill about half of them. In the
December 9, 2014 An ISDS carve-out in the TPPA would be good for tobacco control, but not good enough. There has been some scuttlebutt in trade circles over the past weeks about a possible US proposal in the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations to exempt tobacco measures from the investment
One of the world’s smallest countries – Nepal – has taken a large step toward combating tobacco-related disease this week. Ninety percent of the surface area of all tobacco packaging must now be covered with harrowing images designed to warn consumers of the health consequences of tobacco use. The new
Uruguay has presented a 500 page document to defend itself against an international lawsuit challenging the country’s tough tobacco packaging regulations. The claim was brought by Philip Morris, the global tobacco giant, at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington DC… On October 13,
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Megan Arendt Office: 202-659-4310 Email: arendtm@ash.org ASH CERTIFIES 32 COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES “FREE FROM TOBACCO MONEY” In Honor of Their Divestment from Tobacco Interests WASHINGTON, D.C. – November 12, 2014 –Action on Smoking & Health (ASH) announced today that 32 colleges and universities are being certified
The most recent data shows that the tobacco industry spent more than $1 million a day sponsoring events and giveaways that target college students. Tobacco companies heavily target young adults (ages 18 to 21) through a variety of marketing activities—such as music and sporting events, bar promotions, college marketing programs,
Subsidiaries of Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) (NYSE/Euronext Paris: PM) today obtained a green light from an English Court to challenge the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU) before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Key questions regarding the Directive’s validity will be referred to the CJEU as
WTO members meeting as the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council on 28–29 October 2014 responded to the latest developments on plain packaging for tobacco products, exchanged views on innovation, and heard about plans to make it easier to make sense of the huge amount of information they
The Central Massachusetts town of Westminster would become the first community in the state, and perhaps the nation, to ban all tobacco sales under a proposal made public Monday that regulators say is designed to improve health, especially among the young. Draft regulations posted on the town’s website would prohibit
The latest round of negotiations for the global tobacco treaty, the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), held in Moscow ended this past Saturday, October 18, 2014. Government Delegates from 178 countries and the European Union representing nearly 90 percent of the world’s people gathered to confront
Almost 200 countries signed the World Health Organisation’s Tobacco Control Convention and are obliged to take measures to curb tobacco use. But the industry has hit back. A big tobacco company, Philip Morris, has taken Uruguay and Australia to tribunals under bilateral investment treaties, claiming billions of dollars in compensation
By Krista Hughes WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) – The United States has floated excluding tobacco products from a key section of a 12-nation Pacific trade deal and signaled it may present a formal proposal to trading partners at talks in Australia, sources briefed on the negotiations said. Dropping tobacco from
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is pressing the Obama administration to protect his state’s tobacco industry in a trade deal. McConnell is pressuring U.S. negotiators to ensure that tobacco companies can take part in the dispute settlement portion of the trade deal, with talks scheduled next week on the
The ten campaigns that accepted the most tobacco money are listed below. These ten campaigns combined accepted over $500,000 in campaign contributions from tobacco corporations. As you can see, both parties and eight states are represented. This is a pervasive problem in politics. Want to read more about tobacco campaign
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Megan Arendt Office: 202-659-4310 Email: arendtm@ash.org TOBACCO CORPORATIONS BUY POLITICAL INFLUENCE Big Tobacco Contributes Over $1.6 Million Annually to Federal Candidates WASHINGTON, D.C. – October 8, 2014 – The tobacco industry has always been a major player in congressional campaigns, but Action on Smoking and Health’s
U.S. trade officials have reached out to some other Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries to informally float the idea of excluding tobacco-related challenges from being brought under the deal’s investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, according to informed sources. This move signals the United States may be ready to bring its position
Annually, the tobacco industry contributes over $1.6 million to federal candidates and spends approximately $16.6 million lobbying Congress. This money buys the tobacco industry access to government officials and influence over laws. This is a serious problem because there is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry’s interests
The tobacco industry has a long history of flexing its muscles, namely in the area of investor protection schemes, against governments in the name of protecting its own market. TTIP is an opportunity to set a good example for 21st century trade agreements by, at the minimum, recognizing the unique
In a shot at Russian President Vladimir Putin, the United States will not send a delegation to Moscow this month to participate in global health talks that hold major implications for the tobacco and burgeoning e-cigarette industries. Hosting the World Health Organization summit is a point of pride for Russia,
In the past, the United States has been a leader in tobacco control. For the last 15 years, though, the U.S. has been falling behind as other countries have moved to protect their people from tobacco addiction and death. For example, when it comes to tobacco prices, there are huge
My Great Cigarette Rebellion How my mother’s simple request to run an errand changed my life. My doctor doesn’t believe I’ve never smoked. In January I was diagnosed with a relatively rare form of kidney cancer—Transitional Cell Carcinoma, which had begun in the kidney and then descended into the bladder.
50 years ago the 1st Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health clearly established the terrible toll taken by tobacco on the health of smokers and set the United States on a public health campaign to rid the nation of the threat posed by the use of tobacco to the
The CDC identifies reducing tobacco as a “Winnable Battle” because tobacco is a public health priority with “large-scale impact on health and with known, effective strategies to address them.” For ASH, the ability to significantly improve the protection of U.S. citizens from tobacco-related damage, disease, and death is the driver
The products are virtually indistinguishable from one another, yet they retain more loyalty than Mac computers. And an expensive international legal battle is raging over them. Why? Because the products—cigarettes—are a recognized public health hazard, and governments around the world are trying to do whatever it takes to stop their
