Media Contact: Megan Manning (202) 390 – 9513 PARIS, FRANCE – May 31, 2023 – On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, health and environmental advocates gathered at the UN Plastic Treaty Conference in Paris to call for the elimination of cigarette filters. They drew attention to the fact
May 30, 2023 – Writing after 9:00 pm Paris time, Day 2 is not over, and the most important part of today is likely still ahead of us. In fact, it is almost certainly ahead of us, since nothing has been accomplished yet today. For these final few hours, the
May 29, 2023 – Today launched the second negotiating session of the UN treaty to end plastic pollution, held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. We have five days to debate one of the most important issues facing humanity – catastrophic levels of plastic pollution. In one way, this was personally
Media Contact: Megan Manning (202) 390 – 9513 Tobacco Harms Health and the Environment: Urgent Action Needed at the UN World No Tobacco Day is May 31, falling during the second round of negotiations for the UN Plastic Pollution Treaty in Paris, France from May 29 – June 2, 2023
Today, May 21, 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption of The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) by the World Health Assembly. The FCTC is the first international treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO, and it entered into force on February 27, 2005. To many,
If you could press a button and save lives, how long would you wait to press it? 1 minute? 1 hour? How about a day or a week? What about a year? Today (April 28, 2023) marks one year since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced their proposed rule
In the last week, government agencies in two countries – the Netherlands and Belgium – have recommended a complete ban on the sale of cigarette filters. First, congratulations to our colleagues for their work in pushing this and supplying research. This could not have happened in a vacuum. Second, congratulations
As a surgeon for 21 years, I’ve seen the extensive, heartbreaking toll tobacco products take on the human body. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disability in the world, claiming the lives of nearly 500,000 Americans each year. Smoking is directly linked to over 13 different human
Our goal at ASH is to protect everyone from the harms of tobacco. One way we strive to achieve that goal is by reducing health inequities and fighting for everyone’s right to health. In honor of International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), here are some of the
March 17, 2023 | Geneva, Switzerland Andres del Castillo of Peru addresses the UN Human Rights Council on behalf of Peru, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Vanuatu, Brazil, Portugal, Luxemburg, Malta, Armenia, Chile, Mexico, Georgia, Finland, Germany, Ukraine, Croatia, Cyprus, Maldives, Slovenia, Uruguay, Ireland, Panamá, Colombia, Belgium, Angola, Paraguay, Switzerland, France, Marshall
Today, 200 million of the world’s one billion people who smoke are women[1] and 2.15 million women die from tobacco use every year.[2] Over 71% of those women live in low- and middle-income countries[3], where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is heaviest.[4] While overall, smoking rates are decreasing,
Public health, and more specifically tobacco control, sits at the vortex of many important social issues such as development, human rights, law, and social justice. Tobacco companies have been aggressively targeting African Americans for generations with menthol cigarettes. As a result, over 85% of African Americans who smoke, smoke menthol
CDC Reports: More Than Half of All Americans Support Ending the Sale of Tobacco Products Research Brief Released in Preventing Chronic Disease Media Contact: Megan Arendt-Manning (202) 390 – 9513 WASHINGTON, DC – February 2, 2023 – A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking
February 4th is World Cancer Day. Cancer is the second largest cause of death worldwide, and smoking is the leading cause, directly responsible for 30% of cancer deaths. Cancer takes the lives of about ten million people annually (600,000+ in the U.S.) and costs the global economy about 1.5% of
Media Contact: Megan Arendt-Manning (202) 659 – 4310 Dr. Carolyn Dresler, 2022 C. Everett Koop Unsung Hero Award Recipient, Joins Action on Smoking and Health Board of Trustees Lung Health and Human Rights Expertise will Accelerate Tobacco Endgame WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 24, 2023 – Action on Smoking and Health
The year 2022 has seen incredible milestones when it comes to taking measures to protect our collective right to health and right to a healthy environment from the harms caused by the tobacco industry. When we talk about “human rights,” we talk about the rights that have been recognized at
ASH’s work is based on the principle that the behavior of the tobacco industry – producing, marketing, and selling addictive products that kill when use as intended – violates human rights, such as the right to health and right to a healthy environment, that have been recognized at the international, regional,
A Global First: New Zealand Passes Tobacco Endgame Bill Package Changing the Course of the Tobacco Epidemic for the World Media Contact: Megan Manning (202) 390-9513 WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 13, 2022 – Today, the New Zealand Parliament adopted the strongest anti-tobacco law in world history. Once implemented, the Smokefree
NEW YORK CITY, NY – DECEMBER 8, 2022 – Action on Smoking and Health awarded the Project Sunset Award for Courage in Public Health to Christopher K. Leung, the lead attorney in the landmark case forcing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin the rulemaking process to ban menthol
December 5, 2022 – The first of five Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) meetings for the UN Plastics Pollution treaty is finished. The plan is to approve a final text roughly two years from now, which will be handed over to the UN Environmental Assembly for adoption. Then it will be opened
December 1, 2022 – Today, ASH was able to make a second intervention during the plenary discussions on the role of nongovernmental stakeholders in negotiations going forward. Many thanks to our allies in the environmental coalition for their vital input. Here is our intervention, to give you a taste of
November 30, 2022 – Today, several delegations mentioned the need to ensure basic human rights as we hammer out a treaty to end plastics pollution. This got me to thinking. It should be all about human rights. In the discussions leading up to INC-1, as I’ve mentioned previously, “inclusiveness” has
November 29, 2022 – The highlight of today was a three-hour Multi-Stakeholder Forum. If that title sets off your radar, your radar is well-calibrated. The industries that have caused the plastic pollution problem were given the same platform and respect as civil society groups struggling to stop them. Some were
November 28, 2022 – Greetings from Punta del Este. Today is an historic day in the history of environmental protection. At 10:00am local time, the first round of negotiations for the global plastics pollution treaty got under way. Whether it was a good day or a bad is to be
ASH is proud to be a founding and organizing member for the Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance (STPA), a global coalition of 100 public health organizations who recognize the crucial intersection of tobacco control and environmental health. STPA will actively participate in the UN plastics treaty negotiations from November 2022 through
