As the US debates drug policy and marijuana legalization, there’s one aspect of the war on drugs that remains perplexingly contradictory: some of the most dangerous drugs in the US are perfectly legal. Don’t believe it? Just look at this chart, compiled with available data from the Centers for Disease
Hazardous Child Labor in United States Tobacco Farming The Human Rights Watch’s 138-page report documents conditions for children working on tobacco farms in four states where 90 % of US tobacco is grown: North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Children reported vomiting, nausea, headaches, and dizziness while working on tobacco
World Trade Organization Director General Roberto Azevêdo yesterday appointed three panellists to examine the dispute against an Australian public health measure requiring tobacco products to be sold in plain packaging in the country. A decision in the case will be forthcoming in six months. Five countries have brought varying but
via ACSCAN Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) today (May 1) faulted the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for rolling over to demands by federal regulators to restrict the scope of trade rules so that they do not interfere with consumer protections, and argued that this kind
Malaysia’s government is battling against a smoking epidemic that threatens its young people — and it fears Barack Obama’s big Pacific trade deal will make the health crisis even worse. Read the full Politico article here>
Statement of ASH Executive Director Laurent Huber Today, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed new rules that will extend its regulatory authority to include electronic cigarettes as well as cigars, pipe tobacco, nicotine gels, water pipe tobacco and hookahs. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) applauds the FDA’s action
he Food and Drug Administration will propose sweeping new rules on Thursday that for the first time would extend its regulatory authority from cigarettes to electronic cigarettes, popular nicotine delivery devices that have grown into a multibillion-dollar business with virtually no federal oversight or protections for American consumers. Click here
What’s ailing us? Many serious illnesses we face are embarrassingly simple to avoid. Ezra Klein talks with Center for Disease Control director Tom Frieden. Ezra Klein: What is the single biggest opportunity out there in health? Tom Frieden: I would start with tobacco control. You know what, people sometimes think,
By Washington Post Editorial Board MARYLAND HAS one of the highest state-imposed cigarette tax rates in the nation ($2 per pack) and, unsurprisingly, one of the lowest smoking rates. Virginia has one of the lowest cigarette tax rates in the nation (30 cents per pack); its smoking rate is almost
(Reuters Health) – Even though smoking appears far less frequently in U.S. television shows than it used to, its portrayal may still be triggering the urge in adult smokers, according to a new study. Researchers reviewed patterns in TV smoking over more than 50 years and found that they tracked
The Trans-Pacific Partnership and the downside to free trade. …According to the World Health Institute, “nearly 80 percent of the world’s one billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries.” Multinational corporations are seeking their own Treaty of Nanjing: they are using free trade agreements to usurp national sovereignty and
A Federal High Court in Nigeria recently upheld the power of Nigeria’s Consumer Protection Council (CPC) to impound products considered to be harmful or that constitute a health hazard to the unsuspecting Nigerian public – in this case, cigarettes. In February 2013, CPC made an inspection visit to the Nigerian
“While annual profits from all Department of Defense (DOD) authorized military tobacco sales are roughly $90 million, a DOD report from June 2009 estimated that the annual tobacco-related military health costs and lost productivity are about $1.9 billion, or 21 times greater than the annual sales,” the senators wrote. The
A dangerous new form of a powerful stimulant is hitting markets nationwide, for sale by the vial, the gallon and even the barrel. The drug is nicotine, in its potent, liquid form — extracted from tobacco and tinctured with a cocktail of flavorings, colorings and assorted chemicals to feed the
Beginning in the 1950s, trade negotiators evolved an elegant solution to a vexing problem: the risk that poor countries would seize the oil fields, mines, and factories of Western corporations that operated within their borders. Fearful of nationalization or other harsh treatment, multinationals were holding back on investment. Everyone lost.
A new report finds that both the successful campaign to legalize gay marriage and the unsuccessful campaign to stop cigarette and tobacco tax increases spent more than $1 million on lobbying in Minnesota last year. Click here to read the full article> (Direct link removed April 2023 when broken)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02) today launched his #TruthInTrade campaign to highlight the threats free trade agreements – negotiated in secret – pose to the American people. Poorly-crafted trade deals have made it easier for Big Tobacco to promote their harmful products to children and teens, by
The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, the largest civil litigation settlement in U.S. history, dramatically changed tobacco control in the United States. The settlement, between the major tobacco companies (Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Brown & Williamson, and Lorillard) and 46 U.S. States, banned advertising that targets children, eliminated billboard advertising, and
By Daniel Pruzin March 10 — Indonesia will join Honduras and Ukraine in seeking a World Trade Organization panel ruling on whether Australia’s tough plain-packaging rules for tobacco products violate global trade rules. In a notification circulated by the WTO March 6, Indonesia said it would request the establishment of
ASH Campaign Coordinator Shana Narula was at the UN to discuss tobacco and the post-2015 agenda. Click here to view the webcast>
REHOBOTH BEACH — Rehoboth Beach’s slogan is “The Nation’s Summer Capital,” but this summer it could also be “Thank You For Not Smoking.” Click here to read the full article>
The European Parliament stands on the public health side in tobacco vote Today’s endorsement of the new TPD strengthens the current European regulation on tobacco in several ways. Among other measures, it increases the size of the pictorial and text health warnings to cover 65% of tobacco packages and bans
Governments propose, Oppositions oppose. That’s a four-word capture of parliamentary tradition. Considering prevalent numbers the outcome is predictable. One cannot fault the opposition for opposing when legislation tabled for vote is of a self-serving nature. And yet, the recent unanimous decision to make it compulsory to carry pictorial warnings on
In the window of a hairdresser’s in a west London side-street, there is an array of brightly coloured little bottles, which the casual passer-by who doesn’t look too closely might assume had something to do with hair conditioning. References to best “juice” don’t immediately give the game away. You probably
KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has reaffirmed Malaysia’s position that it wants tobacco to be excluded from trade liberalisation discussions under the United States-sponsored Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). Click here to read the full article>
