The theme for World No Tobacco Day on May 31, an annual initiative of WHO and the Secretariat of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), is plain packaging of tobacco products. Plain packaging prohibits the use of logos, colours, and promotional labelling on cigarettes and hand-rolled tobacco and gives
This year for World No Tobacco Day on May 31 the World Health Organization has recommended that countries adopt plain packaging as a way to reduce tobacco use, however so far mostly only rich countries have been able to afford to implement the changes. read more>
The latest ABS National Accounts figures show tobacco consumption fell a further 2.2 per cent in the June quarter. Tobacco consumption has now plunged 13 per cent over the past 12 months, and a staggering 19.6 per cent in the almost three years since Labor’s plain packaging laws came into
Earlier this month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released figures showing that tobacco and cigarette consumption in Australia have dropped dramatically. Household tobacco consumption and expenditure volume has dropped 17.5% in the last two and a half years. This extraordinary decline can be linked to two things. First, Australia has
The tobacco industry has been hit by the heaviest declines on record amid otherwise strong economic growth for the nation, the latest figures show. Treasurer Joe Hockey may have described the national accounts figures released Tuesday as a “terrific set of numbers”, but tobacco and cigarette consumption has taken a
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
LIMA, Peru — A protracted legal battle in an obscure World Bank tribunal over the principles of market competition in a South American backwater. Even by trade dispute standards, this one sounds arcane — the perfect cure for insomnia perhaps. But before you nod off, here’s a triple shot of
The World Health Organisation says a number of countries across the Pacific are considering following in Australia’s footsteps and introducing plain packaging of cigarettes. The WHO is set to join governments across the region in a major drive to make the Pacific tobacco free within 10 years. The WHO Pacific
The Australian federal Treasury has entered the debate over cigarette sales, publishing previously secret information that shows sales falling since the introduction of graphic health warnings and plain packaging. The Treasury collects data on sales per stick in order to levy tobacco excise, but has until now withheld it from
The Australian’s ‘exclusive’ story on plain packaging is just plain wrong. Watch more here>
MANILA, Philippines – The graphic health warning bill is now one step closer to becoming a law. The bicameral conference committee on Tuesday, June 10, reconciled the Senate and House of Representatives versions of the bill, which seeks to place graphic health warnings on cigarette packs. Click here to
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
Thailand continues its leadership in protecting its citizens from the ravages of tobacco. ASH congratulates them on the world’s largest health warnings!
EU tobacco-producing countries must accept damage to their industry in the drive to stop people smoking, Minister for Health James Reilly has said. Ireland had prioritised a plan to ban flavoured tobacco and stylish cigarette packaging even if this hurt jobs in the tobacco industry in some countries, he said
The discussion about New Zealand’s proposed law on plain packaging for cigarettes and other tobacco products, largely followed the earlier debates on Australia’s law. New Zealand notified its intention to introduce the legislation in documentG/TBT/N/NZL/62, which includes a link to its health ministry for further information. The proposal was agreed
Lawyers for major tobacco companies said Monday they do not want the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to touch a panel’s ruling that went against the government’s controversial graphic warning labels requirement. A divided three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit in August ruled against the U.S.
TOOWOOMBA’S smokers have been left gagging as new not-so-plain cigarette packets start to filter into stores. A packet of Winfield Blues is no longer the colour its name would suggest – instead a sickly looking olive green sets the ailing backdrop for photos of health-plagued smokers in various states of
The CDC is trying to find out how well a $54 million campaign of emotional ads to scare smokers into quitting worked, researchers said. During the 3 months that the ads aired on TV, radio, and social media, calls to a national quit line more than doubled and hits on
“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
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
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
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
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
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
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
