The harmful impacts of smoking go well beyond each individual smoker. Cigarettes have a negative impact on the environment throughout their entire life cycle – from growing the tobacco to disposing of the butts. ASH blogs have highlighted several of the environmental harms of tobacco, including cigarette butt pollution. In
Supporters say they appear to be effective. Critics say there are better and safer ways to quit smoking. Read both sides in the Wall Street Journal here>
ASH Policy Director Chris Bostic, Richard Daynard, and Tamar Lawrence-Samuel (Corporate Accountability International) shed some light on the untapped potential in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. “Article 19 has similar—if not greater—potential to curb the operations of the industry, and therefore the tobacco epidemic.” Read on>
The resolution urges companies to agree to participate in mediation of any alleged human rights violations if requested by certain governmental agencies identified by the OECD. It calls for the companies to mediate disputes involving, among other things, freedom of association and collective bargaining, the elimination of forced or compulsory
This new research by the WHO shows the huge opportunity governments have from increasing taxes on tobacco. WHO found that if cigarette tax increased by US$ 0.8 (or 1 international $) per pack worldwide, as many as 15 million lives of current smokers could be saved, and US$141 billion in
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Megan Arendt Office: 202-659-4310 Email: arendtm@ash.org Does Tobacco Violate Human Rights? Inter-American Commission Ponders Question WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 6, 2016 – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) heard testimony from experts yesterday on why tobacco should be considered a human rights issue. The thematic
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: ASH: Megan Arendt / ArendtM@ash.org O’Neill Institute: Karen Teber / Km463@georgetown.edu FIC Argentina: Patricia Gutkowski/ prensa@ficargentina.org WASHINGTON, DC (March 29, 2016) — For the first time, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights takes up tobacco use as a human rights issue during a hearing on Tuesday,
The evidence is clear: smoking is horrible for your health, and quitting benefits not only your health, but your wallet. These things are fairly obvious, and non-smokers often ask the same question: “Why don’t smokers quit?” In fact, about 70% of all smokers want to quit. In any given year,
ASH joins allies to demand that the U.S. Department of Justice open an investigation on British American Tobacco (BAT)’s alleged corruption in East Africa.
On April 5, 2016, Action on Smoking and Health and two of our partner organizations, Fundación InterAmericana del Corazón Argentina and the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, will present to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on the Right to Health, Tobacco Industry Interference, and on
Big Tobacco took it on the chin Wednesday when Chicago raised its smoking age to 21, outlawed discounts, slapped a $6 million tax on cigars, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco and banned chaw altogether at sports stadiums. Read more>
California lawmakers voted Thursday to raise the legal age for purchasing and using tobacco and e-cigarettes from 18 to 21, putting the nation’s most populous state on the brink of becoming only the second after Hawaii to bar teenagers from lighting up, dipping or vaping. Before it can become law,
The Secretariat for the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) recently sent the following Note Verbal to all Missions of Parties in Geneva to alert them to prevent interference from the tobacco industry on the tracking and tracing system. FCTC Secretariat Note Verbale_industry interference_4-Mar-2016
The biggest reason to raise the legal age to 21 is to reduce young people’s access to tobacco when they are more likely to become addicted and when their brains are still developing. Studies have found that nicotine, the main addictive ingredient in cigarettes, can impair cognition among young people.
Queensland has passed some of the toughest smoking laws in the country. From September 1, lighting up will be outlawed at or near childcare facilities, bus stops and taxi ranks, public pools, children’s sporting venues, skate parks and outdoor malls. The new laws also ban the sale of tobacco products
A legal victory is one thing but for lawyers for a tobacco company to publicly celebrate denying potential cancer victims the best way of identifying lung disease as early as possible seems reprehensible. . . even for a law firm. Read on>
A law that would force tobacco companies to wrap their cigarettes in plain packaging could be in action by the end of the year. Prime Minister John Key has confirmed a bill, on pause partway through the parliamentary process, would be resumed and he expected it to become law “sooner
As the first primary elections begin, you are probably thinking about a lot of factors when considering who to vote for. But have you thought about how tobacco plays into the election? Many people consider tobacco a public health issue, so when voting, your candidate’s support for tobacco control legislation
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — As the United States and 11 other countries prepare to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement later today, 35 leading public health and medical groups today urged Congress to support a TPP provision that protects life-saving tobacco control measures from tobacco industry legal
Several states have enacted laws limiting where e-cigarettes can be used — after citing public health concerns — but as no federal law has been created to curtail e-cigarette advertising, companies are resorting to tactics employed by the heyday of the Marlboro Man. But this time, their message is wafting
A decade after a group of American smokers sued Philip Morris USA to try to force the cigarette maker to pay for lung cancer screenings, the case will finally be heard by a jury. Smokers from Massachusetts allege in the class-action lawsuit that Philip Morris manufactured a defective cigarette knowing
WalletHub’s analysts calculated the potential monetary losses — including the cumulative cost of a cigarette pack per day over several decades, health care expenditures, income losses and other costs — brought on by smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke. WalletHub estimated the financial cost of smoking in the U.S. to
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Megan Arendt Email: arendtm@ash.org New Global Anti-tobacco Leadership After twelve years of success, ASH passes FCA baton to HealthBridge WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 20, 2016 – After more than a decade of successful leadership and myriad public health victories, Laurent Huber of Action on Smoking and
Hundreds of video games come out every year. Avid gamers have at least 326 news ones to look forward to in 2016. If previous years are any indication, many of these games will contain images of cigarettes and tobacco use. Experts worry they could lead young people, who clock hours
January 2016: The president of the Norwegian Medical Association, Marit Hermansen, has called for a ban on the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2000 as a first step to create a smoke-free society by 2035. According to Hermansen “It shouldn’t be forbidden to smoke, but we want
