Endgame Training Course

tobacco

Statement from ASH Executive Director Laurent Huber

Making Priorities into our Reality This year has been one filled with milestones for the public health and tobacco control communities. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), that will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), call on governments to strengthen the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

2015 was a Very Bad Year for the Tobacco Industry

And it’s only going to get worse for them. I was asked two weeks ago to blog about my end-of-year thoughts. Something told me to procrastinate, and I am glad I did. Within 24 hours before putting fingers to keyboard, good news came from afar. First, after several years of

Human Rights Day 2015

December 10th is recognized worldwide as Human Rights Day. It commemorates the anniversary of the day that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. The UDHR and other human rights treaties, both international and regional, protect myriad rights around the world, including

Video Exposé on a Deadly Consumer Product

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Megan Arendt, 202-659-4310 Email: arendtm@ash.org Video Exposé on a Deadly Consumer Product Action on Smoking & Health (ASH) releases parody video exposing #1 cause of preventable death WASHINGTON, D.C. – November 30, 2015 – ASH released a new video, Breaking News Broadcast, to draw attention to

Obama’s Legacy on Tobacco

President Obama is moving to cement a significant legacy in the fight against smoking. Despite Obama’s own struggles with cigarettes, many public health advocates see him as a champion on the issue, and a series of proposals in the waning months of his presidency could bolster his record. Read on>

Racial Politics Flavor Debate Over Banning Menthol Cigarettes

Lorillard Tobacco donated nearly four times as much to Republican candidates as to Democrats in the 2014 congressional elections. No surprise there — most businesses count on Republicans to hold the line on regulations and taxes. But Lorillard made a striking exception for one set of Democrats: African Americans. It

Breaking News Broadcast

Download Press Kit Here> An exposé on one product causing death worldwide As you saw in the video, Big Tobacco uses their super villain tactics to market and sell a deadly consumer product. Here are some life-saving strategies that ASH, together with your help, uses to work toward the end

ASH 2015 Trade Report Card

November 9, 2015 Last week, after many years of painful negotiation, the final text for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement was released. This is the text that the U.S. Congress and Parliaments from 11 other countries will consider. At the moment, it is far from a slam dunk that it

Argentine Supreme Court upholds tobacco marketing ban

November 3, 2015 The Supreme Court of Argentina protected the right to health over the tobacco industry’s interests The high court rejected a lawsuit filed by Nobleza Piccardo (British American Tobacco in Argentina): the demand claimed the unconstitutionality of a law passed by Santa Fe that establishes complete bans on

ASH 2015 Tobacco Industry Monitoring Report Card

ASH’s Tobacco Industry Monitoring (TIM) program works to track and publicize tobacco industry behavior. Our TIM program stems from Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which obligates national governments to prevent the tobacco industry from interfering in tobacco regulation. The more light we can shine

Smoked meat is NOT as dangerous as smoked tobacco

Most regular readers of the ASH blog will have heard the news from the World Health Organization (WHO) that smoked and preserved meats are now known carcinogens. Far too many news outlets, eager to sensationalize, have announced this news with headlines such as: Bacon, ham and sausages ‘as big a

American Pediatrics say to raise the legal min age for tobacco to 21

In a comprehensive set of policies issued during its National Conference & Exhibition, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) presents extensive recommendations to protect our nation’s youth from the pernicious effects of tobacco and nicotine. The AAP now strongly recommends the minimum age to purchase tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, should

Human Rights Violations

Could tobacco executives/corporations be found guilty of human right violations? ASH is investigating the possibility of holding tobacco corporations responsible for tobacco-related deaths under human rights laws. These charges, for example, a violation of the right to life or right to health, among many others, would be levied against governments

Call the White House: Tues, Oct 27

Take action! Call the White House comment line at 202-456-1111 on Tuesday, October 27th and ask President Obama to stand up for our kids and public health by giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, cigars, and hookah.   Talking Points

International Day of the Girl

In 2011, the United Nations General Assembly declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges that girls face around the world. Girls and women around the world face challenges unique to their gender- discrimination, violence, education disparities- but one issue

Breaking: Tobacco Carve-Out in TPP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Megan Arendt Office: 202-659-4310 Email: arendtm@ash.org Tobacco Carve-Out in TPP, Major Victory for Public Health Removes New Weapon for Tobacco Industry WASHINGTON, DC – Monday, October 5, 2015 – In a major victory for public health, negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement concluded this morning

Push grows to target tobacco, health in Pacific trade rules

No final consensus has been reached on whether any exclusion would target only tobacco companies or shield a wider range of government regulations from legal action, but Australia’s Andrew Robb is optimistic about his country’s push for a broad carve-out for both health and environmental regulations. “I think we’re on

UN Officially Recognizes that Tobacco Makes the World Poorer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Megan Arendt Office: 202-659-4310 Email: arendtm@ash.org UN Officially Recognizes that Tobacco Makes the World Poorer Sustainable Development Goals Adopted at UN Summit NEW YORK, NY – Friday, September 25, 2015 – Today, the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a plan

What does peanut butter have to do with tobacco?

Recently, a landmark case was decided in federal court in Georgia. The subject of the case? Peanut butter. The Peanut Butter Case: United States of America vs. Stewart Parnell From 2008-2009, there was an outbreak of salmonella infections in the U.S., an epidemic eventually linked to contaminated peanut butter. As

Big Trade Agreements … Big Tobacco

By Chris Bostic, for Health and Trade Network As the role of tobacco companies in trade agreements on both sides of the Atlantic has been highlighted by a series of controversial events in recent weeks, this HaT paper is presented as a summary of the current key issues in the

New study links e-cig use in teens to smoking initiation

Importance Exposure to nicotine in electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) is becoming increasingly common among adolescents who report never having smoked combustible tobacco. Objective To evaluate whether e-cigarette use among 14-year-old adolescents who have never tried combustible tobacco is associated with risk of initiating use of 3 combustible tobacco products (ie, cigarettes,

Legal Events

The American Society of International Law ( ASIL), the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network ( ACS CAN), and ASH hosted: Tobacco and International Law: Evaluating and Enforcing the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Wednesday, September 16, 2015   The world’s first public health treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco

Tobacco farmers are a pawn in the TPP game

But tobacco farmers are not part of the game Mitch McConnell and other pro-tobacco politicians have become very vocal over the past two weeks in their opposition to a potential partial tobacco exemption in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. And just as in so many other political debates, they are