Progress in reducing tobacco use is a key indicator for measuring countries’ efforts to implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control – target 3.a under the Sustainable Development Goals agenda. Countries have adopted this indicator to report progress also towards the tobacco reduction target under the Global Action Plan …
Japan’s smoking rate has dropped below 20 percent for the first time, according to a new survey, as a recent rise in cigarette prices helped to further discourage the habit. The proportion of adult smokers stood at 19.7 percent as of May, down 1.2 percentage points from a year earlier …
E-cigarettes are likely to be much less harmful than conventional cigarettes, an analysis of current scientific research suggests. Scientists argue replacing conventional cigarettes with electronic ones could reduce smoking-related deaths even though long-term effects are unknown. In the journal Addiction, researchers suggest e-cigarettes should face less stringent regulations than tobacco. …
Japan’s smoking rate in 2014 fell below 20 percent for the first time since such statistics began being compiled in 1965, Japan Tobacco Inc. said on Wednesday. The rate dropped for the 19th consecutive year to stand at 19.7 percent, down 1.2 points from the previous year. The decline reflected …
More investors are moving their support from the tobacco and fossil fuel industries in favour of more ethical and socially responsible investments. Managed funds held in ethical and sustainable investments grew by 51% in the past 12 months to more than $25bn, research shows. The Responsible Investment Association Australasia says …
A jury in northwest Florida awarded a staggering $23 billion judgment late Friday against the country’s second-largest tobacco company for causing the death of a chain smoker of lung cancer at the age of 36. The company, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., promised a prompt appeal. Michael Johnson Sr. died in …
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan’s anti-tobacco activism has paid off. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Thursday announced a 11-72% hike in excise duty on cigarettes, cigars, cheroots and cigarillos in his Budget speech. Excise duty has also been hiked by 4% on pan masala, by 5% on unmanufactured tobacco and by …
Mr Jaitley has fallen into the old trap of financing meaningless cleaning initiatives Listening to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Budget 2014 seemed to be a little bit of everything and lots of nothing. It is also difficult to pass a verdict on a government that has had barely 45 …
Supreme Court today insisted that the Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) should not be allowed to release to the market packets of cigarettes that do not display 60% of pictorial health warnings after December 31, 2014.
Anti-tobacco activists have called for more specifics in Beijing's legislation on smoking control, which is now under review and expected to take effect in 2015. Under the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which China signed in 2003, the law taking shape in Beijing should include more specific …
According to this WHO report 28 million people die each year from Non-communicable diseases in developing countries, mainly from cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes Current global mortality from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) remains unacceptably high and is increasing. Thirty-eight million people die each year from NCDs, mainly from …
Lawmakers in New Jersey, with some of the toughest anti-smoking laws in the U.S., are seeking more restrictions with the first statewide ban at beaches and parks and the nation’s highest minimum age, 21, to buy tobacco. The proposals come as Republican Governor Chris Christie, a 51-year-old Republican considering a …
Deputy Solicitor General Sanjay Rajaratnam yesterday told the Supreme Court that the State would not enforce till July 11, the gazette regulations stipulating that cigarette packets contain pictorial warnings covering 60% of their display areas. Earlier, it was decreed that the new regulations take effect from July 1, 2014. The …
Indonesia told cigarette makers on Tuesday to start putting graphic warnings on cigarette packaging, the government's boldest step to reduce smoking in the world's third-largest cigarette market. "Starting today, cigarette producers must start to print the warning" of the health hazards smoking can pose, said Minister of Social Welfare Agung …
Tobacco claimed as many as 57,000 lives and crippled 3.82 lakh in the country every year, according to a written statement issued by Bangladesh Anti-Tobacco Alliance (BATA) on Monday. Addressing a press briefing at Dhaka reporters’ Unity (DRU), the BATA general secretary Syed Mahbub Alam placed five points demand to …
In a surprising demand of cigarettes in a small settlement of Olangchungola with 54 households, approximately Rs 100,000 worth of ‘cancer sticks’ are sold every month. According to the 2011 census, the total population of the settlement in Gola figured at 239, comprising of 127 males and 112 females. Interestingly, …
Tobacco: Unlike before, individuals caught selling, distributing, cultivating, or manufacturing tobacco and its products would not be charged under the fourth degree felony henceforth. For a first time offense, they would now have to pay a fine equivalent to a minimum of a year and maximum of 35 months of …
E-cigarettes require strict regulation at a time when there’s been little research into potential harm, more than 100 scientists told the World Health Organization in a letter. The group said the health organization should support marketing regulation, safety and efficacy data requirements and protection for bystanders from second-hand vapor. A …
Two other hospitals are Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital and Government Staff Hospital A High Court bench yesterday asked the authorities of three hospitals, including Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), to explain within four weeks why they should not be directed to ensure their premises free from tobacco. …
