Latest news with #tobaccoControl
Washington Post
05-07-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
Tobacco report shows progress on anti-smoking policies worldwide
Measures linked to falling tobacco use worldwide now reach 6.1 billion people — or 75 percent of the global population, according to a report from the World Health Organization. The report, issued at the recent World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin, found that 2.6 billion people in 79 countries are covered by smoke-free policies in indoor public places.
BBC News
30-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Sheffield campaign to help smokers quit wins council praise
A campaign in Sheffield to help people quit, or cut down, smoking has been praised by the council for its Sheffield, which works alongside 50 partner organisations, was hailed for its efforts to reduce the percentage of smokers in the city to 5% or 2023, 10.3% of Sheffield's residents identified as smokers, according to the most recent data from the Office for National Statistics, compared to 17.6% in City Council's director of public health, Greg Fell, congratulated the campaign on a "good news story" and vowed the work, and funding, would continue: "There's zero chance that we won't be doing comprehensive work on tobacco control in Sheffield." Sarah Hepworth, the campaign's tobacco-control lead, said Smoke-Free Sheffield wanted to achieve a "smoke-free generation by 2030 across all social groups" - according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service."Smoking affects health, wealth, happiness and opportunities to work, climate change and the wider economy in Sheffield," she added shifting the focus of campaigns to helping people cut down on smoking, as well as supporting them to stop completely, had had a "tremendous" she said 53,000 adults in Sheffield continued to smoke, and, on average, this group saw their GP a third more frequently than highlighted how smokers were more likely to be people struggling with mental health issues or living in deprived areas. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds or catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Silent No More: Protesters Demand Consumer Voice at Tobacco Control Summit
WVA's protest in Dublin DUBLIN, June 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On the opening day of the World Conference on Tobacco Control (WCTC) in Dublin, the World Vapers' Alliance staged a silent protest outside the venue, visually highlighting the exclusion of consumers from global tobacco and nicotine policy debates. Demonstrators with their mouths taped symbolised the ongoing marginalisation of those most affected by regulatory decisions. The protest is part of the 'Voices Unheard—Consumers Matter!' campaign, launched as delegates gathered inside to discuss the future of tobacco control without meaningful input from the consumers who are most impacted by these policies. This exclusion is especially concerning with COP11 in Geneva approaching and the World Health Organization pushing for bans on flavoured nicotine products—a move that would deny adults safer alternatives. Michael Landl, Director of the World Vapers' Alliance, warned that outdated, ideologically driven policies, often influenced by powerful interests like Michael Bloomberg, threaten to reverse progress in reducing smoking rates. 'Safer nicotine alternatives have the potential to save millions of lives, but only if they are supported by sensible, evidence-based regulation. We cannot afford to let ideology stand in the way of real progress,' Landl said. The campaign comes at a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) is pushing for sweeping bans on flavoured nicotine products, including e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches. Such measures would remove vital tools from adults seeking to quit smoking and could drive many back to combustible tobacco. Alberto Gómez Hernández, Policy and Advocacy Manager for the WVA, stressed the importance of listening to consumers. 'Instead of banning flavours and safer alternatives, we need policies that protect both youth and adult smokers who want to quit smoking,' he explained. The protest underscores the urgent need for genuine consumer inclusion and evidence-based harm reduction as the world prepares for COP11. For media enquiries and high-resolution images, please contact: Michael Landl info@ VAPERS' ALLIANCE INC 18117 BISCAYNE BLVD PMB 60190 MIAMI, FL 33160 High-quality pictures of the protest can be found here. More information about flavour bans: More about the WVA's demands: A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
The Guardian
23-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Vapes threaten to undo gains in tackling dangers of tobacco, health leaders warn
Aggressively marketed vapes threaten to undo progress made on smoking control, according to the World Health Organization. Officials, speaking at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin, said efforts were stalling when it came to helping tobacco users to quit, campaigning in the media on the dangers, and imposing higher taxes on tobacco products. Young people were particularly vulnerable, it added. Countries should consider extending the graphic health warnings already required on cigarette packets to vapes or e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and nicotine pouches, the WHO said. In many countries, tobacco products had become more affordable in the past decade, the report said, despite a WHO recommendation that cigarettes should be taxed at 75%. While cigarettes became less affordable in 46 countries, they became more affordable in 42 others, including 23 low or middle-income countries. In 133 countries, vapes and similar devices are now regulated in some way – up from only eight in 2007. However, 62 countries apply no regulations at all. The extent of regulation varies, with almost 90% of wealthier countries either regulating or banning sales, compared with 66% of middle-income and only 27% of poor countries. In the UK, disposable vapes were banned this month in a bid to prevent young people using them and on environmental grounds. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, said: 'Twenty years since the adoption of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, we have many successes to celebrate, but the tobacco industry continues to evolve and so must we.' The report highlights nicotine pouches and heated tobacco products, as well as vapes, as examples of new products. Dr Rüdiger Krech, the WHO's director of health promotion, said they were 'aggressively marketed in ways that undermine hard-won public health gains'. He said national regulators could not be expected to deal with an onslaught of 'thousands' of new products, which represented an attempt by tobacco companies to focus attention away from their 'major business' of traditional tobacco. He added, however, that it was 'hugely important to regulate these new products, because they are attracting children and young people to actually use nicotine, and that's with the addiction that it brings', which he said would lead to tobacco use. Data is not available for all countries, but surveys suggest about 6% of children aged 13 to 15 use e-cigarettes. The WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic focuses on six tobacco control measures and rates countries on how far they have implemented them. These include taxation, introducing smoke-free air legislation, and offering smokers help to quit. Other measures include monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies, bans on tobacco advertising and sponsorship, and warning people about the dangers via pack labels and information campaigns. Since 2007, 155 countries have implemented at least one of the six measures at 'best-practice' level, the report found, with four countries – Brazil, Mauritius, the Netherlands and Turkey – implementing the full package. However, 40 countries have no measure at best-practice level, and more than 30 countries still allow cigarettes to be sold with no mandatory health warning. It means billions of people remain unprotected from the ill effects of tobacco, which claims kills more than 7 million people a year, the report warned. Alison Cox, director of policy and advocacy at the NCD [non-communicable disease] Alliance, said: 'It's clear that there is a long way to go if we are to reduce the many unnecessary tobacco related illnesses and premature deaths still occurring globally. 'Raising taxes is one of the most effective measures that offers governments a triple win of reducing tobacco consumption, saving lives and healthcare costs, while raising much-needed revenue.'
The Independent
23-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Call for more taxes on smoking to make up cuts to global aid funding
Larger taxes should be placed on cigarettes around the world, experts have warned – with progress on tackling tobacco use having slowed for the first time in decades according to a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report. In the past decade the number of countries with at least one tobacco control measure in place – whether that's increased taxes, health warnings on packages, bans on advertising or smoking in public places – jumped from roughly 45 to more than 150. But of the seven such tobacco control measures recommended by the WHO, making cigarettes and other tobacco products more expensive through taxes has seen least progress. The WHO put the overall slowing of progress down to disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as challenges posed by the need to regulate a raft of new products like vapes, which the report said 'threaten[ed] to undo earlier progress made' in the more than 20 years since the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was agreed . 'Raising prices through taxation is the most effective way to reduce tobacco use,' the WHO report said, adding that this measure had only risen from 13 per cent in 2018 to 15 per cent in 2024. Speaking at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin, WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "The greatest gains have been made in developing countries where despite aggressive industry interference, governments and civil society have demonstrated that change for the better is possible. Yet, challenges remain.' 'Raising taxes on tobacco is a proven way to reduce tobacco use while generating revenues to reinvest in health." Dr Tedros added that raising taxes on cigarettes could help make up for cuts to global aid funding – particularly driven by Donald Trump and the US, but also including the UK and a number of other countries – which is expected to hit tobacco control efforts. 'And with [overseas development assistance] falling or the funding level for health falling, the taxes could be used for the gaps that are happening in many countries,' he said as he also called for more research on the health impact of new tobacco and nicotine products like vapes and smokeless tobacco. Andrew Black, who works on the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control said: 'We're facing a really challenging problem especially when it comes to securing the resources that are needed to fight tobacco'. 'What we really need to do is to encourage governments to look domestically for sources of revenue... The very obvious place to look is through tobacco taxation,' he added. A tool developed by Johns Hopkins University in the US found increasing taxes on a pack of cigarettes in Kenya by 75 per cent could raise enough money to cover more than three-quarters of the funds lost to the country through foreign aid cuts. Dr Guy Marks, president of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, said: 'The reduction in funding for global health is a huge catastrophe for many things. Actually, tobacco control is one area which should be less affected by this than most others [if governments raise tobacco taxes].' 'Why does that not happen? It does not happen, because governments are convinced that they actually gain more revenue for continuing to allow tobacco to be sold," he added. "Why is this the case? Because there are huge political and other interests in countries that support the sale of tobacco.' Global tobacco industry watchdog STOP estimated $1.8 trillion (£1.3tn) US dollars were lost worldwide to tobacco due to the costs of healthcare and lost wages from tobacco-related illness. But some major strides have been made towards controlling tobacco use around the world over the past ten years. More countries have applied graphic health warnings to cigarette packs since 2007 than any other measure, with bans on smoking in public places being the next most common new measure to be introduced. But in many cases countries applying stark health warnings to cigarette packs demand no such thing on smokeless tobacco, which the WHO said could, 'wrongly suggest that some products are harmless'. And while there has been a rise in rules or bans on e-cigarettes, also known as vapes, more than 60 countries have no restrictions on sales of vapes at all. Hazel Cheeseman, the chief executive of UK public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said the progress was 'heartening' but that there was much left to be done. 'Tobacco taxes are one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking and can also raise revenue to support health systems. With 134 countries yet to make progress in this area this is an area of significantly untapped potential,' she said. 'Ending the harms from tobacco takes time and I hope the UK government will continue to provide assistance to other countries for the long term helping to secure a planet where no one dies from tobacco related illness.'
