Action to stamp out tobacco use can help countries prevent millions of people falling ill and dying from tobacco-related disease, combat poverty and, according to a first-ever WHO report, reduce large-scale environmental degradation.
By Carissa F. Etienne (*) Though the devastating health effects of tobacco use are well known, tobacco’s negative repercussions extend well beyond the obvious health outcomes.
A Canadian court has ordered three tobacco companies to pay 15.5bn Canadian dollars ($12bn), the largest award for damages in the country's history. The plaintiffs were Quebec smokers who said the firms failed to warn them of health risks associated with smoking.
The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) is supporting the Government of Uruguay as it defends its tobacco control policies against claims brought by the Philip Morris tobacco company.
At 2.3 billion, the number of people worldwide covered by at least one life-saving measure to limit tobacco use has more than doubled in the last five years, according to the WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2013. The number of people covered by bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, the focus of this year’s report, increased by almost 400 million people residing mainly in low- and middle-income countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday it strongly welcomes the landmark decision from Australia’s High Court to dismiss a legal challenge from the tobacco industry, and calls on the rest of the world to follow Australia’s tough stance on tobacco marketing.
The World Health Organization, WHO, Director-General Margaret Chan urged the world to “stand shoulder to shoulder” against the tobacco industry’s attempts to overturn Australia’s new path breaking tobacco control law.
The City of Buenos Aires put forth the steps to become 100% smoke-free, after amendments were made to the anti-tobacco laws, totally prohibiting the use of smoking areas in restaurants and bars in Argentina’s capital.
President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday signed a law banning smoking in all enclosed public spaces in Brazil. The new text will make Brazil, which has a population of more than 191 million, the largest country in the world to go smoke-free.
The World Health Organization, WHO praised Uruguay and Canada as pioneers on legislation demanding large graphic health warnings on package of tobacco, on the release of its third periodic report on the global tobacco epidemic.