There are increasingly strict limitations on how and where tobacco companies can advertise and promote their products. It’s concerning, then, that audiences, and particularly young people, are still exposed to positive portrayals of tobacco use on TV, film and online media. In this piece, Iona Fitzpatrick of the Tobacco Control Research Group discusses her new research paper, which focuses on tobacco depictions in streamed video on demand.   The advertising and promotion of tobacco products is increasingly restricted under the terms of Article 13 of the Framework Convention for Tobacco Co ..read more

Whistleblowers have played a vital role in exposing malpractice, not least in the tobacco industry. Phil Chamberlain, Managing Editor of Tobacco Tactics, spoke to Jeffrey Wigand, "the man who knew too much", about his experiences.    In December 2021 three whistleblowers who had helped expose dirty tricks by British American Tobacco were honoured. Francois van der Westhuizen, Pieter Snyders and Paul Hopkins were among ten whistleblowers given an award by Blueprint for Free Speech. At the ceremony it was noted that the ten have paid prices ranging from retaliation, intimidation, loss ..read more

Effective tobacco control policies cut smoking rates and save lives. But they also impact tobacco industry profits, so it’s no surprise that the industry fights against them. New research from the University of Bath reveals how both traditional and newer forms of media have become powerful tools for those wishing to obstruct tobacco control.    The tobacco industry has a long history of opposing tobacco control by constructing an alternative narrative on how public health policies will negatively impact communities. Common arguments and tactics might include exaggerating the economic ..read more

While Black History Month is an opportunity to celebrate the lives and contributions of Black people in the UK and around the world, it also prompts us to reflect on past and ongoing challenges to the Black community. In this post we examine the colonialism and exploitation enshrined in the tobacco industry, and question how far the industry has moved on from historical practices.   Delving into the history of the world’s largest tobacco companies unearths some uncomfortable associations. The American company RJ Reynolds, which grew out of slave owning, tobacco farming families, is now pa ..read more

How do corporations work to influence science, and why? A new paper from University of Bath researchers Tess Legg, Jenny Hatchard and Anna Gilmore synthesises previous literature to show how eight industries use similar strategies to influence science in their favour.     The Covid pandemic has brought science and scientists to the forefront of public attention. And public trust in science – science which informs unprecedented policies that protect public health - has never been so essential. To be “guided by the science” means that the public, academics, health professionals, policy ..read more

There has been a long, polarising debate among public health experts in Europe about the potential benefits of tobacco harm reduction, and whether the wider availability of smokeless tobacco (particularly snus, a Swedish smokeless tobacco) and e-cigarette will lead to population level benefits or harms.  While no public health professionals would dispute that, for an individual smoker, a complete and permanent switch from cigarettes to snus or e-cigarettes will lead to health benefits, some have concerns that the wider availability of snus and e-cigarettes be detrimental to public health ..read more

Every year, around March/April, the government puts up taxes on cigarettes. This is an important means of both reducing and preventing tobacco use, particularly amng price sensitive smokers such as the young and the least well off. The impact of these tax increases will depend on tobacco industry pricing strategy - whether they decide to pass on the tax increase or absorb it. Yet very little is known about tobacco industry pricing and no studies had addressed this issue in the UK. Using cigarette price and volume data from a variety of sources we therefore examined cigarette pricing in Britain ..read more

Numbers of adults admitted to hospital for emergency treatment for asthma have dropped by over four per cent since smokefree legislation was introduced in England, Bath researchers have found. The researchers from the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, based at the University of Bath, found there was an immediate 4.9 per cent reduction in emergency hospital admissions for asthma in the adult population. This implies almost 1900 admissions were prevented during the first year after legislation was introduced and a similar number in the subsequent two years. In order to investigate the law t ..read more

Across the world, millions of children are involved in child labour, with the majority working in agriculture. It’s estimated that over a million of these children work in tobacco fields, putting their health and their futures at risk. In this piece we examine the latest research, the tobacco industry’s response, and consider what needs to change.   The reality of child labour Latest research from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Unicef, published for World Day Against Child Labour (12 June 2021), shows that progress to end child labour has stalled for the first time in 20 ..read more

How can we end tobacco use in the UK? Research from the Tobacco Control Research Group has been helping to hold the tobacco industry to account and supporting policy change for over 10 years. On World No Tobacco Day 2021, we consider the current status of smoking in the UK, and outline how our research can continue to contribute to change.    In 1962, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) published a ground-breaking report called Smoking and Health. In a UK population of 56 million, just over 50% of men, and just under 50% of women, smoked cigarettes, and tobacco smoking was the lead ..read more