..read more

As a surgeon for 21 years, I’ve seen the extensive, heartbreaking toll tobacco products take on the human body. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disability in the world, claiming the lives of nearly 500,000 Americans each year. Smoking is directly linked to over 13 different human cancers, along with a host of other illnesses including heart disease, stroke, emphysema, and diabetes. As a medical biochemist and former vice president of research and development and environmental affairs at Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, my co-author became a key whistleblower ag ..read more

Our goal at ASH is to protect everyone from the harms of tobacco. One way we strive to achieve that goal is by reducing health inequities and fighting for everyone’s right to health. In honor of International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), here are some of the ways ASH is working towards that goal for you. Lawsuit against the FDA ASH, with our partners at the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, the American Medical Association, and the National Medical Association, sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for it’s inaction on menthol cigarettes. Th ..read more

March 17, 2023 | Geneva, Switzerland Andres del Castillo of Peru addresses the UN Human Rights Council on behalf of Peru, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Vanuatu, Brazil, Portugal, Luxemburg, Malta, Armenia, Chile, Mexico, Georgia, Finland, Germany, Ukraine, Croatia, Cyprus, Maldives, Slovenia, Uruguay, Ireland, Panamá, Colombia, Belgium, Angola, Paraguay, Switzerland, France, Marshall Islands, Fiji, Greece, Latvia, and Argentina. These 33 countries urge that the negotiations of the UN Plastic Pollution Treaty be firmly rooted in a human rights-based approach ..read more

Today, 200 million of the world’s one billion people who smoke are women[1] and 2.15 million women die from tobacco use every year.[2] Over 71% of those women live in low- and middle-income countries[3], where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is heaviest.[4] While overall, smoking rates are decreasing, tobacco use among women is decreasing at a significantly lower rate than in men, and in some countries, women are smoking more.[5] For example, in France between 1980 and 2012, despite a 6.3% decrease in smoking among men, there was a 75% increase in smoking among women.2 Women an ..read more

The ASH Board of Trustees hereby authorizes a fulltime leave of absence for Executive Director Laurent Huber to enable him to attend to matters of personal health. The leave shall begin on February 13, 2023, and shall continue to November 13, 2023, or such earlier time as the Board, in consultation with Executive Director Huber, may authorize.  During Huber’s absence, Chief Operating Officer Liz Furgurson shall serve as Acting Executive Director, with full authority to exercise the executive functions and responsibilities of the organization.  The ASH Board does not anticipate any si ..read more

Public health, and more specifically tobacco control, sits at the vortex of many important social issues such as development, human rights, law, and social justice. Tobacco companies have been aggressively targeting African Americans for generations with menthol cigarettes. As a result, over 85% of African Americans who smoke, smoke menthol cigarettes, and the consequences are dire.  Although African Americans usually smoke fewer cigarettes and start smoking cigarettes at an older age, they are more likely to die from smoking-related diseases than other populations, in large part due ..read more

CDC Reports: More Than Half of All Americans Support Ending the Sale of Tobacco Products Research Brief Released in Preventing Chronic Disease Media Contact:Megan Arendt-Manning (202) 390 – 9513 WASHINGTON, DC – February 2, 2023 – A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office on Smoking and Health shows a majority of Americans support phasing out the sale of all tobacco products. Read the Research Brief here> Data from a 2021 web panel survey of adults in the US aged 18 years or older (N = 6,455) showed: 62.3% of adults supported a policy prohibiting the sale o ..read more

February 4th is World Cancer Day. Cancer is the second largest cause of death worldwide, and smoking is the leading cause, directly responsible for 30% of cancer deaths. Cancer takes the lives of about ten million people annually (600,000+ in the U.S.) and costs the global economy about 1.5% of total GDP. Much of these costs, in lives and dollars, are borne by low and middle-income countries. As we continue to make strides in treating and preventing communicable diseases, cancer’s proportional impact on health will grow. Any plan to reduce the prevalence and impact of cancer will fail if it do ..read more

Oral statement | Action on Smoking and Health | January 31, 2023 Proposed Objective: To protect future generations from the environmental, health and other burdens of plastic pollution. The objective should be simple and avoid qualifiers such as “in accordance with domestic or international law” or “without undue encumbrance on economic activity.” Such caveats, if desired by Members of the Committee, can be laid out in other sections. Core obligations, control measures and voluntary approaches The production of plastic materials or products that are problematic, single-use, toxic and unnecessa ..read more