The EU is preparing a due diligence law by June 2021 to hold companies accountable for their impact on people and the planet. There is an urgent need to address the human rights violations, child labour, environmental impact, and disinformation of the tobacco industry, write Helen Stjerna, Farida Akhter, and Sonja von Eichborn.
Recent polling evidence shows that public appetite for yet more measures to clamp down on smoking has been exhausted, says Guillaume Périgois.
France has been the worst hit by illegal tobacco among the countries of the EU, and Algeria is one of its main suppliers. EURACTIV recently discussed the situation with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). It stated that France can …
When consumers make decisions in the marketplace, they are voting with their wallets, writes Yaël Ossowski.
If the EU truly wants to be the global progressive trading power, it needs to make sure its trade policy does not promote ill-health, and instead makes a real contribution to the SDGs, writes George Thurley.
Plain packaging policy has been unsuccessful in reducing smoking rates and health-care costs in Australia and it will fail to do so in Europe too, writes Sinclair Davidson.
Plans to tackle the problem of illicit tobacco by using track and trace technologies are gathering momentum among European policymakers. But Juan Yañez warns that concerns about the type and timing of the technology need to be raised.
Consumers make hundreds of choices every day, some of which imply weighing the tradeoffs of joy versus long term health. These are highly subjective decisions, and in a free society adult consumers should have the right to make these choices and not have them dictated to them by public health tsars, writes Fred Roeder.
The EU wants to tackle counterfeit pharmaceuticals and tobacco. Tracking, tracing and authentication (TT&A) has a big role to play in this. But who should be tasked with implementing and monitoring it? Craig Stobie explains how the problem should be handled.
What would the world be like if tobacco control NGOs did not exist? What kind of society would we live in? How would our lives be different if the tobacco industry had its way?
Declining smoking rates in Europe mean less tax revenue for many fiscally strained governments. Trying to make up for these losses with a tax on e-cigarettes would be a big mistake, writes Alex Brill.
In his State of the Union speech, Jean-Claude Juncker called the Canada-EU trade agreement the most progressive trade agreement the EU has ever negotiated. It actually poses a genuine threat to the health sector, argues Emma Woodford.
The considerable problems posed by the illicit trade in tobacco products are widely recognised, yet agreeing on how to provide an effective solution is still the subject of deliberation and delays, writes Nicola Sudan.
The UK's vote to leave the European Union has come at a crucial moment in the development of an international medical project that throws into sharp relief the state of flux Brexit has cast over collaborative research, says Jack Barton.
The trade in illicit tobacco is a massive problem, but the European Commission has been presented with a golden opportunity to strike a blow against the smugglers. But it must look long-term, writes Eric Lequenne.
Vaping is a zero-cost, consumer-driven solution to fight smoking that should get public health regulators excited. Instead, the EU has adopted legislation that severely limits advertising for vaping, writes Marc Michelsen.
Jean-Claude Juncker had the unique opportunity to make his State of the Union speech special. Unfortunately, he left many of Europe’s “monumental” challenges unaddressed, writes Kristina Sperkova.
It is almost two years to the day that Commission President José Manuel Barroso sacked his Public Health Commissioner John Dalli after a tobacco lobbying scandal. Green MEPs Bart Staes and José Bové reflect on why the Barroso Commission's legacy will be one where lobbying, conflicts of interests and corporate interests took over European decision making. They discuss if that legacy will live on in the negotiations over TTIP.
Something is wrong with the punitive nature with which most of the world approaches tobacco and nicotine regulation. In contrast, the harm reduction approach taking shape in the US, if properly implemented, could put a huge dent in tobacco related disease, argues Jeff Stier.
There is no excuse not to enshrine better tobacco control laws in the new Tobacco Products Directive, since there is no ambiguity as to the need for action and the availability of effective policies, says Dr Katrín Fjeldsted.
If the draft EU Tobacco Products Directive is approved, it will allow the continued sale of pharmaceutical products sold as aids to smoking cessation, which have been shown over and over again to be largely ineffective, says Gilbert Ross.
The emergence of smokeless tobacco in Sweden and now Norway should make the European Commission think twice about its decision to impose a ban, writes Steve Stotesbury.
There is no surprise that EU Health officials are not listening to tobacco retailers and the tobacco industry, smoking costs the EU the equivalent of its budget each year, according to three public health campaigners.
Reversing the digital slide McKinsey Quarterly, 2001 nr 4 Policy relevance: Commission President Romano Prodi stated "the story of the e-Economy is complex, but it is one we need to understand". This article gives some insight into the on-line media world, comparing it …
