OBJECTIVE To analyze how the tobacco industry influenced tobacco control policymaking in Costa Rica. MATERIALS AND METHODS Review of tobacco industry documents, tobacco control legislation, newspaper articles, and interviewing of key informants. RESULTS During the mid-to-late 1980s, Health Ministry issued several advanced (for their time) smoking restriction decrees causing British American...

OBJECTIVE To describe cigarette labeling policies in Latin America and the Caribbean as of August 2010. MATERIAL AND METHODS Review of tobacco control legislation of all 33 countries of the region; analysis of British American Tobacco (BAT)'s corporate social reports; analysis of information from cigarette packages collected in 27 countries. RESULTS In 2002, Brazil became the first country ...

Assisting tobacco farmers to transition to non-tobacco alternatives is a key element of comprehensive tobacco control's end-game strategy and specifically required by the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC). We examine the historical relationship between tobacco manufacturers and tobacco farmers in the United States, where the duration of the relation...

The publication of a special communication by Ronald Davis in this issue (see page 211) about a report on the effect of tobacco advertising bans (‘‘the Boddewyn report’’) that was in fact ghost-written by British American Tobacco caused one of us to experience a memory flashback to the mid-1980s. At that time, MW was working as a research officer in a state health department in Adelaide, South ...

The World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is increasingly seen as offering a template for advancing effective global health governance in other spheres, notably including alcohol. In thinking about lessons that can be transferred, there simplifying tendency to overstate the FCTC's transformative impacts and, more problematically, neglect significance of ...

BACKGROUND Tobacco production is said to be an important contributor to Zambia's economy in terms of labour and revenue generation. In light of Zambia's obligations under the WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) we examined the institutional actors in Zambia's tobacco sector to better understand their roles and determine the institutional context that supports tobacco production i...

Mauritius is one of the twelve sub-Saharan countries participating in the African Tobacco Situation Analysis initiative, supported by the International Development and Research Centre and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The need to survey health professionals on their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices with respect to tobacco use and smoking cessation was identified as Mauritius...

a Canadian Cancer Society, 116 Albert Street, Ottawa, ON, Canada. Correspondence to Rob Cunningham (e-mail: [email protected]). The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)1 – the international tobacco treaty – is revolutionizing health warnings on tobacco product packaging worldwide. The treaty was approved on 21 May 2003, came into force on 27 February 2005 and now has 165 P...