Tag: tobacco
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My battle to counter second-hand smoke in strata buildings in NSW
Alisa Vartuli Change often starts from the ground up, but meaningful and lasting change also requires leadership and collaborative action. Nowhere has this been clearer to me than in my own home. When my young family moved into a strata building, I never imagined we would face a health challenge…
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2025 brought big break-throughs for public health
Terry Slevin As 2025 winds down towards a holiday season, it’s time to reflect on the year that was for public health issues. 2025 will be long remembered as the year that Parliament created the national Centre for Disease Control from the current interim version. After decades of advocacy…
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Playing the long game: 40 years of Quit
Thomas Kehoe Australia is lauded for its leadership in the global fight against tobacco. This is exemplified in passing new tobacco control interventions to tackle tobacco induced disease, which began on 1 July. Measures include graphic health warnings on cigarette packs and sticks, and a ban on menthol and other…
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How language shapes the fight against the Tobacco Industry
Raglan Maddox, Michelle Scollo, Kylie Lindorff, and Melissa Jones Language is powerful. It shapes community perceptions as well as academic, media, and political narratives. Through this mechanism, it influences political appetite for particular programs and policies. The Tobacco Industry sells a product that is not only uniquely dangerous but also…
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Can we eradicate commercial tobacco disease and death?
Raglan Maddox and Michelle Kennedy The commercial Tobacco Industry continues to profit off addiction, disease, and death, perpetuating health inequities. For over 70 years, we have known that when used as directed, commercial tobacco products kill. Australia has been a leader in tobacco control through plain packaging, tax reforms, and…
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Calling time on tobacco vending machines
Dr Christina Watts, Dr Natalia Lizama and Professor Suzan Burton Many of us know someone who only smokes when they drink. Perhaps they’re a former smoker, are currently trying to quit, or only feel compelled to smoke when they’re at the pub. This isn’t merely anecdotal – there is strong evidence…
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It’s time for tobacco retailers to pay a higher fee
PHAA New research has prompted experts to call on all Australian Governments to adopt a higher standard of tobacco licensing regulation, including higher fees, to help drive down smoking rates. Tobacco licensing was changed significantly in South Australia in January 2007, when the annual cost of retail tobacco licences rose…
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‘Sounds Like’ it’s time to quit smoking
Neeka Zamani, Cancer Council WA Editor’s note: In the first of a series of Western Australia-based blogs published on Intouch, Neeka Zamani from Cancer Council WA outlines the renewal of a campaign focused on ‘warning signs’ and smoking. Tobacco use is still the largest cause of preventable death and…
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Cutting a path through the bush: the benefits of comprehensive measures
PHAA CEO, Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin Health Minister Mark Butler’s National Press Club address on 2 May 2023 was a watershed moment when it comes to public health in Australia. He announced a wide-ranging package of measures to tackle the public health scourge of tobacco and vaping. It included a…
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On World No Tobacco Day, read an expert’s perspective on e-cigarettes
Editor’s note: Today, Wednesday 31 May, marks World No Tobacco Day. Yesterday, Associate Professor Michelle Jongenelis spoke before the Health and Environment Committee on their inquiry into reducing rates of e-cigarette use in Queensland. Read her opening statement below. Associate Professor Michelle Jongenelis Thank you for the opportunity to appear…
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‘A buzz of excitement’: Prof Jacquie Bowden gives wrap up of Preventive Health Conference 2023
Image: Members of the Prevention 2023 Conference Advisory Committee. Top row L-R: Stephanie Kilpatrick, Mary Brushe, Stephen Harfield, Prof Jacquie Bowden. Bottom row L-R: Prof James Smith, Erin Bowen, Adj Prof Terry Slevin, Christine Morris, Laurianne Reinsborough, Dr Anna Chevalier. Professor Jacquie Bowden, Chair of the Preventive Health Conference…
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No butts about stopping tobacco damaging the environment
On this World No Tobacco Day, we remember another victim of the tobacco industry – the environment Dr Michelle I Jongenelis, University of Melbourne, Dr Sarah L White, Quit Victoria, and Kate Noble, WWF Australia May 31st marks World No Tobacco Day. An initiative of the World Health Organization, World No…
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Public health measures can help balance the Budget
Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin – PHAA CEO This post is the second in our series of articles exploring the PHAA’s 2022-23 pre-Budget submission, The Public Health Crisis Budget. Read the first post here. Government revenue, primarily gathered through taxes, is and always has been, a fundamentally political issue. Governments need…
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Despite a downward trend, smoking is still taking too many Australian lives
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA While the prevalence of smoking has steadily declined (by 75%) in the last 40 years in Australia, it still contributes to around 20,000 deaths a year – that’s 20 times more than the number of deaths on our roads. Tobacco is also the leading cause of…
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Formula 1 Wheels Are Smoking: Tobacco Industry’s Interminable Advertising Influence in Sport
Mary-Anne Land – PHAA In 2021, the tobacco industry is projected to spend more than $100 million on Formula 1 sponsorship. The staggering amount confirms a concerning trend: tobacco industry spending in F1 has increased, reaching its highest levels since 2006—the year tobacco companies were supposed to be banned from…
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Making tobacco companies responsible for our most common item of litter
Cigarette butts have long been the most common item of litter globally. About four and a half trillion cigarette butts are disposed of in the environment each year. Despite the decrease in the number of smokers in Australia, butts remain the single most common item of litter.