Around the world, sales volumes of combustible cigarettes are dropping. Meanwhile, growth rates are substantial across a range of tobacco harm reduction products. These trends suggest that some consumers are swapping out conventional cigarettes for newer products—a phenomenon that Jacob Grier refers to as the “creative destruction” of the cigarette industry. Of course, it’s too […]

Surveying the room in Solapur, I’m struck first by the elegance of the women’s saris, and second, by the iPad. Equipped with advanced facial recognition software, the machine’s sophistication stands in stark contrast to the rest of the scene, which otherwise comprises piles of tendu leaves, processed tobacco, thread, and perilously sharp sheers. Over the […]

I attended the 25th Anniversary of Liberation Day in Kigali on July 4, 2019, commemorating the end of the genocide. The contrast between “then” and today was extraordinary.     Parade commemorating the 25th Anniversary of Liberation Day in Kigali on July 4, 2019.   Rwanda has made progress since 1994 toward attaining many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). […]

The Strait of Messina between Sicily and Calabria, Italy, has seen ancient civilizations come and go. Conquer and be conquered. Odysseus describes how Scylla, a six-headed monster, awaits sailors on the one shore and Charybdis, a giant whirlpool, is ready to swallow the entire ship. In the face of these dangers, what does one do?   Similar […]

By the late 1980s, the World Health Organization (WHO) had started to ramp up efforts to address global tobacco control. World No Tobacco Day was created by the Member States of the WHO in 1987, whereby the World Health Assembly (WHA) passed Resolution WHA40.38 that called for April 7, 1988, to be a “a world no-smoking day.” […]