I recently addressed the 2020 GTNF conference on the topic of “who is getting tobacco regulation right?”. My answer was blunt: at present, very few! If we were, we would not have eight million deaths a year from tobacco use. Nor would we have 1.3 billion people still using tobacco products, most in a toxic […]

Many “dirty” industries are actively shifting their actions to correct negative health, environmental, and social impacts. Through research and disruptive technologies, they are ushering in many beneficial changes, such as the decline of the internal combustion engine; increased sales of foods with less salt, sugar, and saturated fats; the emergence of sustainable energy companies; and […]

An effective COVID-19 vaccine could help us emerge from isolation and end the social distancing required during this pandemic; but it will only work if people are willing to be vaccinated.1 We conducted a survey in June of 2020 that addressed whether people’s willingness to use a COVID-19 vaccine and adopt other preventive healthcare measures […]

Many habits—both healthy and unhealthy—are established during adolescence. For this reason, strong data regarding youth behaviors can be of immense value to health policymakers, as well as schools and parents. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) seeks to gather precisely this type of data. Yet the survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control […]

In his recent article, “Co-optation of harm reduction by Big Tobacco,” Timothy Dewhirst opens with a correct and critical message: ‍“Harm reduction is a respected public health strategy for managing addictive behaviours that pose severe health risks.” Yet, his further treatment of the topic aims to delegitimize the most vital harm reduction project of our […]