In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the Global Strategy to Accelerate Tobacco Control 2019-2025 (GS2025). Described as “a blueprint for the global tobacco control community,” this strategy sought to accelerate implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Two years later, one cannot help but notice the absence of any report […]

Smoking remains a major public health challenge in Rhode Island. While Rhode Island has one of the lowest reported youth smoking rates in the US at 4.2%, and smoking rates have declined from 17.4% to 14.4% from 2011-2016 for adults and 13% to 4.2% from 2009-2019 for high school students, roughly a quarter of RI’s […]

Tobacco is a sector for which it is common for investors to exclude or underweight the stocks. Anti-tobacco groups encourage this stance. For example, Tobacco Free Portfolios aims to reduce and ultimately eliminate all investment in tobacco. In this context, an underweight position holds an insufficient amount of a particular security compared to the weight of that […]

In a recent article on the risk factors and perceptions of e-cigarettes in South Africa, researchers led by Mageshree Naidoo concluded that e-cigarettes could cause harm to both users and non-users, and public health would be improved if these products were not available. This conclusion ignores the growing scientific evidence that e-cigarettes are less harmful […]

Tobacco smoking is the world’s leading cause of preventable death and disease, and quitting smoking can produce considerable and immediate health benefits. Most smokers who want to quit tend to do so without assistance, but some use prescription medication or nicotine replacement therapies. Initial efforts using these methods are often unsuccessful. In fact, approximately half […]