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Consultation On 23rd July 2012, the Ministry of health in New Zealand announced that: ‘the Government has agreed in principle to introduce a plain packaging regime for tobacco, subject to the outcome of a consultation process.’1 The consultation process in New Zealand ran between the 23rd July 2012 and the 5th of October 2012.1 Tobacco Industry Campaign Against…

Arguments against plain packaging have been prominent on industry websites. Screengrab from http://www.plainpack.com/home.aspx BAT Australia campaign website On 21 November 2011, the Australian Parliament passed the government’s proposed plain packaging legislation, and as a result, since 1 December 2012, all tobacco products sold in Australia must be in plain packaging.13 The legislation bans the use of logos,…

Image 1: Plain packs Australia Australia was the first country in the world to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products. From 1 December 2012 all tobacco companies were prohibited by law to use brand logos, colours or promotional text on their tobacco packaging. Branding is restricted to the name of the manufacturer and the name of the product displayed…

PinneyAssociates is a health consultancy based in the United States (US), which has actively promoted tobacco harm reduction. Pinney Associates website states that it helps its “pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare clients to reduce their regulatory risk and enhance the commercial value of its life sciences products”.29 Background PinneyAssociates was founded in 1994 by John Pinney, who previously worked…

Dr Francesco Calderoni is a research fellow at Transcrime, a collaborative research group between the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan and the University of Trento.78 Transcrime refers to itself as an independent academic centre which determines its own research agenda, although it does acknowledge that such research may also be developed through contracts with and funding…

Francis Roe was a scientific consultant to the Tobacco Advisory Council and British American Tobacco.86 Sharon Boyse, one of BAT’s scientists, referred to Roe in 1991 in response to a proposal to commission Roe as an expert on the proposed EEC health warnings:87 He Roe has been a consultant to BAT for many years.

The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is an international treaty that aims to reduce the demand and supply of tobacco.  It entered into force on 27 February 2005, with 168 signatories, and is “one of the most widely embraced treaties in UN history”.8889 After 2004, countries wishing to become a Party to the…

The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW) releases information on who it gives grants to as part of its annual tax returns.99100101102103 The Foundation now also includes a list of awarded grantees and associated grants on its website,104 with each grant being assigned to one of three categories: Health and Science…

The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW) describes itself as “an independent, non-profit organization”124 that was established and is “operated free from the control or influence of any third party”, which “makes grants and supports medical, agricultural, and scientific research to end smoking and its health effects and to address the impact of reduced worldwide demand for tobacco”.125…

The Forum for EU/US Legal-Economic Affairs was established in 1989 by The Mentor Group, an American organisation established in 1983 “to conduct legal and economic studies and research for scholars and officials of the United States of America and Europe”.293 The Forum describes itself as “a peer group of EU and US Supreme Court Justices, European Union…