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The first ENSP
Youth Tobacco Control Leadership School
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On 17 November 2022, the first ENSP Youth Tobacco Control Leadership School has come to an end, opening new paths for the tobacco control community. After 3 intensive days in Warsaw, Poland, a group of young people learned essential information and gained strong skills to put to good use in advocating for a tobacco-free world.
The event was planned in close collaboration with the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA, as well as with local organisers and colleagues from Poland: Collegium Civitas, National Research Institute of Oncology, and Foundation „Smart Health – Health in 3D” and other distinguished European partners such as the International Youth Health Organization (YHO), and brought together about 30 international participants representing the Public Health and Youth sectors.
For the Opening Session, all young participants had the chance to hear motivational speeches from various high-level institutional representatives, including the President of ENSP, the Polish Ministry of Health, WHO FCTC, and the University of Southern California. |
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In her message, the Head of the Secretariat of the WHO FCTC, Dr Adriana Blanco Marquizo, encouraged the youth to take action right now, as they are one of the most important groups targetted by the tobacco industry:
“Young people are more important to this than almost any other group.”. In addition, she explains the importance of combining youth efforts, strengthening their networks, and making their voice even louder in the fight against tobacco. |
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A special moment was dedicated as well to commemorating Dr Mateusz Zatonski. Participants spent a few minutes with the organisers remembering and celebrating the rich life and inspiring professional accomplishments of our dear colleague and friend, Dr Mateusz Zygmunt Zatoński, who suddenly passed away earlier this year after a short illness from a very rare cancer, at the young age of 34. In this context, the ENSP President Prof Florin Mihaltan presented the life of Mateusz and offered the post-humous award, serving as a recognition of his efforts to strengthen the tobacco control community. |
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The programme of this school was built in such a way that it provided participants with the necessary theoretical background, and afterward, offered them concrete situations through the different workshops, where they had the chance to use the freshly received information in order to combine it with their professional work and personal abilities. For this reason, ENSP was intended to provide impressive national perspectives (such as the cases of Poland, Sweden, and Turkey), but also to move from marketing, communication and social media approaches, to the environmental impact, to the role of civil society, advocacy, and the importance of correctly mapping all stakeholders when it comes to the tobacco control sector.
With the strong presence on the market of novel tobacco products and their continuous development into colorful and trendy devices, as well as the well-known traditional tobacco products, the youth must be able to recognise, call out and act against all tobacco industry's tactics in their way of selling deadly products.
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#YTCLS22: Building a new generation of leaders
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The main goal was to empower youth into becoming new role models for establishing healthy environments, healthy trends, and healthy mindsets for their peers, and ultimately to eliminate tobacco use for generations to come. Therefore, one of the main conclusions of the event was that youth-oriented programmes and policies have to be created by motivated young people eager to make a change. |
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"It was a pleasure to be one of the first participants of the Youth Tobacco Control Leadership School. I congratulate ENSP on launching this very important program, I hope it will find a way to continue for future generations as well. It is really needed in order to respond to major challenges in tobacco control nowadays, and it is an excellent chance to gain and share knowledge and broaden our network. I was particularly impressed by the "peer to peer" workshops, I really believe that we, as a youth network, can achieve a lot, not only in the field of public health but in general in promoting positive solutions for the entire Europe."
Jasmina Cekric - PROI (Bosnia&Herzegovina)
"Greetings from Italy. I’m Doctor Teresa Bonarrio, a resident student in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine at Sapienza University in Rome. I just attended the 1st Youth Tobacco Control Leadership School, which took place in Warsaw, Poland. In my career, I’ve often attended workshops of this kind, and I couldn’t feel more satisfied on the level of this one. Parallel sessions were perfectly organised to keep the participants' attention high. We had the possibility to interact with other professional figures at different levels and to learn some information that we have not gained in the past, both about tobacco control and the skills and capabilities needed to act in the field of prevention. From my side, I particularly loved the “brainstorming sessions”, especially because, during these interactions, our contributions and ideas became something real, something concrete of which, in the next future, participants could be able to cooperate to realise new innovative interventions toward this wonderful ideal of Tobacco Free Generation."
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With the interdisciplinary workshop highlighting the key tobacco control challenges and providing new perspectives, the participants have assessed the needs of young people in Europe and are now ready to transfer this knowledge and apply it to activities right back in their own country.
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"Hello, I am Darius Lotrean, a 17-year-old student in final grade at the Colegiul Național ,,George Coșbuc” Cluj-Napoca in Romania. I participated in the YTCLS 2022, which was my first workshop of this kind that I have attended. I was very excited to participate and eager to learn everything I could. Now that I look back to it, the Workshop not only enhanced my leadership and advocacy skills significantly, and it sensibilized me to the challenges, successes and threats in tobacco control and smoking prevention, but it was also a great opportunity to interact with partners and friends from across the world. Everything was amazingly well organized, and I feel truly lucky and honored to have participated in this amazing Workshop!"
"The ENSP youth conference gave me insight into my fellow youth advocates' challenges in other EU countries. I conclude that our decision-makers must be more involved in protecting young people towards the tobacco industry's unethical methods. We encounter problems with leaders not following the WHO FCTC; we especially confront disagreement and disorientation regarding the new nicotine products targeting young people. We are the ones facing how it concerns our kids, adolescents, and young people. My biggest takeaways from the conference are that young people are crucial to tobacco control efforts. We offer fresh perspectives, understand the resources and needs of our communities and are not afraid to try new approaches."
Louise Johansson - A Non Smoking Generation & NCD Child (Sweden) |
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The Commission would like to hear your views!
Tobacco product traceability - targeted revision of European Union system
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A new initiative from the European Commission consists of the revision of the EU system on the topic of tobacco product traceability. The draft act is open for public feedback until the 1st of December 2022 and is planned for adoption at the end of this year. ENSP encourages the network to take action and make our voices heard. |
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Join the
Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance (STPA)
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With the opportunity to work with environmental groups within COP27, the efforts must be strengthened and involve the tobacco control community in another UN environmental platform, particularly relevant to our network. The UN Environmental Assembly adopted a Resolution earlier this year to begin negotiating an international legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution with the aim of addressing the full lifecycle of plastic including production, design, and disposal.
Given that cigarette filters which are made of a type of plastic are one of the most littered items on coastlines as cigarette butts and the impact of disposable plastic associated with new nicotine delivery devices it is critical that this upcoming treaty address cigarette filters and tobacco plastics. The first round of negotiations will begin in just a few days, in Punta del Este in Uruguay with the aim to finalize the treaty by 2024 through several rounds of negotiations.
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In order to support this process a coalition of tobacco control NGOs has formed with the aim of engaging in this treaty (Stop Tobacco Pollution Alliance). While this provides an opportunity to increase synergy between the WHO FCTC and a UN environmental treaty in order to address the environmental impact of tobacco, the tobacco industry is already engaging at both national and global levels through processes intended to address plastic pollution and they use these platforms as greenwashing opportunities to deceive governments and citizens into believing that they are environmentally friendly corporations.
For this reason, it is critical that national tobacco control focal points reach out to their counterparts in environment ministries, or the national ministry in charge of these negotiations, to remind them of Art 5.3 of the WHO FCTC and the numerous United Nations precedents that have excluded the tobacco industry in order to address the unique conflicts of interest associated with this industry.
A set of documents are provided and include more information about the upcoming treaty, the environmental impact of tobacco plastics as well as industry interference and UN precedents of tobacco industry inclusion: Plastics Treaty Process and National Policies: A Backgrounder and Tobacco in Plastics Policies
Join the coalition by signing on the button below!
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World No Tobacco Day 2023
"We need food, not tobacco"
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A global food crisis is growing fueled by conflict, climate change, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the ripple effects of the war in Ukraine driving rising prices of food, fuel, and fertilizer. Tobacco growing and production lead to long-term, global ecological harms and climate change, and plays a crucial role in determining the future of agriculture and food security. WHO announced the global campaign for World No Tobacco Day 2023 – focused on growing sustainable food crops instead of tobacco. |
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The campaign will encourage governments to end subsidies for tobacco growing and use savings for crop substitution programmes that improve food security and nutrition. The campaign will also aim to raise awareness about the ways the tobacco industry interferes with attempts to substitute tobacco growing with sustainable crops, thereby contributing to the global food crisis.
WNTD 2023 will serve as an opportunity to mobilise governments and policymakers to support farmers to switch to sustainable crops by creating market ecosystems for alternative crops and encourage at least 10 000 farmers globally to commit to shifting away from tobacco growing.
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WNTD 2023: Call for nominations
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Every year, the WHO is calling for nominations to the World No Tobacco Day Awards of individuals or organizations for their accomplishments in the area of tobacco control, in each of the six WHO Regions. As a reminder, anyone can nominate an individual or a collective (e.g., an NGO or a government department/Ministry that has made an outstanding contribution to tobacco control), particularly in relation to the theme of World No Tobacco Day for 2023 -
People need food, not tobacco.
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Dutch court decides: ISO measurement method does not comply with TPD
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In 2018, a number of Dutch organisations led by the Foundation for Youth Smoking Prevention requested the Dutch enforcement authority NVWA to take enforcement action regarding cigarettes with filter ventilation. The enforcement authority denied this request, stating that the current ISO measurement method for measuring tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide (TNCO) is compliant with Dutch regulations and the TPD. A legal case followed, in which the Dutch court asked prejudicial questions to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The ECJ stated that the current measurement method can only be invoked against companies, not against individuals, because the method is not publicly accessible. |
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On 4 November, the Dutch court decided that therefore the current TNCO measurement method does not comply with the TPD. The enforcement authority now has 6 weeks to respond. It can either go in appeal or decide to change its measurement methods. |
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A new measurement method will likely have the consequence that all cigarettes that are currently on the Dutch market cannot be sold anymore.
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Sign the petition!
The CNCT calls for a ban on disposable e-cigarettes in France
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According to a recent survey conducted in France by the Alliance Contre le Tabac (ACT – Alliance against Tobacco), 13% of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 16 have already used the “puff”-type disposable electronic cigarettes. The French National Committee for Tobacco Control (CNCT) joins with the Alliance’s call for a ban on disposable electronic cigarettes.
For several years, the CNCT has been working on new tobacco and nicotine products alongside the Fonds de lutte contre les addictions (Fund for the Fight against Addictions) and it has also initiated a study on the opportunity and legal feasibility of such a ban, which is essential from a health and environmental point of view. Learn more...
In addition to this, teenagers are the main targets of disposable electronic cigarette (puffs) marketing. Promoted by influencers on social networks, they have quickly become a fashion phenomenon in schoolyards. Puffs are not intended to be a smoking cessation tool but are a new gateway to nicotine for young people. They are likely to switch to even more dangerous products such as traditional cigarettes.
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Along with the ACT, the CNCT stresses the urgency of banning the sale of these products, whose addictive nature and role as a gateway to tobacco use have now been demonstrated. Moreover, the rapid growth of electronic cigarette consumption, in general, poses a new environmental problem. In conjunction with the projects on new products, the CNCT is currently assessing whether a ban on disposable electronic cigarettes is, legally, a feasible option
This requested ban has been widely reported in the French media and is now the subject of a petition, launched on 28 October 2022. This petition has already reached more than 11,000 signatures. If the public authorities commit to this ban, France would be the second country in the world to consider banning these products, following Ireland. |
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Smoke Free Partnership welcomes the Delegated Directive banning flavours in HTPs
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In a press release, SFP welcomes the Delegated Directive (EU) 2022/2100 which was published in the Official Journal on November 3, 2022. This Directive imposes a ban on heated tobacco flavours, and mandatory labelling requirements for heated tobacco products, as for cigarettes, in accordance with Art. 11 of the EU TPD. |
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FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
A new view on tobacco-free venues
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Now that another major event has begun, tobacco use continues to occupy a very important place in the public debate. Tobacco and e-cigarettes will also be kicked out of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 played in eight stadiums, allowing fans to enjoy smoke-free air while sitting in their seats and watching the biggest football event in the world.
Implementing tobacco and smoke-free measures throughout the FIFA World Cup has been the goal of a unique partnership between FIFA, the Government of Qatar and the World Health Organization (WHO) to make the tournament healthy and safe.
FIFA has a long-standing commitment to curbing tobacco use and is considered a pioneer among sports organizations in this regard, with its policies aligned with WHO recommendations for mega-sporting events. The strengthened regulation to make venues safe for fans is part of a unique collaboration between FIFA, WHO and the Ministry of Public Health, Qatar, designed to harness the power of football to protect and promote health for all. This, in turn, will create a blueprint for protecting and promoting health at mass gatherings which can then be shared with other sports organisations.
Read more...
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Help exposing the industry with STOP!
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STOP is a partnership among the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath, the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and Vital Strategies, working around the world, with a special focus on low-and middle-income countries where the industry is aggressively targeting communities and where the biggest populations are at risk for tobacco-related disease burden. |
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Despite all efforts put into the World Cup to ensure it will be tobacco-free, the industry sees opportunity in large, young audiences. In countries around the world where football fans are watching, tobacco companies will try without a doubt to exploit interest in the World Cup. This may include tactics such as:
- Joining the conversation on social media with posts expressing support for national teams, players, or excitement about the competition.
- Promoting tobacco industry involvement in football at the local level, such as ownership or sponsorship of clubs or youth development teams.
- Advertising products during or immediately after match broadcasts on TV, radio or online.
- Sponsoring World Cup coverage on TV, in print, and online media outlets.
- Launching football / World Cup-themed product promotions like special cigarette packs or advertising, price promotions, or “Get ready to watch the match” product bundles that include tobacco.
- Sponsoring and/or placing booths or running product promotions where groups of fans gather to watch matches in public places like parks where giant screens are erected, or even in café's or bars showing matches.
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In this context, STOP announced the expansion of the tobacco industry allies database, which now includes 135 organizations from over 30 countries. To keep selling its products the tobacco industry needs to make sure tobacco control policies don’t come into effect or are rendered ineffective. |
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Some tobacco industry allies are easy to spot, such as tobacco trade associations or public relations firms working for tobacco companies. But the industry also disguises its operations using seemingly independent organizations. These groups often have opaque funding connections to the industry and use their influence to limit, delay or block lifesaving health policies.
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The goal of this database is to further empower advocates, researchers, policymakers and journalists to identify and reject industry influence and messaging.
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29 November: Launch of the Global Tobacco Control Progress Hub
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Later this month, the Global Tobacco Control Progress Hub will go live. Produced by ASH Canada with a number of individuals and organizations, this fully interactive data visualization platform brings together multiple datasets for easy navigation, interpretation and analysis of the progress of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. |
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The official launch of the Hub will be done through a series of multi-lingual webinars via Zoom on 29 November. Viewers can see a demonstration of the Hub’s features, functions and capabilities and ask pertinent questions. Register now for the most convenient webinar among the following options:
- 8 am EST/ 1 pm GMT (available languages: English, Spanish, French, Arabic)
- Noon EST/ 5 pm GMT (available languages: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese)
- 10 pm EST/ 11 am (Nov. 30) China Standard Time (available languages: English, Bahasa Indonesian, Bangla, Chinese, Vietnamese)
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The Hub will be publicly available on 30 November at globaltobaccocontrol.org/progresshub. Users can then explore the Hub’s four dashboards with over 300 tobacco control performance indicators among more than 180 reporting countries spanning 12 years of data collection by the World Health Organization. |
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2 December: 6th ICO-WHO Symposium on Tobacco Control
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Current discussions within the tobacco control and the public health communities have recently started to focus less on controlling the tobacco epidemic and more on ending it.
This 6th edition of the ICO-WHO Symposium will include three sessions devoted to the state of implementation of global policies, how are they shifting to tobacco endgame, and how we are building capacity for research and advocacy.
Therefore the ICO-WHO Symposium on Tobacco Control "From tobacco control to tobacco endgame" will be held in L'Hospitalet (Barcelona) on the 2nd of December 2022, from 9:00 to 17:00 CET.
This will be a Presidential event hosted in English and translation to Spanish will be provided. Moreover, the Symposium will include the worldwide release of the 2022 ranking of the Tobacco Control Scale.
This will be a presidential event hosted in English with translation into Spanish provided. In addition, the symposium will include the global publication of the 2022 ranking of the Tobacco Control Scale.
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The latest publications in the TPC Journal:
Gautham M. Sukumar, Pradeep Banandur, Vaishali Dagar, Shubhi Nema, Sathya R. Velu, Arvind Banavaram, Vani Naik, Virupaksha Gangappa, Mutharaju Arelingaiah, Lavanya Garady, Subhash C. Lakshminarayan, Shalini Rajneesh, Gururaj Gopalkrishna
Inger T. Gram, Konstaninos Antypas, Silje C. Wangberg, Maja-Lisa Løchen, Dillys Larbi
Kimberly Horn, Nancy Schoenberg, Shyanika Rose, Katelyn Romm, Carla J. Berg
Luciano Ruggia
Fadi Hammal, Hagen Les |
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