Mexico city, Mexico | Xinhua | The tobacco industry and tobacco consumption are exacerbating soil, air and water pollution, along with deforestation, according to one expert. “The tobacco industry is one of the main causes of global deforestation, since it cuts down trees to create an area for tobacco plants, which …
Read More »Language barrier limits tobacco growers from bargaining in Lamwo
Lamwo, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Numerous grades of tobacco, language barrier, and inadequate storage facilities are limiting farmers in Lamwo district from earning a fair amount from their harvests. There is an estimated 1,000 tobacco farmers in Lamwo district. They grow and sell tobacco to Meridian Tobacco Company-MTC, the sole …
Read More »Researchers call for phasing out of cigarette sales in Australia
Sydney, Australia | Xinhua | Researchers from Australia’s University of Queensland’s (UQ) School of Public Health called for a restriction of tobacco sales in Australia as the next step towards phasing out tobacco related products completely. In a perspective article published in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) on Monday, UQ …
Read More »African campaigners urge enhanced tobacco regulations amid health risks
Smoking if unregulated could worsen respiratory diseases in Africa Nairobi, Kenya | Xinhua | The manufacturing, sale and consumption of tobacco products in Africa should be regulated in order to limit threats to public health and safety, campaigners said on Tuesday. Leonce Sessou, executive secretary of African Tobacco Control Alliance, stressed …
Read More »Activists appeal for more research to control tobacco use
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Activists involved in tobacco control are calling upon African governments to fund scientific research aimed at eliminating the use of tobacco-related products. The call was made on Tuesday during the first Africa Conference on Tobacco Control and Development. According to the scientists, while many countries …
Read More »Covid-19, gov’t regulations impact tobacco revenues and taxes
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s formal tobacco Industry continues to be impacted by a growing trade in illicit products, attributed to government policies which are otherwise aimed at protecting the industry. These include the implementation of anti-smoking regulations as well as the tax measures that are largely aimed at …
Read More »Gov’t does not yet have sh1.5 billion needed to implement Tobacco Act
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s Ministry of Health has not been able to fully implement the Tobacco act due to funding gaps. According to officials, initially, Shs1.8 billion was budgeted to fully implement the law countrywide. However, more than five years since the law was passed, little has …
Read More »BATU beats COVID-19 to post Shs19.9bn net profit
The government takes a huge chunk of revenues as taxes to reduce tobacco smoking Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | British American Tobacco Uganda has defied the effects of coronavirus pandemic to record a 27% surge in net profit to Shs19.9bn for the year ended December 2020. BATU will now …
Read More »MPs demand framework for payment of Bunyoro tobacco farmers
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Members of Parliament have asked the government to explain circumstances under which Tobacco farmers from Bunyoro sub-region, who are owed money by private companies will be paid off. The matter follows a supplementary budget request of 291 billion Shillings, which among others, proposes an …
Read More »Tobacco responsible for 20% of deaths from coronary heart disease
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Every year, 1.9 million people die from tobacco-induced heart disease, according to the World Health Organization, World Heart Federation and the University of Newcastle Australia ahead of World Heart Day, marked on 29 September. This equates to one in five of all deaths from …
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