154 Organizations Call for Phasing Out Sales of Combustible Tobacco Products
The lessons learned in 2020 from the bold actions taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic provide an opportunity to consider equally bold actions that will be required to tackle other global health pandemics. The undersigned organizations from around the world find that the ongoing suffering and death caused by the tobacco pandemic require similar decisive actions. Governments should commit to work towards phasing out sales of combustible tobacco products.
It has been 70 years since publication of the landmark studies showing definitively that cigarettes caused deadly lung cancer. When those first studies emerged in the 1950s, a world free of combustible tobacco products was inconceivable. Since then, countries that have implemented policies such as raising combustible tobacco product taxes, marketing restrictions and smoke-free air laws have realized dramatic reductions in combustible tobacco use. Yet combustible tobacco products continue to cause the addiction of youth and the premature deaths of millions.
We now understand clearly that we face an industrially-produced pandemic, but these products remain widely sold as though they were normal consumer products. They are not. They are the most deadly consumer products in human history.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that governments do have the capacity to respond to a major threat to global health. Governments’ priorities must change so that they emphasize protecting the health, equity and well-being of their people. Today, a world in which combustible tobacco is no longer sold as a legitimate commercial product is within reach.
There exists a human rights duty to phase out combustible tobacco product sales. The Danish Institute for Human Rights correctly concluded after examining Philip Morris International’s supply chain for human rights compliance: “tobacco is deeply harmful to human health, and there can be no doubt that the production and marketing of tobacco is irreconcilable with the human right to health.” The tobacco industry has utterly and repeatedly failed to uphold the basic obligation of any reputable business: to not sell products that cause great harm when used as intended. When the human rights of citizens are violated by corporations, governments have a duty to stop them. Ending combustible tobacco sales is essential to addressing health inequalities and promoting healthy human and economic development for future generations.
The vision to end the combustible tobacco epidemic is not new. Several countries have set themselves on a path to end smoking within a generation. Bhutan banned tobacco sales years ago, and two cities in California have already passed ordinances to end tobacco sales from 1 January 2021. Dutch lawmakers have passed laws aimed towards phasing out cigarette sales. As organizations concerned with advancing health, we urge all governments to set a deadline for phasing out sales of combustible tobacco products and to engage in a comprehensive planning process for achieving that goal.
Signed 154 organizations
1.) ACT – Alliance contre le tabac
2.) ACT healthy Laboratory, University of Cyprus
3.) Action on Smoking and Health
4.) Action on Smoking and Health Foundation Thailand
5.) African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council
6.) African Communities Public Health Coalition
7.) Airspace Action on Smoking and Health
8.) Alianza Bolivia Libre Sin Tabaco
9.) Alianza ENT Chile
10.) Alliance of Banning Cigarettes TAIWAN (ABC#Taiwan)
11.) American Heart Association
12.) Anti Tobacco Network (Botswana)
13.) ASH Canada
14.) ASH Finland
15.) Ash Ireland, Council of the Irish Heart Foundation
16.) ASPIRE 2025 Research Centre
17.) Association of American Cancer Institutes
18.) Australian Council on Smoking and Health
19.) Bayside Smokefree Housing Alliance
20.) Bosma Consulting
21.) CANCER AID SOCIETY
22.) Cancer Control Agency, Te Aho o Te Kahu
23.) Cancer Foundation of India
24.) Cascade City-County Health Department
25.) Catalan Institute of Oncology / WHO Collaborating Center on Tobacco Control
26.) CEDRO – Centro de Información y Educación para la Prevención del Abuso de Drogas
27.) Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health (CPATH)
28.) Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UCSF
29.) CIET URUGUAY (Tobacco Epidemic Investigation Center)
30.) Cigarette Butt Pollution Project
31.) City of Beverly Hills
32.) Coalición México Salud{Hable
33.) Community Action for Healthy Living, Inc.
34.) Corporate Accountability
35.) Counter Tools
36.) Cyprus Ministry of Health
37.) Cyprus’ National Addictions Authority (NAAC)
38.) Danish Cancer Society
39.) Dhaka Ahsania Mission
40.) DNF-Pour un Monde Zero Tabac
41.) Doctors Against Tobacco
42.) Equality California
43.) Equity and Wellness Institute
44.) Faculty of Public Health Medicine, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
45.) Family & Youth Enrichment Network (People for Tobacco-Free Communities)
46.) FIC Bolivia and Alianza Bolivia Libre Sin Tabaco
47.) Fundación MÁS QUE IDEAS
48.) FUNDADEPS
49.) Global Bridges: Healthcare Alliance for Tobacco Dependence Treatment
50.) Greater Sacramento Smoke & Tobacco Free Coalition
51.) GW Cancer Center
52.) Hāpai Te Hauora
53.) Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health
54.) HealthJustice Philippines
55.) Healthy Romania Generation 2035 Association
56.) Hyahbelatadkheen
57.) International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)
58.) Iranian Anti-Tobacco Association (IATA)
59.) Irish Heart Foundation
60.) Israel Council for the Prevention of Smoking
61.) Israeli Medical Association for Smoking Cessation and Prevention
62.) Japan Society for Tobacco Control
63.) Jeewaka Foundation
64.) Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
65.) Kavali Consulting LLC
66.) Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance
67.) Kosovo Advocacy and Development Centre – KADC
68.) LAC+USC Medical Center Foundation
69.) Lina and Green Hands Society
70.) Lithuanian Tobacco and Alcohol Control Coalition
71.) Loma Linda University, School of Public Health
72.) Macedonian Respiratory Society (MRS)
73.) Making it Count Community Development Corporation
74.) Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education
75.) MARYLAND GROUP AGAINST SMOKER’S POLLUTION
76.) Mayes County HOPE Coalition
77.) Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
78.) Menzies School of Health Research
79.) Movendi International
80.) National Origin Alliance
81.) NCD Alliance
82.) New York State Public Health Association
83.) Nofumadores.org
84.) NY SAHY
85.) Office of Samoan Affairs
86.) ONG CLUCOD(Comité/Club Universitaire Unesco pour la Lutte contre la Drogue et autres pandémies)
87.) OxySuisse
88.) PASYKAF The Cyprus Association of Cancer Patients and Friends
89.) Pegasus Health (Charitable) Ltd
90.) Peter Tatchell Foundation
91.) Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada
92.) Policy group on tobacco at the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland
93.) Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation
94.) PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress)
95.) Program on Human Rights in Development, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
96.) Public Health Advocacy Institute
97.) Public Health Law Center
98.) Rajasthan Cancer Foundation
99.) Resource Centre for Primary Health Care, Nepal
100.) Riverside County Black Chamber of Commerce – IESO
101.) Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, Florida International University
102.) Romanian Society of Pneumology
103.) Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
104.) Salud Justa MX
105.) Samoa Cancer Society
106.) Satva Charitable Sanstha
107.) School of Global Public Health, New York University
108.) School of Public Health and Information Sciences, University of Louisville
109.) School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland
110.) SCTC-Slovenian Coalition for Public Health and Tobacco Control
111.) SERAC-Bangladesh
112.) SHERPA Institute
113.) Silver State Equality-Nevada
114.) Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
115.) Slovenian Coalition for Public Health, Environment and Tobacco Control
116.) Smoke Free Life Coalition
117.) Smoke Free St. Joe Coalition
118.) Smokefree Air For Everyone
119.) Smoke-Free Shoals: Hope for the Homeless
120.) SmokeFree Tasmania
121.) Sociedad Española de Geriatría y Gerontología (SEGG)
122.) Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA)
123.) Swarna Hansa Foundation
124.) Swiss Association for Smoking Prevention AT
125.) T&T Consulting Limited
126.) TABAC LIBERTE
127.) Tanzania Tobacco Control Forum (TTCF)
128.) Te Ha Ora the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation Charitable Trust
129.) The Aegle Project
130.) The Arab Council for Social Responsibility
131.) The Cancer Society of New Zealand- Te Kāhui Matepukupuku o Aotearoa
132.) The Center for Black Health & Equity
133.) The Danish Heart Foundation
134.) The Ohio State University College of Public Health
135.) The University of Kansas Cancer Center
136.) Thirdhand Smoke Resource Center
137.) Tobacco – Free Association of Zambia
138.) Tobacco and Vape Free Orange County Coalition
139.) Tobacco Control Alliance in Georgia
140.) Tobacco Free Vigo Coalition
141.) Tobacco Prevention and Control Research Center
142.) TobaccoFree Research Institute Ireland
143.) UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
144.) UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
145.) Unfairtobacco
146.) UniTS – Università del Terzo Settore
147.) University of Maryland School of Public Health
148.) University of Newcastle School of Medicine and Public Health
149.) VISA
150.) Vision for Alternative Development
151.) Winona County Alliance for substance Abuse Prevention
152.) Youth Against Drug Abuse Foundation (YADAF) International
153.) Youth Network No Excuse Slovenia
154.) Zambia Heart and Stroke Foundation
*This letter is NOT signed by anyone affiliated with the tobacco industry or an organization that accepts tobacco industry funding. Tobacco industry is defined as any organization involved in the marketing of nicotine products other than government-approved cessation treatment. We reserve the right to remove any tobacco industry affiliated organizations from this list.
Additional signatories added on June 23, 2022.
