ASH resources:
Tobacco facts & issues index

See our  Tobacco Facts (factsheets)  and our  latest research  page.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
Indigenous smoking rates are double the national average, with devastating results. Tobacco is the biggest cause of health inequity between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.  See our  indigenous  info page

Addiction
Examines nicotine as a drug of addiction and reasons behind the delay to the health warning "Smoking is addictive". See also  latest research  on addiction/addictiveness

Advertising, Marketing and Promotion of tobacco - see Tobacco's latest advertising / promotion / marketing ploys

Animals - see below under Secondhand smoke - Pets

Breast Cancer - see  latest research  and Secondhand smoke health evidence 
Research on impact of smoking/smoke exposure on breast cancer remains contentious.  Most recent findings suggest some limited impact.  

Campuses  - see  Info for tertiary students/staff   Tobacco-free campuses 

Cancer -  see under Women, Children, (type e.g.) Breast; also Disease 

Cars (smoking and driving)
See below under Children and under Passive Smoking re secondhand smoke harm to kids in cars.  Smoking while driving is also a safety hazard: see smokefree cars

Children  - see Protecting children from tobacco 

• Tobacco sales to minors
  Access to cigarettes by children is still a problem despite laws that fine retailers for the illegal supply of cigarettes to minors under 18.
  
  

• See also under "Film smoking" and "Passive Smoke" below

Components / contents
Amazing what you find in a cigarette. 4000+ compounds, 250+ toxic, 40+ known to be carcinogenic to humans. See the list on  this site  - and what some of these things do to you. ASH has campaigned for better regulation of tobacco contents. Most detailed chemical listing is probably in Rodgman & Perfetti's 2008 book.

Costs  - see below, Economics

Deaths

• Worldwide: Deaths from smoking  
  Great website from UICC (International Union for Cancer Control) and others - slideshows and more on health hazards, benefits of quitting, different countries and subgroups, and smoking deaths by country and region.
  

• Australia: 2009 figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics linked tobacco with all 7 of our deadliest diseases.  See  ASH media release 19/3/09  with link to report
  

• Call for smoking details on Australian death certificates
  3/8/09: Australian experts want details of smoking status noted on death certificates as in some other countries. See MJA  paper 
  

Disease and smoking
See the Cancer Council NSW's  brief summary (2007) of diseases caused by tobacco - and note that the evidence is growing all the time!  See also our  latest research  page

Drugs 
Tobacco is Australia's No. 1 drug problem, far ahead of alcohol and all other drugs as a cause of death, disease and costs.  See National Drug Strategy report 2008  showing tobacco's $31b pa cost, and other stats on deaths, disease and costs for tobacco and other drugs.

Duty free tobacco sales
Sale of tobacco free of excise at airports and on flights cuts price and encourages purchase - what we don't need. This glaring anomaly undercuts preventive health strategies and treaties, costs governments and taxpayers, and encourages smuggling.  See increased hauls of smuggled tobacco in  Australian Customs Service report 2008

Economics: tobacco costs, control benefits   see also Social equity, below 

• Tobacco's staggering $31b drain on the national economy - see National Drug Strategy report 2008  on social costs in Australia 2004-05. Tobacco's cost to health, insurance and other social costs outweighs its tax revenue by about 5:1. 
  

• Health costs would plummet from modest smoking rate reduction (2005) 
  Study published July 2005 in the Medical Journal of Australia.
  

• Tobaccopedia's  long list of economic reports.  
   

Environment
Cigarette butts and packets litter and pollute. Local councils can help reduce this by smokefree places initiatives.  See Local government and smokefree places    But Councils beware!  BAT's Butt Littering Trust  pushes tobacco-friendly policies with no independent evidence of litter reduction, but opposes smokefree measures likely to have more impact

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) - see below under Secondhand smoke

Fashion promotion
Go to  Latest marketing ploys  and see the tobacco industry's latest tricks for luring young people into smoking.

Film/TV smoking
ASH supports evidence-based campaigns to counter tobacco promotion by glamourised depictions of smoking in films. See:

• WHO calls for enforceable policies to restrict smoking in movies
  1/6/09: The World Health Organisation, in line with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (Art. 13) and backed by evidence that smoking in movies encourages youth uptake, urges countries to act. See  full report
  
  

• 2009 study showing exposure to high levels of smoking scenes in movies can double smoking uptake between early teens and young adulthood. And another 2009 study shows teens with high exposure to film smoking three times as likely to try smoking or become smokers. See  study abstract
  
  

• "What do do about smoking in movies": various options for action assessed in Nov. 2008 article by Prof Simon Chapman  in  Tobacco Control  journal
  
  

• Mandatory counter-ads shown before teen-rated films which show smoking scenes - supported here by the Cancer Council NSW on its  Smoking in movies  webpages.  
  
  

• Youth network call for action (2002).
  
  

• More than a puff of hot air (2002) - Australian screenwriter alerts colleagues.
   

• Film stars smoking influences teenage smoking rates
  Prof. Stan Glantz's "Smoke Free Movies" site (US), with a wealth of international research on the issue.

Fires and cigarettes
ASH has helped  bring about new Australian regulations for making cigarettes more self-extinguishing - and less likely to start fires.  Australian and world developments, and how  Big Tobacco hid its capacity to make cigarettes fire-safer, at  fighting cigarette fires 

Graphic warnings - see Packet health warnings, below

Health effects / impacts of smoking and secondhand smoke 
See our  latest research  page; and SmokeFree Australia's  secondhand smoke health research.  Smoking is the most researched subject in medical history, and the evidence of harm is growing all the time!  See Tobacco Atlas comprehensive graphic on  How tobacco harms you  

Health warnings (on packets) - see Packet health warnings, below

Human Rights and tobacco
Tobacco Control  journal has published (2007) a supplement of 8 papers

examining human rights & tobacco control.  See supplement to vol. 14     See also  Smokers' rights

Inequality  - see Social equity, below

Laws, legislation  - see  tobacco legislation 

Legal cases, litigation  - see  tobacco litigation 

Litter - see Environment, above

Local government  - see  Local government and smokefree places

Lung cancer, lung disease - see under Disease above, and Respiratory below 

Marketing - see above, Advertising/Marketing/Promotion

Media - see 2008 worldwide report on tobacco-media issues

Mental Health
Smoking is a serious contributor to problems faced by people with mental illness. Evidence shows it worsens health, shortens lives and imposes hardship - and does NOT relieve stress. People working in, or being treated in, mental health settings have a right to be protected from secondhand smoke. See 2008 report  Smoke and Mirrors  from NSW Cancer Council and Mental Health Coordinating Council which busts some popular myths. See also "Guidance for implementing smoke free mental health facilities in NSW"
at  NSW Health website

Mortality  - see above, Deaths

Movies  - see Film/TV smoking, above

Outdoor areas  - see Local government;  Smokefree places  and Smokefree workplaces - unhealthy loopholes 

Packaging including Packet health warnings:   
See The packet as advertising 

• Plain packaging - see our Action Page on Plain packaging

Passive smoking - see below under Secondhand smoke

Political Donations
Donations to politicians and parties from tobacco companies - or tobacco-friendly interests - can undermine public health aims and frustrate the will of the community by delaying or weakening legislation and regulation. ASH has made several submissions  to Federal and State bodies supporting reform of political donations and electoral funding.  Take action 

Pets -  see below under Secondhand smoke

Prevalence - see Smoking rates (Australia) below

Promotion - see above, Advertising/Marketing/Promotion above

Respiratory diseases  - see also under Diseases, above, and Secondhand smoke below
See  Feb 2005 Quit ads on lung disease 

Secondhand smoke (or or "SHS" or "passive smoking" or "ETS") 
See SmokeFree Australia coalition site with latest research and developments

• Children - are especially vulnerable.  See Protecting children from tobacco 
  - More on passive harm to children on our  Parents  page 
  

• Workplace exposure: see SmokeFree Australia  for latest news and research
  
  

• Homes, shared housing, cars, schools, campuses, hospitals, outdoor areas  - see our  smokefree places  page 
  
  

• Licensed venues - pubs, clubs, gaming. See SmokeFree Australia  
   

• Pets - They can suffer serious harm from secondhand smoke.  See  research 
  

• Litigation: List of successful passive smoking legal actions in Australia, 2001; also latest  shared housing cases  and  tobacco litigation
  

• Treaty commitments:  See what the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, ratified by Australia in 2004, says we should be doing.  FCTC text   and  WHO's  Guidelines on Protection from Exposure to Tobacco Smoke 

Smokefree laws/places - see smokefree places   and under Secondhand smoke and Local government, above

Smoking rates (Australia)
See latest figures on smoking rates and what influences them at our  Latest research page 

Social equity
Tobacco is a major cause of social inequality. Tobacco-free initiatives tend to help people on low incomes most because their budgets are disproportionately hit by tobacco costs and arising health costs. Low-income, low-security workers are most exposed to secondhand smoke in workplaces, and poorest children most exposed to smoke in homes and cars. The tobacco industry targets low income people with aspirational promotion.  See Cancer Council NSW  Tackling Tobacco  webpage on social equity   

2009 study: Raising cigarette prices by taxation and adopting clean indoor air laws benefit low-income and disadvantaged groups in US society as much as other social groupings, says a new study in Social Science and Medicine  journal.  See  the study 

Tax  -  see Economics, above

Tertiary education  - see Campuses, above

Tobacco industry - see  The tobacco industry  with links to latest news, misdeeds, slick moves and background

Universities  - see Campuses, above

Women - see also Latest research page under health, smoking rates, social impacts

• Let's bust a myth: smoking rates of Australian women are not higher than those of men - never have been. Their smoking rates peaked later than men's but are still lower - and falling. See latest figures at our Latest research page
  
  

• Women, Tobacco and Cancer: An Agenda for the 21st Century
  2004 report for the National Cancer Institute. In pdf.
  
  

• Smoking is a ladykiller
  WA Cancer Foundation media campaign 2003 used media ads and posters to target young women aged 18-29 using the message “Don’t buy the lie” (of connecting smoking with glamour and independence).  See campaign update   View  “Ladykiller” poster
  
  

Youth - see Protecting children from tobacco   Info for tertiary students/staff   Tobacco-free campuses  Information for school students and staff

For more facts and issues, the latest edition of  Tobacco in Australia: Facts and Issues  
is a complete online encyclopaedia of everything you ever wanted to know about tobacco and smoking in Australia. Fully referenced, compiled by the Cancer Council Victoria. 

International: TobaccoFactFile
A new online database launched by the Tobacco Control Resource Centre (TCRC). The “one-stop” resource about tobacco is designed for health professionals, media, educators and the public. Endorsed by a wide range of health organisations and leaders.

and see our  online resources  for more

Page last updated 5/3/10