Since early March, when a ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship took effect, health advocates have had their hands full monitoring what looks all too like tobacco companies and their agents trying to ignore, delay compliance with, or just get round the ban. Under the new regulations, no advertising of any sort is permitted anywhere, including in or outside shops or other points of sale, where cigarette packs alone may be displayed, and then only in places where consumers cannot take them directly themselves.

Even before the ban took effect, cigarette companies appeared to be jostling for advantage. In January, for example, a large glittering camel sculpture in a glass case suddenly appeared in the middle...

Indonesia is the world's fifth largest cigarette market in the world but for decades, transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) have had limited success infiltrating this market, due to their inability to compete in the kretek market. Kreteks are clove/tobacco cigarettes that most Indonesians smoke.

To determine how Phillip Morris International (PMI) and British American Tobacco (BAT) have now successfully achieved a substantial market presence in Indonesia.

We analyzed previously secret, tobacco industry documents, corporate reports on Indonesia operations, the Tobacco Trade press, Indonesia media, and "The Roadmap."

Internal, corporate documents from BAT and PMI demonstrate that they had known for decades that kreteks are highly carcinogenic. Despite that knowledge, BAT and PMI now own and heavily market these products, as well as new more westernised versions of kreteks. BAT and PMI used their successful basic strategy of keeping cigarettes affordable by maintaining the social responsibility of smoking and opposing smoke-free workplace laws but in the 21st century, they added the acquisition of and westernisation of domestic kretek manufacturers as an additional strategy. These acquisitions allowed them to assert influences on health policy in Indonesia and to grow their business under current government policy embodied in the 2007-2020 Roadmap of Tobacco Products Industry and Excise Policy which calls for increased cigarette production by 12% over the next 15 years.

PMI and Bat have successfully entered and are expanding their share in the Indonesia cigarette market. Despite the obvious and pervasive influence of the tobacco industry on policy decisions, the Indonesian government should ratify the FCTC and implement effective legislation to reduce tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke and revise the Roadmap to protect future generations of Indonesians.

This study sought to increase government, civil society and media attention to the tobacco–poverty connection in Bangladesh, particularly as it relates to bidi-dependent livelihoods.

This study consisted of a literature review that examined the socioeconomic impacts of tobacco farming, the working conditions of tobacco workers and the impact of tobacco on consumers, and a primary research study among bidi workers and users. The research included in-depth and semistructured interviews and focus group discussions among bidi workers and a closed-ended quantitative survey among bidi users.

Most bidi worker families earn about $6.40 per 7-day work week, leaving them below the poverty line. The majority of bidi workers are women and children, classified as unpaid assistants, who toil long hours in toxic environments. Bidi users are primarily low-income earners who spend up to 10% of their daily income on bidis; the average proportion of income spent on bidis decreased as income increased. If bidi expenditures were reduced and spent instead on food or local transportation, many higher value jobs could be created. This could also mean better health and nutrition for those currently engaged in bidi work.

The results of this study illustrate the linkages between tobacco and poverty. Tobacco control is not simply about health and the environment, but also about the living conditions of the poorest of the poor. If we are to improve the lives of the poor, we must address the root causes of poverty, which include the production and use of tobacco.

To examine the longitudinal relationship between exposure and receptivity to tobacco advertisements and progression towards tobacco use among adolescents in India.

A 2-year longitudinal group-randomised trial, Mobilizing Youth for Tobacco Related Initiatives (MYTRI), was undertaken from 2004 to 2006 in 32 schools in Delhi and Chennai. Among the control schools (n=16), mixed-effects regression models were used to assess the objectives.

Students who were non-susceptible, never users of tobacco (n=2782) at baseline (2004) in the control schools of Project MYTRI, who progressed academically and were followed up at endline (2006).

Progression towards tobacco use (on tobacco uptake continuum).

Bivariate results suggest that exposure to tobacco advertisements at baseline was associated in a dose-dependent manner with progression at endline. Students exposed at more than four places were 1.5 times (95% CI 1.12 to 1.94; p<0.05) more likely to progress towards tobacco use at endline versus those not exposed. Among boys, those exposed at more than four places were 1.7 times more likely to progress (95% CI 1.14 to 2.62; p<0.05). These significant results disappeared in multivariate analysis, when other psychosocial risk factors for tobacco use were controlled. In both bivariate and multivariate analyses, the risk of progression at endline was more than two times higher (95% CI 1.28 to 4.32; p<0.05) among boys who were highly receptive versus non-receptive boys. The same relationship did not hold among girls.

High receptivity to tobacco advertising predicts future progression to tobacco use among boys in India. Suggestive evidence exists of a causal relationship between tobacco marketing and adolescent tobacco use.

Secondhand smoke (SHS) represents a major preventable cause of morbidity for communities, especially for children, who are more susceptible than adults to the adverse effects of passive smoking. SHS contains several carcinogens, including benzene.

To investigate the role of household characteristics and the smoking behaviours of cohabitants in predicting SHS-derived benzene exposure levels.

In this cross-sectional study, 122 children (aged 5–11 years old) were selected from a school in rural Italy. Characteristics of their home environment and the smoking habits of the children's cohabitants were obtained via questionnaire, and urinary unmodified benzene (u-UB) and cotinine (a specific nicotine metabolite) levels were determined from spot urine samples.

Significant differences between SHS-exposed and SHS-unexposed children were found with respect to u-UB levels (median values 359.50 and 92.50 ng/litre, respectively; p<0.001). The excretion of u-UB increased significantly in parallel to increased SHS exposure as follows: unexposed to SHS (median value 92.50 ng/litre)<cohabitant(s) smoker(s) not smoking inside the home (282.00 ng/litre)<cohabitant(s) smoking inside the home only when children are out (314.50 ng/litre)<cohabitant(s) smoking inside the home even when children are in (596.00 ng/litre). The difference between groups was significant (p=0.019).

Although smoke-free legislation has transformed the smoking behaviours of some, domestic environments remain an important source of SHS exposure for children. This fact holds true even in the case of parents and other cohabitants who believe they are fully protecting children by smoking only outdoors or at home only when the children are not present. These findings should be included in Italian community-level health promotion interventions for discouraging tobacco use.

Home smoking bans significantly reduce the likelihood of secondhand smoke exposure among children and non-smoking adults. The purpose of this study was to examine national trends in (1) the adoption of home smoking bans, (2) discrepancies in parental smoking ban reports and (3) household and parental correlates of home smoking bans among households with underage children from 1995 to 2007.

The authors used data from the 1995–1996, 1998–1999, 2001–2002, 2003 and 2006–2007 Tobacco Use Supplement of the US Current Population Survey to estimate prevalence rates and logistic regression models of parental smoking ban reports by survey period.

Overall, the prevalence of a complete home smoking bans increased from 58.1% to 83.8% (p<0.01), while discrepancies in parental reports decreased from 12.5% to 4.6% (p<0.01) from 1995 to 2007. Households with single parent, low income, one or two current smokers, parents with less than a college education or without infants were consistently less likely to report a home smoking ban over this period (p<0.05).

Despite general improvements in the adoption of home smoking bans and a reduction on parental discrepancies, disparities in the level of protection from secondhand smoke have persisted over time. Children living in households with single parents, low income, current smoker parents, less educated parents or without infants are less likely to be protected by a home smoking ban. These groups are in need of interventions promoting the adoption of home smoking bans to reduce disparities in tobacco-related diseases.