Lies, manipulation and exploitation: addressing tobacco and e-cigarette industry tactics for effective public health

Abstract

The tobacco and e-cigarette/vaping industries maintain and grow their profits by aggressively recruiting new “customers” and retaining existing ones. They do this by fiercely promoting their interests and maximising product availability, appeal and addictiveness - particularly targeting adolescents and young adults, whose developing brains are prone to addiction. Effective control of tobacco and non-therapeutic nicotine products requires evidence and action to see through and combat predatory industry tactics, including political and policy interference, disinformation, appealing and addictive product design, oversupply and attempts to intimidate and divide the public health community. This presentation considers evidence regarding industry lies, manipulation and exploitation and actions to protect public health.

Speaker

Distinguished Professor Emily Banks AM

Distinguished Professor Emily Banks AM is a public health physician and epidemiologist. She works mainly on using large-scale evidence to identify actions to improve health and health care, at an individual and population level. Her main areas of work are in tobacco and e-cigarette control, chronic disease, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and healthy ageing. She is Head of the Centre of Epidemiology for Policy and Practice at the Australian National University, an NHMRC Investigator Fellow, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, a Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford and a Member of the Order of Australia.