Social media's impact: A comparison to tobacco

The platforms know this. Their algorithms, built to maximize "engagement," have learned that anger can be addictive. Gone are cat videos — in is rage-bait. The more inflamed we feel about the other side, the longer we scroll, the more ads we see, the more money they make. That's not a bug in the system; it is the system...

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/5546133-dopamine-driven-social-media/ 

 

Opinion | Nicotine pouches like Zyn must not be the next teen-addicting product - The Washington Post

But nicotine itself is far from harmless. Not only is it a highly addictive substance, but multiple studies have shown that it alters brain development. Use in adolescence reduces cognitive function; decreases attention span and memory; increases impulsivity; and enhances anxiety, fear and depression. Moreover, chronic use causes long-term changes in the brain's reward system, priming the brain for other addictions...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/15/zyn-nicotine-pouches-teens-tobacco/

 

 

‘It’s dead’: House GOP abortion push stymies funding bill - POLITICO

Republicans, under pressure from influential conservative advocacy groups, have expanded their fight in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, tucking anti-abortion provisions into nearly every spending bill along with measures cutting funding for contraception, gender-affirming care, tobacco regulation and global health cooperation...

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/13/abortion-policy-funding-agriculture-bill-00115529

Big Tobacco is killing the planet with plastics. No smokescreen should be allowed to hide that | Vinayak Prasad and Andy Rowell | The Guardian

Governments should also require the tobacco industry to clean up the waste that results from its products and pay for the environmental damage. And they can implement the WHO treaty, which has provisions to help governments protect themselves from being the targets of industry-sponsored PR campaigns.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/may/26/big-tobacco-is-killing-the-planet-with-plastics-no-smokescreen-should-hide-that-acc

The next battles against tobacco must be fought in the world’s major cities - The Conversation US

Rapidly growing metropolises like Beijing, Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City are struggling to protect residents against tobacco. Life-saving policies in rich countries may be partially to blame.....
https://theconversation.com/the-next-battles-against-tobacco-must-be-fought-in-the-worlds-major-cities-123304

McConnell plan to hike the smoking age could be a win for tobacco companies - POLITICO

Public health officials see a "Trojan Horse" behind support for the age 21 sales limit....
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/28/mitch-mcconnell-smoking-age-tobacco-companies-1376631

How Big Tobacco Hooked Children on Sugary Drinks

Researchers combing through archives discovered that cigarette makers had applied their marketing wizardry to sweetened beverages and turned generations of children into loyal customers...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/health/big-tobacco-kool-aid-sugar-obesity.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Vaping Is Big Tobacco’s Bait and Switch

I was 15 when I started smoking, and so were most of my friends. We smoked to rebel against our parents but also to identify with them — of course they smoked, even as they told us not to. We smoked because it was feminine and sexy, and also masculine and tough. Because celebrities did it, and they looked cool. Because the prissy kids didn’t do it, and we weren’t them. Because cigarettes were both forbidden and easy to get: ten quarters in a cigarette vending machine, which you could still find in most pizza joints and doughnut shops in suburban New Jersey in the early 1990s...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/opinion/editorials/vaping-ecigarettes-nicotine-safe.html

Revealed: the free-market groups helping the tobacco industry

Free-market thinktanks around the world provide a powerful voice of support to cigarette manufacturers in battles against tougher regulations, a Guardian investigation shows.....
https://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2019/jan/23/free-market-thinktanks-tobacco-industry

Big Tobacco Is Spending an Insane Amount of Money to Fight Obamacare - Mother Jones

Tobacco companies are continuing to pour money into a state ballot fight in Montana, waging a campaign that could result in near 100,000 people—about 10 percent off the entire state—losing their health insurance. ....
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/10/big-tobacco-is-spending-an-insane-amount-of-money-to-fight-obamacare-montana-medicaid-altria/

Vaping Trend Explodes At Schools Across The Country (Jane Clayson, On Point)

Vaping is an exploding trend among American teenagers. While the makers of e-cigarettes tout them as a potentially safer alternative to tobacco products, critics worry the fad may lead to a new generation of nicotine addicts.

Interview: 

http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2018/04/05/vaping-trend-explodes-at-schools-across-the-country

Trump public health official bought and sold tobacco stocks on the job as CDC director -- Raw Story

A Trump administration official invested in a tobacco company while heading the federal agency tasked with reducing tobacco use. Brenda Fitzgerald invested tens of thousands of dollars in stock holdings in at least a dozen companies after becoming director of the Centers for Disease Control, according to public records, reported Politico. ....
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/trump-public-health-official-bought-sold-tobacco-stocks-job-cdc-director/

Tobacco mea culpa: companies to run 'corrective' ads in US on smoking's harm | Business | The Guardian

Tobacco companies have delayed correcting false statements for eleven years since a federal court ordered them to do so....
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/26/tobacco-mea-culpa-companies-to-run-corrective-statements-on-smoking

The deadlier drug crises that we don’t consider public health emergencies -- Vox

Alcohol and tobacco kill far more people than opioids. Should they be considered an "epidemic"? ....
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/27/16557550/alcohol-tobacco-opioids-epidemic-emergency

Big tobacco bullies the global south. Trade deals are their biggest weapon | Matthew Bramall and Paul Keenlyside -- the guardian

The industry has a long history of using trade to force their products into new markets. This has led to at least a 5% increase in cigarette deaths ...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/17/big-tobacco-trade-deals-new-markets-bat

Threats, bullying, lawsuits: tobacco industry's dirty war for the African market | World news | The Guardian

British American Tobacco (BAT) and other multinational tobacco firms have threatened governments in at least eight countries in Africa demanding they axe or dilute the kind of protections that have saved millions of lives in the west, a Guardian investigation has found....
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/12/big-tobacco-dirty-war-africa-market?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+USA+-+Collections+2017&utm_term=234723&subid=22113254&CMP=GT_US_collection

Tobacco companies tighten hold on Washington under Trump | World news | The Guardian

Top White House figures – including the vice-president and health secretary – have deep ties to an industry whose donations began pouring in on day one...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/13/tobacco-industry-trump-administration-ties?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+USA+-+Collections+2017&utm_term=234874&subid=22113254&CMP=GT_US_collection

Blowing smoke: Tobacco giant uses Al Sharpton, other black leaders to combat menthol restrictions (Salon)

R.J. Reynolds is seizing on the hot button issue of police harassment to stop a potential menthol ban...
http://www.salon.com/2017/02/12/blowing-smoke-r-j-reynolds-uses-al-sharpton-other-black-leaders-to-combat-menthol-restrictions_partner/

Of Course Trump's Health Secretary Is a Friend of Big Tobacco

Tom Price has taken tobacco money and voted against rules on cigarettes.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/tom-price-hhs-tobacco

Why Tobacco Naturally Makes Addictive Poison