Neil Ranasinghe is a long time patient advocate for children with cancer and their families. His passions also include legislation to prevent children and adults from starting to smoke. He was involved in the Standard Packaging campaign and currently the Tobacco and Vapes bill in the UK.
It is with a great privilege he is introducing the second series of the podcast Deadly Industry: Challenging Big Tobacco. Read on to find out more about podcast and the organisation behind it – the Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG) at the University of Bath, UK.
The tobacco industry has spent decades honing its deadly strategies to maximise its profits. Despite the well-known dangers of tobacco, there are still eight million tobacco-related deaths each year. Why, decades after its deceptions were uncovered, is this industry still so powerful and profitable?
The University of Bath’s Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG) reflects on these questions in its podcast Deadly Industry: Challenging Big Tobacco.
The series is hosted by investigative researcher Louis Laurence and is based on TCRG’s ground-breaking research into the activities of the global tobacco industry.
TCRG’s work examines ways in which tobacco companies seek to influence and interfere with global, national and local public health policy for the pursuit of profit. Their work is well respected by the global tobacco control community and has had real impact on tobacco policy making.
TCRG also manages TobaccoTactics.org, a unique knowledge exchange platform with information about key issues in tobacco control and the global tobacco industry.
Series two of Deadly Industry: Challenging Big Tobacco features eight powerful episodes with guests from the University of Bath and organisations including the Swedish Cancer Society and the Global Alliance for Tobacco Control.
Episodes include a walking tour exploring tobacco industry connections to London, a cross-continental exploration of how Big Tobacco tailors its tactics across regions to derail tobacco control efforts and an exploration how the industry attempts to reinvent itself and curate its own image.
The series two launch comes ahead of the eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC COP11), taking place in Geneva this November – a major global meeting where decisions will be made that shape tobacco policy and regulation worldwide.
The podcast is available on all major podcast platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music and transcripts are available to read for all episodes. Links to the original research referenced in each episode are included within the show notes.
To stay up to date with the latest episodes, don’t forget to subscribe.
You can also read:
Esophageal Cancer and Smoking: What You Need to Know To Protect Yourself?
Gastric Cancer and Smoking — What Are the Shocking Real Risks?