Neil Collishaw is a doughty veteran of the tobacco wars. Like other campaigners, he is frustrated that while we have seen some encouraging developments, nearly 70 years after the first compelling evidence on the lethal nature of smoking, cigarettes are the cause of some 7 million deaths globally and tobacco companies still flourish.
As a good public health advocate, he is constantly on the alert for new ideas and approaches to complement the strategies we know can be effective. This includes recognising that the current decade has seen more changes in tobacco company approaches than any since the 1950s—although always dedicated to the continuation of the industry and maximum possible sales of its core product. Whether all those changes will, like earlier episodes such as their low tar promotions and tobacco substitutes, ultimately be viewed as frauds and distractions is still open to debate: it is, however, already clear that the tobacco…