Christopher Snowdon

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Dr Christopher John Snowdon is a British author and freelance journalist. He is particularly known as a vocal opponent of government intervention in areas such as tobacco, alcohol, and obesity.

Contents

Early life

Snowdon was born in North Yorkshire in 1976 and studied history at Lancaster University, graduating in 1998.

Career

He has written for the Spiked website, The Daily Telegraph [1] and The Spectator , [2] as well as the Conservative Home website.

Snowdon is "Head of Lifestyle Economics" at the Institute of Economic Affairs, [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] a free market think tank that receives funding from sources such as BP, [8] the gambling industry, [8] British American Tobacco, [9] [10] the alcohol industry, food industry, and sugar industry. [11]

Personal life

He lives in Sussex with his wife and daughter. [12]

Works

His first book, Velvet Glove, Iron Fist (2009), is a history of anti-smoking activity from the fifteenth century to the present day. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobacco</span> Agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana

Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus Nicotiana of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the chief commercial crop is N. tabacum. The more potent variant N. rustica is also used in some countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cigarette</span> Small roll of tobacco made to be smoked

A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opposite end. Cigarette smoking is the most common method of tobacco consumption. The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette, but the word is sometimes used to refer to other substances, such as a cannabis cigarette or a herbal cigarette. A cigarette is distinguished from a cigar by its usually smaller size, use of processed leaf, different smoking method, and paper wrapping, which is typically white.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobacco industry</span> Persons and companies that produce tobacco-related products

The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies who are engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all continents except Antarctica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobacco smoking</span> Practice of burning tobacco and breathing the resulting smoke

Tobacco smoking is the practice of burning tobacco and ingesting the resulting smoke. The smoke may be inhaled, as is done with cigarettes, or simply released from the mouth, as is generally done with pipes and cigars. The practice is believed to have begun as early as 5000–3000 BC in Mesoamerica and South America. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 17th century by European colonists, where it followed common trade routes. The practice encountered criticism from its first import into the Western world onwards but embedded itself in certain strata of a number of societies before becoming widespread upon the introduction of automated cigarette-rolling apparatus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoking ban</span> Law prohibiting tobacco smoking in a given space

Smoking bans, or smoke-free laws, are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, that prohibit tobacco smoking in certain spaces. The spaces most commonly affected by smoking bans are indoor workplaces and buildings open to the public such as restaurants, bars, office buildings, schools, retail stores, hospitals, libraries, transport facilities, and government buildings, in addition to public transport vehicles such as aircraft, buses, watercraft, and trains. However, laws may also prohibit smoking in outdoor areas such as parks, beaches, pedestrian plazas, college and hospital campuses, and within a certain distance from the entrance to a building, and in some cases, private vehicles and multi-unit residences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute of Economic Affairs</span> Neoliberal think-tank

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is a right-wing, free market think tank registered as a UK charity. Associated with the New Right, the IEA describes itself as an "educational research institute" and says that it seeks to "further the dissemination of free-market thinking" by "analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems". The IEA is the oldest free market think-tank in the UK and was established to promote free-market responses to economic challenges by targeting influential academics and journalists, as well as students, in order to propagate these ideas widely. Adopting as its credo FA Hayek's view that "yesterday's dissent becomes today's consensus," the IEA says that it prioritises producing work with a focus on economic insights over partisan politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japan Tobacco</span> Japanese cigarette manufacturing company

The Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) is a Japanese diversified tobacco company. It was established in 1985 as a tokushu gaisha that inherited the right to monopolize and manufacture cigarettes from the Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation and required the government to hold at least 50% of its shares. In addition to tobacco, JT diversified its businesses, establishing the pharmaceutical research institute in 1993 and making a full-scale entry into the food and beverage industry in 1998. In 2008, it acquired the food manufacturer Katokichi, now TableMark, as a wholly-owned subsidiary, integrating its food business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fraser Institute</span> Canadian public policy think tank

The Fraser Institute is a libertarian-conservative Canadian public policy think tank and registered charity. It is headquartered in Vancouver, with additional offices in Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. It has links to think tanks worldwide through the Economic Freedom Network and is a member of the free-market Atlas Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World No Tobacco Day</span> International observance on 31 May

World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is observed around the world every year on 31 May. The annual observance informs the public on the dangers of using tobacco, the business practices of tobacco companies, what the World Health Organization (WHO) is doing to fight against the use of tobacco, and what people around the world can do to claim their right to health and healthy living and to protect future generations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Minchin</span> Australian politician (born 1953)

Nicholas Hugh Minchin is an Australian former politician and former Australian Consul-General in New York, USA. He previously served as a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing South Australia from July 1993 to June 2011, and a former cabinet minister in the Howard government.

FOREST is a United Kingdom smokers' rights group primarily funded by the tobacco industry which campaigns against what it sees as "excessive regulation" of smoking and tobacco products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicotine marketing</span> Marketing technique

Nicotine marketing is the marketing of nicotine-containing products or use. Traditionally, the tobacco industry markets cigarette smoking, but it is increasingly marketing other products, such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products. Products are marketed through social media, stealth marketing, mass media, and sponsorship. Expenditures on nicotine marketing are in the tens of billions a year; in the US alone, spending was over US$1 million per hour in 2016; in 2003, per-capita marketing spending was $290 per adult smoker, or $45 per inhabitant. Nicotine marketing is increasingly regulated; some forms of nicotine advertising are banned in many countries. The World Health Organization recommends a complete tobacco advertising ban.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is the name of a number of autonomous pressure groups (charities) in the anglosphere that seek to publicize the risks associated with tobacco smoking and campaign for greater restrictions on use and on cigarette and tobacco sales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health effects of tobacco</span> Circumstances, mechanisms, and factors of tobacco consumption on human health

Tobacco products, especially when smoked or used orally, have serious negative effects on human health. Smoking and smokeless tobacco use is the single greatest cause of preventable death globally. As many as half of people who smoke tobacco or use it orally die from complications related to such use. It has been estimated that each year, in total about 6 million people die from tobacco-related causes, with 600,000 of these occurring in non-smokers due to secondhand smoke. It is further estimated to have caused 100 million deaths in the 20th century.

An herbal cigarette is a cigarette that usually does not contain any tobacco or nicotine, instead being composed of a mixture of various herbs and/or other plant material. However, Chinese herbal cigarettes contain tobacco and nicotine with herbs added, unlike European and North American herbal cigarettes which have tobacco and nicotine omitted. Like herbal smokeless tobacco, they are often used as a substitute for standard tobacco products. Herbal cigarettes are often advertised as a smoking cessation aid. They are also used in acting scenes by performers who are non-smokers, or where anti-smoking legislation prohibits the use of tobacco in public spaces. Herbal cigarettes can carry carcinogens.

Operation Berkshire is the name of a program initiated in 1976 by seven of the world's major tobacco companies aimed at promoting "controversy" over smoking and disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobacco in the United States</span>

Tobacco has a long cultural, economic, and social impact on the United States. Tobacco cultivation in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1610 led to the expansion of British colonialism in the Southern United States. As the demand for Tobacco grew in Europe, further colonization in British America and Tobacco production saw a parallel increase. Tobacco use became normalized in American society and was heavily consumed before and after American independence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youth smoking</span> Overview article

Smokingamong youth and adolescents is an issue that affects countries worldwide. While the extent to which smoking is viewed as a negative health behavior may vary across different nations, it remains an issue regardless of how it is perceived by different societies. The United States has taken numerous measures, ranging from changes in national policy surrounding youth cigarette access to changes in media campaigns, in attempts to eliminate the use of tobacco products among teenagers. Approximately 90% of smokers begin smoking prior to the age of 18.

John C. Luik was a senior fellow of the Democracy Institute. A Rhodes Scholar attached to Hertford College at the University of Oxford, he was a Senior Associate of the Niagara Institute with responsibility for its work in public policy and its Values and Organizational Development programmes." From 1977 to 1990 he taught philosophy and ethics at two Canadian universities, but was dismissed from each for misrepresenting his academic credentials. He acted on behalf of the tobacco industry amongst others and was prominent in criticising the evidence related to the claimed links between passive smoking and cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of nicotine marketing</span>

The history of nicotine marketing stretches back centuries. Nicotine marketing has continually developed new techniques in response to historical circumstances, societal and technological change, and regulation. Counter marketing has also changed, in both message and commonness, over the decades, often in response to pro-nicotine marketing.

References

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  2. "Christopher Snowdon, Author at The Spectator". The Spectator. 29 August 2023. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  3. "THE INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS LIMITED". Charity Commission for England and Wales. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  4. "Why is the UK economy lagging behind the US, Germany and others?". BBC News. 18 February 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  5. "Christopher Snowdon". Institute of Economic Affairs. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  6. "Lifestyle Economics". Institute of Economic Affairs. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  7. "christopher snowdon". unfilteredonline.com. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  8. 1 2 Carter, Lawrence; Ross, Alice (30 July 2018). "BP and gambling interests fund secretive free market think tank the IEA". Unearthed. Greenpeace . Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  9. Gornall, Jonathan (15 May 2019). "Big tobacco, the new politics, and the threat to public health". British Medical Journal . 365: l2164. doi:10.1136/bmj.l2164. ISSN   0959-8138. PMID   31092403. S2CID   155102371.
  10. Matthews-King, Alex (16 May 2019). "Big tobacco secretly bankrolling anti-NHS think tank whose bosses donate thousands to Tory leadership contenders, investigation reveals". The Independent . Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  11. Miller, David; Harkins, Claire; Schlögl, Matthias; Montague, Brendan (2017). Impact of Market Forces on Addictive Substances and Behaviours: The web of influence of addictive industries. Oxford University Press. pp. 102–108. ISBN   9780198753261.
  12. "Christopher Snowdon". The Great Debate. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  13. Fitzpatrick, Michael (1 August 2013). "The anti-smoking 'truth regime' that cannot be questioned". Spiked . Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  14. "Anti-smoking activism - Puff by puff, inch by inch". The Economist. 11 June 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  15. "Blowing Smoke at a Ban". New York Times. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  16. Lyons, Rob (June 2009). "Puritanism disguised as science". Spiked review of books. Archived from the original on 30 June 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  17. "COP10 - Experts". Taxpayers Protection Alliance . 20 July 2023. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  18. Snowdon, Christopher. "Selfishness, Greed and Capitalism". Institute of Economic Affairs . Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  19. Snowdon, Christopher (10 November 2017). "Killjoys: A Critique of Paternalism". Institute of Economic Affairs . Retrieved 20 September 2023.