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A hand holding a pack of cigarettes
Image: Thomas Samson/AFP

Tobacco

Tobacco use remains an epidemic in parts of the world, with smoking and other nicotine-based products causing addition and a range of health problems, including cancer and heart disease.

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All Content on this topic

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Ask Derrick

Our science correspondent looks at whether nicotine protects against Covid.
HealthJune 24, 202102:23 min
Women roll beedis in Lalgola village in West Bengal

India's cigarette workers demand fair wages

Advocates are urging greater protections for people who work in the trade, because of health hazards and low wages.
HealthMay 5, 2021
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Tobacco could fuel Zimbabwe's recovery

Zimbabwe's robust tobacco industry could play a key role in supporting the country's recovery.
BusinessApril 20, 202102:06 min
Tobacco is a thriving industry, and Zimbabwe's production is the largest on the continent.

Zimbabwe's tobacco crop 'pride'

Tobacco is a thriving industry, and Zimbabwe's production is the largest on the continent.
BusinessApril 9, 202102:49 min
A worker wearing a protective face mask checks the quality of cigars at the Partagas cigar factory in Havana, Cuba

Cuba's cigar-makers optimistic about recovery

Cuba's iconic cigar industry is hopeful about a recovery despite the pandemic and the impact of US sanctions.
BusinessMarch 17, 202101:51 min
A gold bar with the inscription that reads "Fine Gold" (file photo)

Ukraine recalls attache over smuggling gold

Ukrainian investigators found gold, thousands of cigarettes and cash in a minibus that was taking a diplomat to Poland.
CrimeMarch 1, 2021
DW EcoIndia - Sendung #61 | Clean Cooking Stoves

Clean stoves for clean lungs

Cooking is a risk for rural families. The stoves pollute the air women and children breathe.
Nature and EnvironmentDecember 18, 202004:25 min
The cigar box in which the wood fragments were found

Ancient Egyptian artifact found in cigar box

A long-lost artifact from the Queen's Chamber of the Great Pyramid in Giza has been rediscovered in Aberdeen.
HistoryDecember 16, 2020
DW MiG | Zigaretten

Are e-cigarettes really healthier?

Is vaping really healthier than smoking cigarettes?
BusinessDecember 8, 202004:26 min
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Building houses with cigarette butts?

A waste processing company in West Java is turning cigarette butts into materials that can be used to build houses.
SocietyNovember 18, 202002:12 min
A Pakistani boy enjoys a cigarette in Lahore, Pakistan

Pakistan sees increase in child smokers

Although there are several laws that prohibit the sale of cigarettes to children, experts say they are hardly enforced.
SocietyOctober 9, 202001:48 min
Cigarette butts inside an ashtray

World Cleanup Day 2020: Tackling cigarette butt pollution

Every year, more than 4.5 trillion discarded cigarette butts end up in our planet's natural habitats and waterways.
Nature and EnvironmentSeptember 18, 20208 images
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Malawi's 'green gold' losing its shine

In Malawi, tobacco is known as "green gold," but global demand has been falling in recent years.
BusinessAugust 20, 202002:31 min
A representational image of a person smoking

A virtual date to help people quit smoking

Tobacco users trying to quit may soon be able to share their plight with Florence the WHO's first virtual health worker.
BusinessJuly 28, 2020
Billboard advertising tobacco

Germany to curb tobacco advertising

Germany is set to introduce a series of restrictions on the advertising of tobacco.
SocietyJuly 3, 2020
Dog on leash in front of three funnel-shaped scent containers

Dogs can sniff out COVID-19

In the future, dogs might be able to detect infected people in nursing homes or at airports.
ScienceMay 27, 2020
Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin | Ausstellung Hannah Arendt

For Hannah Arendt, smoking and thinking belonged together

Philosopher Hannah Arendt's belonging are now on show at the German Historical Museum in Berlin.
CultureMay 11, 202011 images
A Bundeswehr soldier in Mali

German soldiers injured in grenade explosion in Mali

German soldiers were on patrol in southern Mali when a smoke grenade was unexpectedly set off.
ConflictsApril 29, 2020
Two men smoking in Indonesia

World in Progress: Indonesia's smoking problem

Indonesian households spend almost as much on cigarettes as they do on rice. Now even children are taking up the habit.
Human RightsApril 22, 202029:59 min
Shadow of a man drinking out of a bottle

East Germans drink more alcohol, eat better

A study of differences in lifestyle risk factors among German regions has traced them to sociohistorical roots.
HealthMarch 13, 2020
Umweltverschmutzung im Nigerdelta

Toxic smoke and no jobs in the oil-rich Niger Delta

The foreign oil companies behind gas flaring in Niger Delta leave residents with little more than health problems.
PoliticsMarch 5, 2020
A thick haze of smoke from the bushfires hangs over Melbourne

Smoke interrupts Australian Open practice

Toxic air meant practice sessions for players like Alexander Zverev and Rafael Nadal were halted.
SportsJanuary 14, 2020
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‘Australia is going up in smoke’

Australia has been burning since September as huge blazes rage in the country’s southeast. The infernos have destroyed an area of land the size of South Korea. Twenty six people have died and thousands of homes have been destroyed. Brent Goff spoke to DW’s Senior Business Editor Ben Fajzullin, who has just returned from Australia.
January 9, 202009:48 min
NOAA satellite footage

Smoke from Australia fires reaches South America

Smoke from bushfires in Australia has traveled some 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles) to South America.
Nature and EnvironmentJanuary 7, 2020
A man smoking a cigarette

Male smoking rates stall for the first time

The UN health organization welcomed governments' successful efforts to decrease smoking among men and boys.
HealthDecember 19, 2019
Stock image of students at a ballet school

Vienna ballet academy 'disregarded' child welfare

Students at one of the world's top ballet schools were told to start smoking to stay thin, a special commission found.
DanceDecember 17, 2019
A man smoking a cigarette

Germany's conservatives back tobacco ad ban

Health advocates welcome the breakthrough, warning Germany needs to do more to protect young people.
HealthDecember 10, 2019
The Sydney opera house, with a smokey sky in the background

In pictures: Australia 'mega fire' blankets Sydney with smoke

Firefighters have warned that an out-of-control bushfire near Sydney is "too big to put out."
Nature and EnvironmentDecember 7, 20196 images
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Slash and burn - When farmers destroy their ecosystem

Fires in Indonesia release more harmful greenhouse gases - and toxic smoke - than fires in the Amazon.
December 2, 201903:02 min
Sydney covered in smoke

Australia: Smoke engulfs Sydney, as bushfires spread south

Sydney authorities have advised schoolchildren, and residents with respiratory or heart problems to stay indoors.
CatastropheNovember 21, 2019
Smoke hangs over Sydney

Bushfires blanket Sydney in smoke

Firefighters warned that more hot and windy days were on the way.
CatastropheNovember 19, 2019
Electronic cigarette devices pictures on display at a shot in India

US teen gets lung transplant after vaping

The 17-year-old was first admitted to hospital in September before undergoing the procedure mid-October.
HealthNovember 13, 2019
USA Vaping

Officials find likely culprit behind vaping deaths

A US government lab study confirmed that vitamin E acetate is likely behind a wave of vaping illnesses and deaths.
HealthNovember 8, 2019
A man uses an e-cigarette

German commissioner demands ban on tobacco ads

While fewer Germans are using cigarettes, vaping is becoming far more popular — especially among young people.
HealthNovember 5, 2019
Cats therapy

Change yourself

A new romantic partner changes everything, doesn’t it? Also, what the sound of dogs, cats, and heroic music does to you.
ScienceNovember 5, 201930:00 min
Child farmer gathering tobacco leaves in Malawi

Tobacco company rebukes Malawi child labor claims

British American Tobacco rebuked UK law firm saying it does not use child and forced labor on tenant farms in Malawi.
CrimeNovember 1, 2019
A cigarette in an ash tray with a no smoking sign underneath

Austria smoking ban in effect after decade-long debate

Smoking a cigarette with a beer or a meal has become a thing of the past as Austria's smoking ban comes into effect.
HealthNovember 1, 2019
Cigarettes piled up

Cigarette smuggling is big business in UAE

The UAE's cigarette-producing business has been causing tax losses elsewhere due to increasing smuggling activities.
BusinessOctober 22, 2019
A hand crunching a pack of cigarettes

I finally quit smoking! And it's paying off

I haven't smoked a cigarette in eight weeks. Since then, great things have happened to my body and my psyche.
ScienceOctober 10, 2019
Kenia Währung Schilling Geldscheine

Smoking out the dirty money in Kenya

Kenyans are scrambling to replace the country's highest-value bank note before it becomes obsolete on October 1.
PoliticsSeptember 29, 2019
vaping products

India announces ban on e-cigarettes

India said it would ban e-cigarettes to protect its youth, echoing a similar ban by President Donald Trump in the US.
PoliticsSeptember 18, 2019
Vaping

US plans to ban flavored e-cigarettes

The Trump administration will ban flavored e-cigarettees from the market.
HealthSeptember 12, 2019
North Rhine-Westphalia will ban smoking in cars with children or pregnant women.

State proposes smoking ban in vehicles with kids

The German state North Rhine-Westphalia is to consider a law which would ban smoking in vehicles with children.
HealthSeptember 11, 2019
Raucher in Indonesien

World in Progress: Indonesia's smoking problem

Indonesian households spend almost as much on cigarettes as they do on rice. Now even children are taking up the habit.
Human RightsSeptember 4, 201929:59 min
A company sign outside Philip Morris international headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland

Philip Morris in merger talks with Altria

Tobacco giants Philip Morris and Altria are considering merging to help confront declining cigarette sales.
HealthAugust 27, 2019
Still from| American Woman

Smoking on screen: Covert advertising?

Despite tougher regulation of tobacco advertising, youth are seeing more smoking onscreen than ever. Should we care?
HealthAugust 26, 2019
An e-cigarette

WHO slams e-cigarettes, tobacco industry

The WHO has said electronic cigarettes are "undoubtedly harmful" and do not help people quit their tobacco smoking.
HealthJuly 26, 2019
Podcast Inside Europe

Inside Europe 26.07.2019

A change at the top of British politics – Rome’s rubbish crisis - The new Greek PM clamps down on smoking - The world's largest arts festival prepares to kick off in Edinbugh - Turkey gets tough on Syrian refugees - Controversy in Prague over a column – Ghost nets in the Baltic - Madrid's low-emissions zone – Getting fleeced in Paris
PoliticsJuly 26, 201954:59 min
Gesundheit Rauchen Raucher trotz Verbot

Inside Europe: Clampdown on smoking in Greece

Greece's new prime minister has unveiled a raft of new measures to boost the economy and instil law and order. But Kyriakos Mitsotakis' biggest challenge may be to wean Italians off cigarettes. In his first decrees, the PM has ordered the nation's parliament to be smoke-free, and vowed to enforce existing smoking bans — and steep fines. Anthee Carassava reports from Athens.
PoliticsJuly 26, 201902:55 min
A man stacking goods in a cigar shop

Cuba's tobacco farmers try to shake off state shackles

Hand-rolled tobacco is one of Cuba’s most important export products and mainly in the hands of the state.
SocietyJuly 14, 201912 images