Battling another global killer
Despite launching her global campaign against “Big Tobacco” a decade ago, Melbourne radiation oncologist Bronwyn King says she still works “every second of the day” to bring about the downfall of an industry that the World Health Organisation (WHO) says causes one death every six seconds. Her team at Tobacco Free Portfolios, a not-for-profit organisation aiming to eliminate investment in tobacco globally, has since made significant advances. Yet she doesn’t hold her breath that cigarettes will disappear any time soon.
“It might be that we are able to escalate tobacco control awareness and policy during a time when the whole world is focused on health,” says King. “Everything else is being disrupted and re-imagined, and everybody is talking about building back better after Covid-19. It would be very nice to build back a world that is tobacco free, rather than one that just expected eight million incremental deaths a year.”
King now has plenty of clout. Her campaign has galvanised support from local and global heavyweights, including finance groups AXA, BNP Paribas, AustralianSuper and AMP. In May, she organised
