AMA congratulates ASH on 20 years of outstanding anti-smoking advocacy

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Australia – which will cease operating from 31 December – can look back with pride on 20 years of outstanding promotion and advocacy to drive down smoking rates in Australia.

Dr Hambleton said that the AMA had worked closely with ASH to combat smoking over many years.

“The AMA and ASH cooperated on numerous campaigns to highlight the health effects of smoking and expose the dirty tricks used by the tobacco industry to encourage people to maintain or take up the killer habit,” Dr Hambleton said.

“In recent years, ASH was a co-sponsor of the Dirty Ashtray Award with the AMA and the Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH).

“The Dirty Ashtray Award and the National Tobacco Scoreboard judge which Australian governments are doing the best and the worst in tobacco control legislation.

“The AMA congratulates ASH on its tireless efforts to improve public health in Australia and wishes its staff, especially outgoing long-serving CEO Anne Jones OAM, all the best in their future endeavours.”