Report accuses Big Tobacco of blocking treaty

By Ben Ezeamalu

Tobacco industry watchdog, Corporate Accountability International, and its allies, on Monday, released a report documenting widespread tobacco industry interference in the implementation of the global tobacco treaty (formally known as the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control).

The report’s release kicks off a string of grassroots actions in dozens of countries leading up to November’s treaty meeting in Punta del Este, Uruguay. At stake are nearly 200 million lives - the number of lives the World Health Organisation projects would be spared by 2050 if the treaty takes full effect - and the tobacco industry interference remains the single greatest obstacle to this objective. During this year’s 10th International Week of Resistance to Tobacco Transnationals, which began on Monday, the anti-tobacco groups say that their actions will expose industry obstructionism in countries around the globe which they hope would build momentum going into the November meeting.

Showing solidarity

The Week is also an opportunity for the global community to speak out in solidarity with Uruguay; Philip Morris International is suing Uruguay for implementing a treaty provision requiring stronger cigarette pack health warning labels. “Big Tobacco first tried to bully the global community out of advancing this treaty. Now it’s attempting to bully countries out of enforcing it,” said Gigi Kellett, the Director of Corporate Accountability International’s campaign Challenging Big Tobacco. “Still, our findings indicate that the industry’s resolve to defy the law is matched only by civil society’s resolve to end industry intimidation,” he said.

The report cited some of the tactics used by the tobacco industry to undermine treaty implementation to include the donation of $200 million to the Columbian government by Philip Morris International following the adoption of treaty implementation legislation to “address areas of mutual interest;” the appointment of a former British American Tobacco executive, Kenneth Clarke, as Justice Minister - he would oversee a recent lawsuit by BAT and its competitors against a new law cracking down on tobacco product displays; and engaging in a string of lawsuits regarding tobacco product displays, packaging, and health warning labels from Australia and the Philippines to Norway. All of these tactics, the groups say, are in direct defiance of the treaty, specifically its Article 5.3, which deems such industry interference to be in fundamental conflict with the treaty’s public health aims.

Slow progress

The report also finds that Article 5.3 is being used to great effect globally to insulate the treaty’s implementation against the tobacco industry. Action ranges from Mauritius becoming the first country to ban all tobacco industry “corporate social responsibility” schemes to Panama’s prohibiting government agencies and officials from accepting tobacco industry contributions. “Those countries, large and small, that refuse to be intimidated, are emboldening others to follow their lead,” said Philip Jakpor, spokesperson for Environmental Rights Action in Nigeria and the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT).

“The success of the November treaty meeting will be measured by the number of Parties that return to their countries with a plan to root out industry interference. Millions of lives are on the line,” Mr Jakpor said. In Nigeria, the Senate Committee on Health held a Public Hearing on the Tobacco Control Bill in July last year and the bill is still awaiting passage into law at senate’s plenary. Each year, tobacco kills more than five million people and 80 percent of those deaths are in low-income countries, where treaty implementation represents some of the first efforts at tobacco control.

One hundred and seventy-one countries have ratified the global tobacco treaty since its entry into force in 2005. Today, the treaty protects more than 87 percent of the world’s population.

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Nigeria, others criticize attempts to smuggle loopholes into WHO tobacco treaty

-Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco fingered

Non governmental organizations from across the globe, including Nigeria, on the platform of Corporate Accountability International and the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) have released an exposé highlighting new tobacco industry tactics to undermine the implementation of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).

The report comes at the midpoint of an eight-day negotiating meeting on a protocol to the WHO FCTC on illicit tobacco trade in Geneva, Switzerland, which commenced June 28, 2009, where tobacco giants such as Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco (JT) have a strong presence.

The document, produced by Corporate Accountability International and NATT, also criticizes FCTC Parties such as Lebanon and the Philippines for collaborating with tobacco corporations and falling short of commitments under the treaty.

FCTC Article 5.3 obligates treaty Parties to “protect [public health] policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law.” Guidelines for the implementation of this measure were adopted at the third Conference of Parties (COP3) last November in Durban, South Africa.

“In Durban, ratifying countries unanimously adopted rigorous guidelines to protect public health policy against tobacco industry interference,” explains Kathryn Mulvey, International Policy Director for Corporate Accountability International. “Now, the tobacco industry is trying to get governments to ignore their obligations under the treaty and make exceptions to these new rules. We urge the international community to reject the tobacco industry’s attempts to subvert the FCTC and derail the illicit trade protocol.”

“The heavy presence of the tobacco industry at the current negotiations and their surreptitious attempts to manipulate discussions on solutions to the illicit trade runs contrary to Article 5.3 provisions which discourage any form of cooperation between ratifying parties and the tobacco industry,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, programme manager, Environmental Rights Action, and spokesperson of NATT.

The tobacco corporations and civil society do seem to agree about one thing: the protocol on illicit trade is precedent-setting. This is the first high-profile tobacco control issue to be taken on at the global level since last November, when three sets of implementation guidelines were adopted – on banning tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; effective warning labels; and protecting against tobacco industry interference.

NGOs are calling on treaty Parties to follow through on their commitments. Meanwhile the tobacco lobby is present and visible at this week’s negotiations in full force, seeking to influence the content of the protocol to its own advantage and chip away at the safeguards of Article 5.3.

PMI has invited delegates to attend private meetings at the Intercontinental Hotel throughout the week. In contrast to the previous two negotiating sessions, this week the public gallery has been packed full of tobacco industry lobbyists. On Monday there were more than forty people in the gallery. Twenty-three of the twenty-eight people willing to identify themselves were from the tobacco industry, including twelve from BAT, seven from JT, one from Imperial Tobacco, and one from the Tobacco Institute of South Africa.

The Article 5.3 guidelines begin with the principle that ‘There is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry’s interests and public health policy interests” (Principle 1) and urge Parties to avoid conflicts of interest for government officials and employees (Recommendation 4). Yet PMI reports meeting with 2,800 government agencies and 8,000 government employees to promote its system for tracking and tracing cigarette products.

Article 5.3 guidelines instruct ratifying countries to “Establish measures to limit interactions with the tobacco industry and ensure the transparency of those interactions that occur”. But last month Lebanon played host to BAT’s two-day conference on illicit trade, where Lebanese Minister of Finance Dr. Mohammed Shateh and other high-level public officials from the region reportedly met with BAT behind closed doors to discuss taxes, smuggling and other policy issues.

The guidelines also recommend that treaty Parties, “Reject partnerships and non-binding or non-enforceable agreements with the tobacco industry”. But last month Philippines customs authorities signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Philip Morris Philippines, through which the corporation will presumably gain access to law enforcement personnel and customs data. (This is the same corporation that was accused by Thailand two years ago of exploiting customs procedures and evading taxes by understating the value of exports.)

View the full report:

Clearing the Smoke-Filled Room: An Exposé on How the Tobacco Industry Attempts to Undermine the Global Tobacco Treaty and the Illicit Trade Protocol online.