The industry has also been aggressive about infiltrating FCTC meetings by manipulating the public badge process
With the seventh round of international anti-tobacco negotiations kicking off on Monday, upto 115 civil society organisations have written to governments party to World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) to act against tobacco industry interference.
The letter is addressed to the Famework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) secretariat Dr Vera Luiza Da Costa De Silva, Union Health Minister, JP Nadda and Director of National Tobacco Control Programme, Amal Pusp.
The letter states, "As civil society organisations concerned with public health, we write to express our concern over tobacco industry interference in the meetings of the World Health Organisation (WHO) FCTC and its subsidiary bodies. In advance of WHO FCTC in Greater Noida, we urge the Parties to the treaty to commit to adopting a comprehensive policy that would protect the countries from interference by the tobacco industry."
The industry has also been aggressive about infiltrating FCTC meetings by manipulating the public badge process. This is why Parties unanimously decided to remove those with public badges from the negotiation spaces during the final round of Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (ITP) discussions in previous negotiations.
"This infiltration and manipulation of Conference of the Parties (COP) procedures is occurring despite the fact that FCTC has an article dedicated to preventing just such actions. FCTC Article 5.3 acknowledges the fundamental and irreconcilable conflict of interest between the tobacco industry and public health. The Parties to the treaty have even unanimously adopted guidelines, which oblige parties to not nominate any person employed by the tobacco industry or any entity working to further its interests to serve on delegations in COP meetings, its subsidiary bodies or any other bodies established pursuant to decisions of the COP," said Bobby Ramakant, member of Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT).
The letter further states, "Big Tobacco's primary business strategy is resulting in the exportation of the epidemic from the highest-income to the lowest-income countries, where 80 per cent of the world's smokers now live. Evidence is mounting that tobacco industry representatives are increasingly infiltrating the negotiations through both Party delegations and by posing as members of the public, all with the intent of undermining the critical public health outcomes of these meetings."
Recently, a British American Tobacco (BAT) employee-turned-whistleblower confirmed that BAT bribed FCTC officials from Rwanda, Burundi, and Comoros. Most alarmingly, in 2012, BAT bribed Ministry of Health and FCTC official from Burundi to support BAT's positions at the final negotiation round of the ITP, one of the most important subsidiary bodies of the COP.
Also, Philip Morris International lost a six year battle against Uruguay over the country's implementation of tobacco control laws that prioritized public health. Australia won a landmark case against the tobacco industry over plain packaging.
In the end, the letter states, "With COP7 taking place in India we condemn the tobacco industry's efforts to infiltrate the COP process and we call on our leaders to prevent this. It is clear that the era of Big Tobacco dictating public health policies and bullying countries to bend to its will is coming to an end."
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