By Jennie Lyn Reyes
BANGKOK, Thailand, Dec 3 2021 (IPS)

Almost two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries in the developing world continue to grapple with basic issues such as securing sufficient vaccines and providing essential medical care for their sick. Many economies are in recovery mode as governments scramble to resuscitate them with recovery packages and build back better plans.

In this mix, COVID-19 did not dent Big Tobacco’s profits as it exploited the pandemic and persuaded governments to treat cigarettes as “essential,” accept its charity, obtain perks such as tax breaks and treat new tobacco products more favorably. These were the main findings of the 2021 Asian Tobacco Industry Interference Index.

Although many countries in Asia, a target for Big Tobacco to grow its business, already reject tobacco industry gift-giving, health and non-health frontliners fell prey to its corporate social responsibility activities at the height of the pandemic. The industry doled out emergency medical equipment, hospital supplies, and cash and food provisions in areas under lockdowns.

As many governments limited the movement of non-essential tobacco to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the governments of Bangladesh and the Philippines caved in to industry pressure and exempted the manufacture and sale of tobacco products.

In Bangladesh, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International received special permission from business-friendly departments to continue purchasing tobacco leaf, manufacturing, and distributing finished goods while the country was under a nationwide lockdown.

The Philippines classified tobacco as non-essential and restricted its transport and delivery in areas under lockdown in March 2020, but eventually lifted the restrictions and announced that the tobacco industry could fully operate in areas under general community quarantine.

The Asian index shows that although nearly all countries included in the report are Parties to the global health treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), many governments still deem the tobacco industry’s business as fiscally beneficial even at the expense of public health.

In Thailand, the date of repealing the ineffective two-tier cigarette tax rate was also extended for another year, while in India, Korea, Malaysia, and Nepal, no tax increase was announced for 2021.

In Indonesia, the government eased the tobacco excise tax scheme by extending the payment deadline, which allowed the industry to sell at old market prices, deprived the government of additional revenues, and sustained rather than discouraged tobacco use.

In Japan, where cigarette tax rates are already low, heated tobacco products introduced by Big Tobacco are taxed significantly lower. Similarly, in the Philippines, the excise tax rate on electronic smoking products is substantially lower than that for cigarettes.

The index quantifies industry meddling in 19 Asian countries and ranks governments according to their efforts in shielding public policies. While a few countries show marginal progress, many showed deterioration in addressing tobacco industry influence, primarily due to the industry’s more aggressive tactics that capitalized on the COVID-19 situation.

Key findings:

• Protective measures in tobacco control are still needed. Eight (8) countries are still unprotected from tobacco industry influence, while other countries still have room to strengthen enforcement of their protective measures.
• Tobacco industry continued rebuilding its image through CSR activities. The tobacco industry targets socio-economically vulnerable groups as CSR beneficiaries to disassociate its corporate image from its toxic products and irresponsible business practices. Brunei, Lao PDR, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand have banned these activities as fake charities.
• Tobacco industry enjoyed government benefits such as waived duties, tax breaks, and subsidies. These deprived government of potential revenues for pandemic response or social services.
• Even when most social events and physical gatherings were banned, many government officials interacted unnecessarily with the tobacco industry.
• There is a systemic lack of transparency in disclosing government interactions with the tobacco industry. None of the countries have a registry to publicly disclose the tobacco industry’s affiliate organizations, individuals, or lobbyists acting on its behalf.

There is hope as some governments move to protect public policy from undue influence of the tobacco industry, such as India, whose Ministry of Health and Family Welfare adopted a code of conduct for its officials when interacting with the tobacco industry.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Education also introduced tobacco-free policies in educational facilities and banned any sponsorship or collaboration with the tobacco industry.

Although COVID-19 figures have now surpassed 250 million infections and 5 million deaths globally, tobacco continues to kill 8 million people annually. As the pandemic lingers, Big Tobacco continues to expand its business simultaneously.

Philip Morris International reported pre-tax earnings of almost $11 billion for 2020, while British American Tobacco reported revenues of about $12 billion, primarily from cigarette sales. These figures are far more than the health budgets of poor countries and what they spend on tackling the pandemic.

Governments must strengthen their efforts to protect public health policy in the spirit of anti-corruption and good governance, as civil society continues to do its part to monitor, expose, and de-normalize this harmful industry and its products.

Jennie Lyn Reyes is the author of the 2021 Asian Tobacco Industry Interference Index and the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager of SEATCA

About SEATCA
SEATCA is a multi-sectoral non-governmental alliance promoting health and saving lives by assisting ASEAN countries to accelerate and effectively implement the tobacco control measures contained in the WHO FCTC. Acknowledged by governments, academic institutions, and civil society for its advancement of tobacco control in Southeast Asia, the WHO bestowed on SEATCA the World No Tobacco Day Award in 2004 and the WHO Director-General’s Special Recognition Award in 2014.

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By Jennie Lyn Reyes
BANGKOK, Thailand, Nov 20 2020 (IPS)

While the COVID-19 pandemic has elevated public health to a top priority in every country in the world, it has left many poorly resourced governments receptive to any and all aid that can provide immediate assistance to help their people.

The pandemic pandemonium has provided unprecedented opportunities for the tobacco industry to boost its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to get closer to health and senior government officials.

Using charity to gain access to senior officials, foster good ties, and gain political capital to influence and interfere with public policies is a prominent tobacco industry tactic revealed in the 2020 Asian Tobacco Industry Interference Index.

Because of the deceptive and powerful influence of CSR activities exploited by the tobacco industry, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) calls on Parties to the treaty to denormalize these activities and even ban them. Nearly all Asian countries are parties to this treaty.

The Index is a civil society report card that ranks 18 Asian governments on their efforts to protect health policies from the influence and interference of commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in line with Article 5.3 guidelines of the FCTC.

Japan, Indonesia, and China top the report’s list with the highest level of tobacco industry meddling. These countries also have the largest smoking populations in the world. Brunei, Pakistan, and Nepal made the best progress to protect public policies from industry influence.

Banning the tobacco industry at any level or stage of health policy development is one of the key recommendations of the 2020 Asian Tobacco Industry Interference Index. Credit: SEATCA

Key findings:

• Health policy is undermined when the tobacco industry is included in the policymaking process. Participation and influence in tobacco control policies are revealed to be the highest in China, Indonesia, Japan, and Philippines.

• Tobacco industry buys influence through CSR activities. Industry-sponsored CSR activities remain common even in countries where restrictions are in place. Funding social causes, such as sports and disaster relief, allows the industry to promote itself as a “good corporate citizen” in the eyes of governments as shown in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and Vietnam.

• Governments give benefits to the industry. With the exception of Brunei and ignoring the devasting harms of tobacco, many governments have been persuaded by the tobacco industry on its importance for economic growth and grant it preferential treatment such as tax breaks, facilitation of trade agreements, and delayed and weakened implementation of tobacco control measures. These are detrimental to tobacco control and tend to drain national coffers of tax revenues.

• Unnecessary interactions with the industry foster government endorsement. High-level government representatives participate in events organized by the tobacco industry. Activities related to combating smuggling are common where the tobacco industry works side-by-side with governments.

• Lack of transparency in interaction with the tobacco industry. The lack of transparency in government interactions with the tobacco industry remains a problem in almost all countries. Most countries do not have a procedure for public disclosure.

• Protective measures are needed. Only half (nine) of the countries included in the report have adopted policies to prevent tobacco industry interference as part of good housekeeping and governance.

The global tobacco industry is dominated by five tobacco companies all having a foothold in Asia – China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT), Japan Tobacco Inc. (JTI), and Imperial Tobacco Group (ITG).

These transnational companies have already ventured into e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products that they are misleadingly promoting as safer alternatives to cigarettes.

Tobacco products contribute to the deaths of over eight million people every year, with low-and-middle-income countries bearing the brunt of its toll on public health and the economy. Tobacco use places smokers at an even higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease.

The ASEAN bloc of countries, home to 125 million tobacco users, is targeted by the industry to grow its profits. These countries are moving slowly, and in some instances, even regressing in their efforts to ward off tobacco industry influence.

There is light at the end of the tunnel as countries that have successfully protected their policies, such as Brunei and Thailand, are showing a decline in numbers of smokers, without suffering economic losses, as the industry typically claims.

A whole-of-government-and-society approach is fundamental to address industry interference. Governments and civil society must keep ahead of the many insidious ways the tobacco industry works. Constant vigilance and pro-active countermeasures remain vital.

About SEATCA
SEATCA is a multi-sectoral non-governmental alliance promoting health and saving lives by assisting ASEAN countries to accelerate and effectively implement the tobacco control measures contained in the WHO FCTC. Acknowledged by governments, academic institutions, and civil society for its advancement of tobacco control in Southeast Asia, the WHO bestowed on SEATCA the World No Tobacco Day Award in 2004 and the WHO Director-General’s Special Recognition Award in 2014.

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
  

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