British American Tobacco funds World Vapers' Alliance to weaken anti-smoking regulations

A new investigation from the Daily Beast[1] revealed that British American Tobacco (BAT) played a central role in orchestrating, directing and funding the World Vapers' Alliance (WVA) – a pro-vaping front group posing as consumer, tobacco control advocates.

According to the journalists' investigation, British American Tobacco sought to use the World Vapers' Alliance to lobby government officials, including members of the European Parliament, to weaken regulations on tobacco and nicotine products such as bans on flavored products, health warnings and increased taxes.

A coordinated communication strategy on social networks

According to the investigation, BAT’s London-based subsidiary played a central role in orchestrating, directing, and funding the World Vapers’ Alliance in collaboration with consulting and public relations firm Red Flag and the Consumer Choice Center group. Emails obtained by The Daily Beast specifically mention BAT’s involvement in the WVA’s social media advertising strategy, posting extensive pro-vaping content around the world, but never under the WVA or CCC account, and never mentioning BAT’s ties to tobacco. These sponsored posts were directly approved by BAT’s global head of campaigns, Marcin Wiktorwitz, but employees and contractors at affiliated companies were only allowed to contact BAT by phone to avoid a paper trail. They were even encouraged not to mention BAT in their emails about the WVA.

Lobby to weaken existing anti-smoking regulations

The WVA's links to the tobacco industry have also been documented in a investigation November 2021 issue of the French daily Le Monde[2], which explored the relationships and funding between the tobacco industry, the World Vapers' Alliance and the Consumer Choice Center. The investigation revealed that the two associations were acting in particular at the European Union level, with European deputies in order to impose new tobacco and nicotine products as being less harmful and therefore not having to be regulated like traditional cigarettes (maintaining favorable taxation, absence of regulation on flavors, etc.).

Documents obtained by The Daily Beast show that the WVA uses its members to send targeted letters to MEPs to push messages that are favorable to manufacturers' interests and advocate for weakening EU regulations under discussion.

The World Vapers' Alliance, the voice of the tobacco industry

In a December 2021 op-ed in the Tribune, WVA Director Michael Landt attacked the World Health Organization (WHO), accusing it of "deciding behind closed doors and ignoring the advice of scientists and consumers on vaping, which is one of the most effective smoking cessation tools.". This attack on the international institution and the treaty developed under its auspices, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, was not new and the director of the WVA had not mentioned the links of interest that bind him to the tobacco industry. The director of the WVA, called on the WHO to rethink its strategy to fight tobacco by making more accessible "attractive alternatives" to smokers which, according to him, would allow "saving 200 million lives". In line with the discourse and positioning of the tobacco industry on issues of risk reduction, the desired approach is to reverse certain regulations.

The irreconcilable interests of the tobacco industry and public health

The WHO Framework Convention is a treaty adopted by 182 countries/Parties worldwide. It was developed and negotiated by countries in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic. It is a treaty based on scientific evidence. The 9th session of the COP, Conference of the Parties to this treaty, ended in November 2021 with the adoption of a joint statement to all these countries. They recall that the tobacco industry represents the essential obstacle to policies to reduce tobacco consumption and they called for a revival of tobacco control policies, in particular by protecting them from interference by the tobacco industry. This declaration recalls the fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the interests of the tobacco industry and those of public health.

Acronyms

BAT: British American Tobacco CCC: Consumer Center Choice WVA: World Vapers' Alliance Keywords: World Vapers Alliance, British American Tobacco, Lobby, Interference, WHO ©Generation Without Tobacco

AE

---

[1] Roger Sollenberger, William Bredderman, Guess Who's Secretly Backing This 'Anti-Smoking' Vape Group, The Daily Beast, published January 8, 2021, accessed January 12, 2022 [2] Stéphane Horel (with Ties Keyzer, Tim Luimes, Eva Schram from “The Investigative Desk” and datacitron), Vaping: The real millions of fake consumer organizations, Le Monde, November 3, 2021, consulted on January 12, 2022 National Committee Against Smoking |