Canada, Vaccine and Covid. Philip Morris' €84 Million PR Operation

In Canada, the non-governmental organization Corporate Accountability[1] wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling for an end to government funding for Medigo, due to the existence of significant conflicts of interest with Philip Morris International (PMI)[2].

On October 23, Justin Trudeau announced a massive investment of up to 130 million Canadian dollars (84 million euros) in Quebec-based Medicago to develop a vaccine against COVID-19. However, Philip Morris now holds a third of the company's equity, and is helping to finance the development of the vaccine.

An agreement in breach of Canada's international obligations

This government agreement is a violation of the legal obligations of the Canadian State. The latter, a Party to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), prohibits governments from associating themselves with CSR strategies[3] of the tobacco industry, or to invest in companies affiliated with it. Finally, the FCTC prohibits any form of direct or indirect advertising in favor of tobacco and its industry. While the government press release does not mention the partnership relationship with the tobacco giant, that of PMI emphasizes the benefits of such a rapprochement. According to André Calantzopoulos, CEO of PMI: " Better results can be achieved when governments and businesses work together to promote common goals for the common good ".

The signatories of this open letter see in this collaboration the"one of the most successful public relations strategies " by the tobacco industry. The tobacco company's participation in the development of a vaccine against Covid-19 is in fact a moral whitewashing operation, the objective of which is twofold.

This operation aims first to legitimize the industry as a responsible actor, and as a credible interlocutor with the public authorities. In other words, the cigarette companies are seeking to go back on the text of the FCTC, which limits interactions between government and industry to the strict minimum. Finally, the aim for the industry is to make people forget its own health record, with 8 million deaths per year, including 47,000 in Canada. These figures are all the more embarrassing for the tobacco industry since the latter is now seeking, through its new products, to pass itself off as an actor committed to public health. In particular, Philip Morris is instrumentalizing the notion of " risk reduction " as a marketing argument for its heated tobacco, while no independent study supports the view that these products are less harmful.

Combating Tobacco Industry Interference: Some Recommendations

To address this situation, the open letter develops a number of recommendations for the Canadian government, in particular:

• Reject Medicago deal under FCTC obligations
• Cancel the deal and reinvest the funds into vaccine development that is not sponsored or funded by tobacco companies.
• Fully implement Article 5.3 of the FCTC to avoid future partnership relationships between governments and the tobacco industry and its allies.

[1] Social Responsibility

[2] Organizational sign on letter: Urge Canadian government to terminate conflictual agreement with Medicago, Corporate Accountability, (accessed 23/11/2020)

[3] Corporate Social Responsibility