Nigeria: Tobacco industry's plan for cigarette alternatives rejected

Civil society and public health groups under the umbrella of the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) opposed the tobacco industry's "draft policy on conventional tobacco and non-combustible alternatives to smoking."

According to NTCA, the tobacco industry proposal, currently under review by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, aims to develop a regulatory framework to encourage smokers to switch from conventional cigarettes to heated tobacco products. NTCA and public health groups are urging the ministry to reject the proposal and the tobacco industry's false narratives that are being used to justify it.

NTCA, in a letter to Minister Niyi Adebayo, dated July 28, said the draft tobacco industry policy contravenes the National Tobacco Control Act, 2015 , to the National Tobacco Control Regulations 2019, but also to the Framework Convention of the World Health Organization Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) which Nigeria ratified in 2005.

In the letter titled “Tobacco Industry Attempts to Create Constitutional Crisis in Nigeria and the Consequent Public Health Challenges”, signed by NTCA Board Chairman, Akinbode Oluwafemi, the body referred to Section 1(m) of the National Tobacco Control Act. The Act obliges Nigeria, under Article 5.3 of the FCTC, to ensure that tobacco control policies are implemented beyond any adverse commercial interests of the tobacco industry.

The association insisted that the tobacco industry's false claims about alternatives to traditional tobacco have been debunked by the WHO, which has repeatedly said that heated tobacco products are harmful.

The NTCA calls on the minister to note that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has denied Philip Morris' claim that switching from combustible cigarettes to the company's heated tobacco brand, IQOS, would reduce the risk of disease. Tobacco Atlas recalls that about 16,000 Nigerians die every year from tobacco-related causes.

Article translated and adapted from Premium Times

Keywords: Nigeria, heated tobacco, interference, tobacco industry