Philip Morris attacks WHO and FCTC at Conference of the Parties

According to documents obtained by the British media outlet The Guardian[1], Philip Morris International (PMI) is currently leading a major lobbying campaign to prevent Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) from implementing more restrictive measures on new tobacco and nicotine products (heated tobacco and vaping products) at COP10 in Panama in November.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the decision-making body of the FCTC and brings together, among others, all Parties to the Convention and civil society. Its objective is to regularly review the implementation of the Convention and to take decisions to promote its effectiveness, which may involve the adoption of protocols, implementing guidelines, reports and amendments to the Convention.

Philip Morris strengthens its lobbying with the Parties to promote its new products

In 2016, the tobacco company announced its intention to abandon manufactured cigarettes, without specifying a specific date, to focus on its new heated tobacco products, its vaping products and its nicotine pouches. The tobacco company has thus communicated since then on “the great transformation” of the industry. However, the reality of the figures underlines that the manufacturer continues to generate the majority of its global profits thanks to the sales of traditional cigarettes.

On September 22, Grégoire Verdeaux, PMI's senior vice president of external affairs, sent an email to the group's employees. In this email, the vice president calls on them, particularly those in the external affairs division, to continue and increase their efforts to put pressure on countries that are parties to the WHO treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The hoped-for goal is to benefit from more flexible regulations for heated tobacco products and vaping. The group's head also states in this message that products, described as "smokeless", appropriately regulated, can accelerate the decline in smoking rates more quickly than tobacco control as a whole. According to tobacco control specialists, this discourse and the instrumentalization of the notion of "risk reduction" constitute the industry's tactical response to continue to promote its products. The last few decades have been marked by the decline in smoking. This decline is explained in particular by the adoption and implementation of measures recognized as effective and taken by excluding tobacco manufacturers from the decision-making table. The challenge for the latter and in particular for Philip Morris is thus to improve their image, through their new products, in order to be able to assert themselves again in the decision-making process and obtain favorable legislation.

The Philip Morris vice president added that over the past 18 months, his company has been working to secure the necessary support in preparation for the next session of the treaty's Conference of the Parties in November. However, he said in the internal email: " At this point, we are not where we want to be - in terms of intelligence, positions and delegations. "Mr Verdeaux said that when they - Philip Morris - were "really determined" they managed to "make things happen". He insisted that they could still do that by then.

Attacks on WHO

In his email, Verdeaux also attacks the Conference of the Parties to the WHO treaty (COP10) because of its positions on new tobacco and nicotine products: " The agenda and documents of the meeting (COP10) have been made public for the most part. Unfortunately, they have confirmed all our fears that this conference remains the greatest missed opportunity in the history of tobacco control... The WHO agenda is nothing but a systematic, methodical and prohibitionist attack on smokeless products.e "

Verdeaux also denounces the exclusion of the tobacco industry from the COP participation. Indeed, the international treaty of the Framework Convention includes a general obligation for the 181 countries that have ratified this text: that of protecting public health policies against interference from the tobacco industry and those who represent the interests of the tobacco industry. This obligation decided by the countries themselves results from the observation that the main obstacle encountered by public authorities in reducing tobacco consumption is the opposition of tobacco manufacturers whose interests are considered "fundamentally opposed and irreconcilable". The head of Philip Morris indicates that despite this, they will be in Panama " to publicly denounce the absurdity of being excluded from it when Philip Morris is undoubtedly the most useful private partner that the WHO could have in the fight against smoking ", concluding his document: " Whatever happens, we are on the right track […] we are on the right side of history ". During previous sessions of the Conferences of the Parties to the FCTC, the tobacco industry has also been active in defending its interests through the financing of public campaigns or initiatives in the hotels where representatives of the delegations were staying. Attacks on the WHO, the FCTC and the COPs linked to this treaty are in this regard a constant in the strategy of the tobacco company.

Keywords: COP10, Panama, Philip Morris, interference, lobby, Framework Convention, WHO, new products, heated tobacco

©Tobacco Free Generation

AE

[1] Sarah Marsh, Philip Morris lobbying to stop WHO 'attack' on vapes and similar products, The Guardian, published October 12, 2023, accessed October 13, 2023