The tobacco industry is deploying every effort to block the adoption of stricter rules at a crucial World Health Organization (WHO) meeting in Geneva this week, and has developed new strategies to influence negotiations.
Until Saturday, 183 delegations are drafting fresh global standards for tobacco during long meetings stretching late into the night at COP11 in Geneva. The industry majors are watching every edit closely.
“We have always seen many lobbyists at COPs, but this time, it is different, more subtle. This year, it is very orchestrated – it is a battle plan,” said a member of an EU national delegation.
To ensure its messages are echoed by delegations, the industry is said to have targeted a number of states, from major players such as China to small Caribbean islands at COP11.
“We can see that many delegations may have been briefed. They repeat the same talking points, sometimes word for word,” the delegation member adds.
Public statements already reveal which countries are most likely to defend the industry’s interests – particularly on so-called new nicotine products, which the tobacco sector promotes to replace traditional cigarettes.
This harm reduction narrative has become one of the industry’s key arguments in defending alternative nicotine products – such as nicotine pouches or e-cigarettes – in which companies have invested heavily in recent years.
Echoing industry
At the beginning of COP11, countries including North Macedonia, Albania, Mozambique, and the small island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, argued for policies based around the concept of harm reduction.
Some even invoked the protection of their citizens’ health, despite clear evidence that these novel products can serve as gateway substances for adolescents.
“The arguments and terminology are exactly the same, depending on the topic we address. And it does not stop there – we now see Balkan countries acting as relays, which was not the case before,” said another diplomat.
Arguments reflecting the industry’s interests are also quickly relayed online by entities such as the World Vapers’ Alliance – a US-based organisation that describes itself as “amplifying the voice of passionate vapers around the world”. It is also closely linked to the Consumer Choice Center (CCC), a lobby group established in Brussels in 2017.
According to public disclosures, the CCC’s launch was funded by Japan Tobacco International, and it has since received support from British American Tobacco and Philip Morris International.
In the run-up to COP11, the World Vapers’ Alliance director, Michael Landl has stepped up his social-media activity, repeating echoing the “harm reduction” line defended by certain countries at the meeting.
Making themselves heard
The industry’s shadow even hovered over the order in which states took the floor.
“It is very likely that some were briefed to speak first – to be vocal. Sessions sometimes start with an hour of pro-industry arguments, which psychologically steers the room, it tilts the balance,” the delegation member said.
Although industry lobbyists are banned from attending the COP, some still tried to get in.
One attendee told Euractiv that a lobbyist attempted to register as a journalist but was denied accreditation: “He still managed to get in by somehow becoming part of an African delegation on the opening day.”
Anti-tobacco NGOs had flagged security issues with access to the Geneva International Conference Centre on the opening day of COP11. Measures were indeed strengthened the next day, notably preventing a Brazilian tobacco industry workers’ union from entering the convention. The organisation claims it had fulfilled all the necessary accreditation requirements.
Outside lobbying
The industry’s efforts did not stop in the corridors of the conference centre.
It organised several events in the Swiss city in parallel to COP11. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance, which has made “harm reduction” one of its key causes in recent years, is for instance organising a “Good Cop 2.0”, with the objective to “set the record straight” on the current discussions.
Some attendees of those events have also vehemently criticised the WHO’s work, including consultant and harm-reduction advocate Clive Bates. He described the experts behind a WHO-commissioned report as “fanatics pushing forward an agenda to the extremes of what they think they can get away with”.
The COP11 negotiations also include new rules on preventing industry interference – a highly contested chapter that delegations are still fighting over.
The outcome will be known on 22 November, the closing day of COP11.
(bms, aw, jp)
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