🔗 Share this article

The tobacco company stands accused of “utter hypocrisy” for campaigning against anti-smoking regulations in Africa which are already enforced in the UK.

African regulatory opposition

A letter obtained by media originating from the company’s subsidiary in Zambia to the country’s government ministers requests plans to ban tobacco advertising and sponsorship to be scrapped or postponed.

The corporation is pursuing amendments to a draft bill that include reductions in the proposed size of visual health alerts on cigarette packaging, the elimination of limitations on flavoured tobacco products, and diminished punishments for any firms breaking the new laws.

Anti-tobacco campaigner response

“Were I in government, I would say that they enable the defense of the British people and continue the mortality of the Zambian people,” said the anti-tobacco campaigner.

Over seven thousand citizens a year succumb to smoking-associated diseases, according to World Health Organization estimates.

The advocate mentioned the letter was known to have been circulated to several government departments and was in distribution within civil society groups.

Global industry interference concerns

It comes amid wider concerns about corporate intervention with health policies. Recently, WHO officials raised concerns that the tobacco industry was increasing attempts to weaken global control measures.

“We see evidence of business advocacy everywhere. Tobacco company fingerprints are on postponed duty hikes in Indonesia, delayed regulations in Zambia and even a weakened declaration at the UN high-level meeting,” stated the tobacco industry watchdog.

Possible outcomes

“Should anti-smoking legislation doesn't get enacted because of this letter, the cost might be borne in individuals' health who might otherwise quit smoking.”

The tobacco control bill being considered by Zambia’s parliament includes regulations surpassing UK legislation by extending coverage to e-cigarettes, and mandating that pictorial cautions cover 75% of product packaging.

Company alternative suggestions

Via documentation, the company recommends this be decreased to thirty to fifty percent “within the WHO-FCTC guideline limits”, postponed for minimum one year after the law is enacted.

The WHO specifically advises a warning should cover at least half of the cigarette package face “and attempt to encompass as much of the principal display areas as possible”. Within Britain, warnings are required to occupy 65% of a cigarette pack surfaces.

Scented product controversy

The corporation requests the withdrawal of extensive controls on scented smoking items, suggesting that it would lead smokers to “illicitly sold” products. The company proposes restricting fewer varieties of “flavours based on desserts, candy, energy drinks, soft drinks and alcohol drinks”. Every scented tobacco product have been prohibited in Britain since 2020.

The proposed legislation suggests penalties for different infractions “extending from a percentage of annual turnover to a decade in prison”.

Company justification

Through correspondence, the managing director of British American Tobacco Zambia claims the corporation is focused on ethical business practices” and “backs the goals of governments to reduce smoking incidence and the related medical consequences” but asserts that “some regulations can have undesirable and unforeseen outcomes.”

Critic response

The advocate stated the corporation's recommended amendments would “undermine this law so much that the required influence for it to produce permanent improvement in society will not be achieved”.

The circumstance that multiple comparable regulations were present in the UK, where the corporation is based, was “total double standard”, he stated.

“We reside in a global village. Should I grow cigarettes in my back yard and gather the crop and sell it out – and my offspring don't use tobacco, but my community's youth consumes … to benefit personally and all the generations of my children while my neighbour’s children are succumbing … is in itself complete moral bankruptcy.”

Tobacco control legislation in the United Kingdom or other countries had not caused companies to close, the campaigner stated. “Laws don't eliminate the industry. They merely safeguard the people.”

Official corporate statement

The company representative stated: “BAT Zambia conducts its activities following with relevant national regulations. Moreover, the corporation engages in the state's regulatory development in line with the appropriate structures which allow for interested party involvement in legislation creation.”

The company was “not opposed to regulation”, the spokesperson stated, noting that young individuals should be shielded from access to tobacco and nicotine.

“We champion evolving legislation to achieve intended public health goals, while acknowledging the spectrum of rights and obligations on industry, consumers and related stakeholders,” the representative explained, adding that the company's suggestions “mirror the circumstances of the local commercial environment and cigarette sector, which includes increasing amounts of black market activity”.

The nation's ministry of trade, commerce and industry was contacted for response.