WHO and Tobacco Control Partners Urge Countries Not to Cooperate With the Tobacco Industry

According to reports today, the World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern over the tobacco industry's continued attempts to expand its interests to influence scientific research, public perception, policy-making, and media, all aimed at ensuring the spread and sale of nicotine and tobacco products.

The tobacco industry continues to amplify misinformation in the media, including recent vicious attacks on tobacco control organizations. The tobacco industry is the only sector that benefits from undermining tobacco control organizations.

There is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the interests of the tobacco industry and public health policy. The WHO urges all member states to ensure they do not cooperate with the industry or its front groups or accept its funding.

The international community must not forget that the tobacco industry deliberately denies the link between its products and cancer and falsely claims that secondhand smoke is harmless.

Today, tobacco, e-cigarettes, and other nicotine companies conceal the addictive nature of their products while directly targeting children and young people with harmful product advertisements, and misleading practices continue. The tobacco industry has no place in tobacco control or harm reduction policies.

The tobacco industry should not be a partner in any initiative related to the formulation or implementation of public health policies, as it knows its interests directly conflict with public health goals.

Decades of hypocrisy have proven that tobacco companies prioritize profits over public health.

The tobacco industry employs various strategies to interfere with the formulation and implementation of tobacco control measures. One strategy is to undermine the credibility of the WHO and its partners so that the public questions the scientific evidence proving the harms of tobacco and nicotine products.

In contrast, the WHO and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) use evidence-based approaches that have helped save millions of lives.

The international community must protect the implementation of the WHO FCTC, a legally binding document that is celebrating its 20th anniversary since its adoption at the World Health Assembly.

The WHO FCTC helps prevent tobacco industry interference in public health policy. Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC contains legal obligations for parties to protect public health policies from tobacco industry influence. The guidelines for implementing Article 5.3 assist parties in limiting interactions with the tobacco industry and refusing to establish partnerships with it.

The WHO and its tobacco control partners continue to advocate for evidence-based policies to curb tobacco use, such as supporting the comprehensive implementation of the WHO FCTC's MPOWER tobacco control measures. The collaboration between the WHO and global tobacco control partners has strengthened public health, now protecting over 5 billion people through tobacco control measures.

These significant advances in tobacco control are continually threatened by the tobacco industry's billion-dollar campaigns.

The WHO and its global tobacco control partners do not cooperate with the tobacco industry or organizations and individuals committed to promoting the tobacco industry's interests, nor do they accept funding from them.