Monitoring the Tobacco Industry: Sources and Resources

1
Monitoring the Tobacco Industry Sources and
Resources

• Promoting effective tobacco control policies in
  Latin America and the Caribbean
• Roswell Park Cancer Institutes Pre-Conference
  Workshop
• Mexico City, October 13, 2009
• Stella Aguinaga Bialous, RN, MScN, DrPH, FAAN
• Tobacco Policy International
• stella_at_bialous.com

2
Why consider the industry tactics?

• The tobacco industry plays a key role in the
  tobacco epidemic we need to know the industry
  in order to develop effective and feasible
  tobacco control policies
• Industry voluntary or self-regulatory measures
  have not been proven to be effective tobacco
  control measures.

3
Tobacco industry main goals

• Growth and profit
• Protect marketing freedoms
• Protect the industry and the smoker
• Maintain and enhance social acceptability of
  tobacco use
• Improve public image through good corporate
  citizens action
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

4
WHO, FCTC and Monitoring the industry

• Monitoring the industry and sharing information
  about industrys strategies to derail tobacco
  control.
• Resolution 54.18 of the 54th World Health
  Assembly (May 2001)
• WHO FCTC be alert to any efforts by the tobacco
  industry to undermine or subvert tobacco control
  efforts and the need to be informed of activities
  of the tobacco industry that have a negative
  impact on tobacco control efforts

5
FCTC and Monitoring the industry

• WHO FCTC Article 5.3
• In setting and implementing their public health
  policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties
  shall act to protect these policies from
  commercial and other vested interests of the
  tobacco industry in accordance with national
  law.

6

• FCTC and Monitoring the industry

• WHO FCTC 20.4 (c)
• "cooperate with competent international
  organizations to progressively establish and
  maintain a global system to regularly collect and
  disseminate information on tobacco production,
  manufacture and the activities of the tobacco
  industry which have an impact on the Convention
  or national tobacco control activities."

7
Guidelines for WHO FCTC Implementation Tobacco
industry monitoring as a cross-cutting issues

• Article 5.3 Article 8 Article 11 Article 13
• http//www.who.int/fctc/guidelines/en/
• 4 working groups draft guidelines
• Articles 9 10, 12, 14 and 17 18 (COP IV)
• VERY important to look for unlikely industry
  allies

8
Examples

• Restaurant associations, economic studies and
  smokefree policies
• Tobacco growers groups and WHO FCTC
• Advertisement restrictions and advertisement
  organizations, merchants associations

9

• Monitoring of the tobacco industry
• industry documents
• Transparency in tobacco control
• Ad hoc (UN) inter-agency task force on tobacco
  control
• Tobacco industry allies
• supply and sale chain
• allies, third parties and front groups
• Funding of scientists and researchers
• Strategies used by the tobacco industry
• Education, environment
• Lobbying and political campaign contributions
• Corporate social responsibility movement and
  philanthropy

10
Corporate Social Responsibility

• Response to
• Declining public image
• Litigation
• Regulation
• Main issue of trust and responsibility
• Reasonable expectations
• Ultimate goal still growth and profit

11
Surveillance Sources of information

• Published research and reports
• WHO reports (HQ and regions)
• NGO Reports (e.g. FCA, SEATCA)
• Peer-reviewed journals
• Internet
• News sites
• Tobacco industry corporate sites
• Tobacco trade sites
• Tobacco industry internal documents
• Network!!!!!

12
Examples of publications from NGOs and others
13
August 2006 http//coop.dcd.uscourts.gov/99-2496
-082006a.pdf
http//www.tobaccolawcenter.org/dojlitigation.html
14
Tobacco industry research, papers and reports at
UCSF http//library.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docsbiblio.ht
ml
15
Legacy Tobacco Documents Library
http//legacy.library.ucsf.edu/

• Document websites being updated
• Limited number of recent documents
• Learning curve to search
• Very important to be aware of limitations and
  context
• Lack of a document only
• means lack of a document
• often not conclusive

16
Example Tobacco Companies sites
http//www.bat.com/
http//www.itcportal.com/sets/values_frameset.htm
17
Industry Sites

• Let the industry work for you!
• Find the latest news on industry websites press
  or news pages
• Find CSR information
• e.g. http//www.bat.com/

18
Using the internet for tobacco industry
surveillance Some considerations

• What do you need to know?
• What are your current resources?
• How/where do you find more?
• Are you well connected (e.g high speed)?
• What do you do if youre not?