🔗 Share this article

Critics have charged British American Tobacco with “complete double standards” for lobbying against anti-smoking regulations in Africa which are already enforced in the UK.

Zambian lobbying efforts

A letter obtained by media dispatched by the company’s subsidiary in Zambia to the country’s government ministers requests proposals to prohibit tobacco marketing and promotional activities to be abandoned or delayed.

The corporation is pursuing modifications of a pending law that include decreasing the suggested dimensions of graphic health warnings on cigarette packaging, the withdrawal of controls on scented cigarette varieties, and diminished punishments for any companies violating the new laws.

Health advocate reaction

“As an elected official, I would say that they enable the defense of the British people and sustain the fatalities of the Zambian people,” stated the anti-tobacco campaigner.

Thousands of residents a year pass away from smoking-associated diseases, according to World Health Organization estimates.

The campaigner stated the letter was known to have been circulated to multiple official agencies and was in circulating through civil society groups.

Global industry interference concerns

This occurs during wider concerns about industry interference with medical guidelines. Recently, international health experts sounded an alarm that the smoking product companies was increasing attempts to undermine international regulations.

“There is proof of business advocacy globally. Tobacco company fingerprints are on deferred levy rises in Indonesia, halted laws in Zambia and even a compromised resolution at the UN international gathering,” said the corporate monitoring director.

Potential consequences

“If a tobacco control measure fails to be approved because of this letter, the cost might be borne in human lives who might possibly give up cigarettes.”

The public health measure going through Zambia’s parliament includes proposals to go further UK legislation by including provisions for e-cigarettes, and requiring that visual health alerts cover three-quarters of product packaging.

Corporate counter-proposals

Through correspondence, the corporation proposes this be decreased to thirty to fifty percent “according to global guideline limits”, deferred for no less than one year after the legislation is approved.

The WHO in fact recommends a caution must occupy at least fifty percent of the product container front “and seek to occupy as much of the main visible surfaces as possible”. Across the United Kingdom, warnings need to encompass 65% of a packet’s front and back.

Scented product controversy

BAT asks for the elimination of comprehensive limitations on scented smoking items, suggesting that it would lead smokers to “illicitly sold” products. The corporation recommends restricting fewer varieties of “flavours based on desserts, candy, energy drinks, soft drinks and alcohol drinks”. Each flavored smoking item have been prohibited in Britain since 2020.

The proposed legislation suggests penalties for multiple violations “ranging from a fraction of annual sales to ten-year jail sentences”.

Company justification

Via documentation, the managing director of British American Tobacco Zambia claims the company is dedicated to ethical business practices” and “endorses the aims of governments to lower tobacco use and the associated health impact” but asserts that “certain measures can have negative and unanticipated results.”

Campaigner rebuttal

The campaigner argued BAT’s proposed changes would “undermine this law so much that the impact needed for it to produce permanent improvement in society will not be achieved”.

The circumstance that many such provisions were present in the UK, where BAT is headquartered, was “utter hypocrisy itself”, he stated.

“We live in a global village. Should I grow cigarettes in my property and collect the yield and distribute the goods – and my offspring don't use tobacco, but my neighbor's family uses … to profit individually and all the future family lines while my neighbour’s children are perishing … is in itself complete moral bankruptcy.”

Tobacco control legislation in the Britain or other nations had not resulted in corporate closures, the advocate mentioned. “Legislation never shuts down the industry. Measures simply defend the people.”

Formal company response

The corporate communicator stated: “The company operates its business in compliance with applicable local laws. Moreover, the corporation engages in the country’s legislative process in line with the suitable systems which provide for interested party involvement in policymaking.”

The firm positioned itself as “not resisting legislation”, the spokesperson stated, mentioning that minors should be protected from obtaining cigarettes and nicotine.

“We advocate for progressive regulation to accomplish desired population health targets, while accepting the variety of rights and obligations on businesses, users and involved parties,” the spokesperson stated, adding that the company's suggestions “represent the situation of the African nation's economy and tobacco industry, which involves increasing amounts of illicit trade”.

Zambia’s department of business, commercial affairs and industrial development was solicited for statement.