Tactics of the tobacco industry in an Arab nation: a review of tobacco documents in Oman

2021 ◽  
pp. tobaccocontrol-2021-056623
Author(s):  
Jawad A Al-Lawati ◽  
Stella A Bialous
Keyword(s):  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Tobacco Industry ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Health Warnings ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Control Policies ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Tobacco Control Policies ◽  
Tobacco Epidemic

BackgroundFew studies have investigated tobacco industry interference in the tobacco control policies of Arab nations. This paper explores the tactics used by the industry to subvert tobacco control policies in Oman and offers lessons on how to prevent such interference in the future.MethodsWe searched the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Archive using the word ‘Oman’, names of government institutions, policymakers and local tobacco distributors. Extracted data were noted chronologically by key elements of tobacco control measures. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Health Ministers’ Council resolutions on tobacco control were also reviewed.ResultsOut of 1020 tobacco documents located, 327 were closely related to policy interference. Documents revealed that the industry met key government officials, offered in-kind services, used local diplomatic missions to influence Omani policymakers, opposed smoking bans, delayed regulations to lower tar and nicotine content of cigarettes, and to require effective health warnings, circumvented a tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship ban and provided voluntary codes as an alternative to effective regulations. Additionally, industry representatives lobbied individual countries in the GCC to veto tax increments and defeat consensus on agreed resolutions of the Health Ministers’ Council.ConclusionThe tobacco industry interfered in all key public health policies aimed to reduce tobacco use in Oman. There is an urgent need for the Omani government to enforce the Civil Code of Conduct and develop guidelines for all policymakers through implementing Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to curb the tobacco epidemic.

scholarly journals The effects of tobacco control policies on global smoking prevalence

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-243
Author(s):  
Luisa S. Flor ◽  
Marissa B. Reitsma ◽  
Vinay Gupta ◽  
Marie Ng ◽  
Emmanuela Gakidou
Keyword(s):  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Smoking Prevalence ◽  
World Health ◽  
Smoking Bans ◽  
Health Warnings ◽  
Control Policies ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Tobacco Control Policies ◽  
The World ◽  
Tobacco Epidemic

AbstractSubstantial global effort has been devoted to curtailing the tobacco epidemic over the past two decades, especially after the adoption of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control1 by the World Health Organization in 2003. In 2015, in recognition of the burden resulting from tobacco use, strengthened tobacco control was included as a global development target in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development2. Here we show that comprehensive tobacco control policies—including smoking bans, health warnings, advertising bans and tobacco taxes—are effective in reducing smoking prevalence; amplified positive effects are seen when these policies are implemented simultaneously within a given country. We find that if all 155 countries included in our counterfactual analysis had adopted smoking bans, health warnings and advertising bans at the strictest level and raised cigarette prices to at least 7.73 international dollars in 2009, there would have been about 100 million fewer smokers in the world in 2017. These findings highlight the urgent need for countries to move toward an accelerated implementation of a set of strong tobacco control practices, thus curbing the burden of smoking-attributable diseases and deaths.

scholarly journals Analysis of the tobacco industry’s interference in the enforcement of health warnings on tobacco products in Brazil

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (suppl 3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina de Abreu Perez ◽  
Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva ◽  
Stella Aguinaga Bialous
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Tobacco Industry ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Health Warnings ◽  
Tobacco Products ◽  
Tobacco Control Policies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Original Information ◽  
Regulatory Measure

Abstract: This article aims to analyze the relationship between the Brazilian government’s adoption of a regulatory measure with a strong impact on the population and the opposition by invested interest groups. The methodology involves the analysis of official documents on the enforcement of health warnings on tobacco products sold in Brazil. In parallel, a search was conducted for publicly available tobacco industry documents resulting from lawsuits, with the aim of identifying the industry’s reactions to this process. The findings suggest that various government acts were affected by direct interference from the tobacco industry. In some cases the interventions were explicit and in others they were indirect or difficult to identify. In light of the study’s theoretical framework, the article provides original information on the Brazilian process that can be useful for government policymakers in the strategic identification of tobacco control policies.

Impact of nations meeting the MPOWER targets between 2014 and 2016: an update

2019 ◽  
pp. tobaccocontrol-2018-054837 ◽  
Author(s):  
David T Levy ◽  
Yameng Li ◽  
Zhe Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Tobacco Use ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Health Warnings ◽  
Control Policies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Effect ◽  
Tobacco Taxes ◽  
Tobacco Control Policies ◽  
Free Air

ObjectiveSince the WHO released the Monitoring tobacco use and tobacco control policies; Protecting from the dangers of tobacco smoke; Offering help to quit tobacco; Warning the public about the dangers; Enforcing bans on advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and Raising tobacco taxes (MPOWER) policy package to assist nations with implementing the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), 88 countries have adopted at least one MPOWER policy at the highest level as of 2014. Building on previous evaluations, we estimated the reduction in smoking-attributable deaths (SADs) from all policies newly adopted at the highest level between 2014 and 2016.MethodsFor each nation that implemented highest level policies, the difference in policy effect sizes from previously validated SimSmoke models for the policies in effect in 2014 and 2016 were multiplied by the number of smokers in that nation to derive the reduction in the number of smokers. Based on research that half of all smokers die from smoking, we derived SADs averted.FindingsIn total, 43 nations adopted at least one highest-level MPOWER policy between 2014 and 2016, resulting in 14.6 million fewer SADs. The largest number of SADs averted were due to stronger health warnings (13.3 million), followed by raising taxes (0.6 million), increased marketing bans (0.4 million), smoke-free air laws (0.3 million) and cessation interventions (2500).ConclusionThese findings demonstrate the continuing public health impact of tobacco control policies adopted globally since the FCTC, and highlight the importance of more countries adopting MPOWER policies at the highest level to reduce the global burden of tobacco use.

scholarly journals Tobacco Control in Hospitals in Jordan: Policy Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Maha Alkaid Albqoor, RN, MPH, MSN, PhD
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Smoking Prevention ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Tobacco Control Policies ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
Tobacco Epidemic ◽  
Effective Public Health

<p><em>Despite the concerns about very high rates of smoking in Jordanian population and the growing efforts to combat the tobacco epidemic, smoking at hospitals in Jordan and the poor complying with smoking prevention policies are important aspects of the problem. The paper examined the scope </em><em>and the progress </em><em>of smoking problem in Jordanian hospitals, </em><em>recognized public health policies on tobacco control </em><em>in hospitals in Jordan, and explored the obstacles in applying tobacco control policies in hospitals. The paper also proposed some recommendations for effective public health policies that regulate tobacco smoking in hospitals and other health care facilities in Jordan.</em></p>

scholarly journals Heated tobacco products: another tobacco industry global strategy to slow progress in tobacco control

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. s111-s117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stella A Bialous ◽  
Stanton A Glantz
Keyword(s):  
Harm Reduction ◽  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Tobacco Consumption ◽  
Tobacco Product ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Tobacco Products ◽  
Control Policies ◽  
Tobacco Control Policies ◽  
Tobacco Epidemic ◽  
Slow Progress

There has been a global decline in tobacco consumption that, if continued, will negatively impact the tobacco industry’s profits. This decline led the industry to invent and market new products, including heated tobacco products (HTP). HTP are an extension of the industry’s strategies to undermine government’s tobacco regulatory efforts as they are being promoted as part of the solution for the tobacco epidemic. Under the moniker of ‘harm reduction’, the tobacco companies are attempting to rehabilitate their reputation so they can more effectively influence governments to roll back existing tobacco control policies or create exemptions for their HTP. Rolling back tobacco control policies will make it easier for the companies to renormalise tobacco use to increase social acceptability for all their products. When regulations are absent or when loopholes exist in classifying HTP as a tobacco product (thus subject to all tobacco control regulations), the industry’s marketing of HTP is making these products more visible to the public and more accessible. Governments need to ensure that HTP are regulated as tobacco products or drugs and reject partnerships with the tobacco companies to promote ‘harm reduction’. The tobacco companies remain the vector of the tobacco-caused epidemic and cannot be part of the global tobacco control solution.

scholarly journals Tobacco industry interference with tobacco control policies in Poland: legal aspects and industry practices: Table 1

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 521-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Łukasz Balwicki ◽  
Michał Stokłosa ◽  
Małgorzata Balwicka-Szczyrba ◽  
Wioleta Tomczak
Keyword(s):  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Tobacco Industry ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Control Policies ◽  
Tobacco Control Policies

scholarly journals Developing more detailed taxonomies of tobacco industry political activity in low-income and middle-income countries: qualitative evidence from eight countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. e004096
Author(s):  
Britta Katharina Matthes ◽  
Kathrin Lauber ◽  
Mateusz Zatoński ◽  
Lindsay Robertson ◽  
Anna B Gilmore
Keyword(s):  
Tobacco Control ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Tobacco Industry ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Control Policies ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Tobacco Control Policies ◽  
Starting Point

IntroductionHistorical evidence, predominantly from high-income countries (HICs), shows that the tobacco industry uses a recurring set of arguments and techniques when opposing tobacco control policies. This data formed the basis of a model of tobacco industry political activity known as the policy dystopia model (PDM). The PDM has been widely used in tobacco control research and advocacy and has subsequently been shown relevant to other unhealthy commodities industries in both HICs and low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Before it can be validated as a generic tool for researching corporate influence on policy, one needs to determine whether the PDM successfully captures contemporary corporate political activities in LMICs.MethodWe conducted semistructured interviews with 22 LMIC-based advocates and used the transcripts as the primary data source. The discursive and instrumental taxonomies constituting the PDM served as the starting point for the coding framework. Using thematic analysis, we combined deductive and inductive coding to ensure we captured all strategies from the PDM and the interviews.ResultsThis study found that the tobacco industry uses a set of discursive and instrumental strategies that is largely consistent across LMICs and with the PDM. We identified several minor contextual nuances absent from the PDM. Some of these nuances were characteristic to individual countries, while others to LMICs more broadly. They included the argument that tobacco control policies unfairly punish reputable tobacco industry actors, and an emphasis on instrumental strategies centred around maintaining a good image, rather than rehabilitating a tarnished image as emphasised in the PDM.ConclusionsAllowing for the nuances identified in this study, the PDM has been found to be fit for purpose. The revised model should now be tested through in-depth LMIC case studies and could be used to facilitate comparative studies of unhealthy commodity industries’ political activities.

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