Recently the World Health Organization (WHO), officially launches the “Stop the lies” campaign as a vital initiative to protect young individuals from the tobacco industry and their deadly products, by calling for an end to tobacco industry interference in health policy.
This campaign is supported by new evidence from “The Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2023”, published by STOP and the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control, which shows that efforts to protect health policy from increased tobacco industry interference have worsened around the world.
WHO’s campaign targets to strengthen youth voices, expose tobacco industry tactics and increase public awareness on the need to defend health policies and protect the health of future generations.
Youth groups around the world called on countries to adopt decisions which shield us from the manipulative practices of tobacco and related industries.
Dr Ruediger Krech, Director of Health Promotion said that, WHO stands with young individuals globally who have demanded governments to protect them against a deadly industry which targets them with new harmful products while completely lying about the health impacts. We call on all nations to safeguard health policies from this deadly industry by not letting them have a seat at the policy-making table.
The tobacco industry tries to get involved with countries’ right to protect individuals health by taking governments to court, or offering financial and in-kind incentives to be able to influence tobacco control policies, even at the upcoming WHO FCTC Conference of Parties. WHO supports countries in defending evidenced based tobacco control measures in the face of industry interference.
The tobacco industry continues to lie to the public, using different methods to spread misinformation, which includes through front groups and third parties, social media influencers and sponsored events.
Identifying the tobacco industry’s relentless efforts to market its products to vulnerable groups, especially to young individuals, WHO is committed to expose the industry’s attempts to weaken health policies and asks policy makers to be against the tobacco industry influence. There are 183 Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that have agreed to do this under the global health treaty.
The tobacco industry has a long history of lying to the public, even confirming that smoking does not cause lung cancer. Presently we all know that tobacco causes 25% of all cancers and each year it kills over 8 million individuals, but the industry continues to market on what they call ‘new’ and ‘safer’ products which we all know that they are harmful to our health, while still producing trillions of cigarettes each year.
With half of all tobacco users dying early, the maintenance of the tobacco and nicotine market relies heavily on engaging new, young users, and tobacco companies employ many tactics to gain the trust and interest of young individuals at an early age.
Candy-flavored e-cigarettes and menthol flavoured cigarettes with attracting designs have contributed further to the popularization of these products among the young generation, and by leaving many consumers largely unaware about the negative effects on their health.
The tobacco industry invests huge amounts of money in lobbying against tobacco control policies and funds organizations which promote its interests. When these tobacco tactics are left unchecked, inflict immeasurable harm are on public health. Furthermore, the production and use of tobacco and nicotine products have a cascading damaging effect on other critical problems such as mental health, environment and child labor.
