The Tobacco Institute of India (TII) appealed to the government to include tobacco growers and industry representatives in the official delegation to the next Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) plenary session.

“We are concerned that at the behest of vested interests NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and anti-tobacco activists in India through their relentless and biased campaign are influencing the government’s tobacco control policy and promoting extreme regulations that are already hurting tobacco farmers and the legal industry in the country and causing widespread growth of illegal trade in cigarettes,” said TII Director Syed Mahmood Ahmad.
The seventh Congress of the Parties (COP7) since the World Health Organisation treaty entered into force in 2005 is scheduled for 7-12 November in Noida, a city near the capital New Delhi.