Japan Tobacco International (JTI) called on health ministers attending the World Health Assembly to lift the closed-door policy of the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

“Nobody would argue against the need for tobacco to be appropriately regulated,” said Michael Reerink, JTI vice-president responsible for global regulatory issues. “Excluding the public and the media from debates amounts to censorship.”
Ministers from 194 countries meet this week in Geneva to make policy decisions on the future direction of WHO. The FCTC will hold its next plenary session (COP7) later this year, a meeting that regularly is closed to outside observers.