Japan Tobacco International criticised World Health Organisation efforts to bar manufacturers and growers from tobacco control deliberations, charging WHO is running an ideology driven campaign contrary to the interests of public health.

In a statement ahead of the 7-12 Nov meeting of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), JTI’s vice president for global regulatory strategy, Michael Reerink, accused the FCTC of practising a “culture of exclusion.” Compulsory screening of attendees is under consideration to “formalize censorship practices.”
Delegates from 180 countries attending the seventh Congress of the Parties (COP7) to implement the FCTC treaty are expected to discuss a wide range of issues and make recommendations for their adoption in national tobacco control strategies. Tobacco interests regularly are excluded from the COPs.
“The FCTC COP has lost sight of its aim to improve the world’s health and has instead become ideology-driven, taking on a fight against businesses, tobacco growers, vapers and smokers, when it should open itself up to scrutiny and hear a diverse range of views,” Reerink said. “It has become an expensive, tax-payer funded closed shop.”