Tougher rules on tobacco firms’contributions urged

MANILA, Philippines - Tobacco control advocates in Southeast Asia are calling for tougher rules to ban contributions and sponsorship from cigarette companies. 

According to Southeast Asian Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) director Bunon Ritthiphakdee, Tobacco companies make sponsorship a part of their “corporate social responsibility (CSR)” programs to skirt around laws and policies banning them from doing so.

“These CSRs are nothing more than disguised marketing campaigns, and should therefore be exposed and stopped,” she said in a statement.

Ritthiphakdee noted the “tobacco industry is unique in that its product kills half its customers prematurely so it cannot pretend to be socially responsible.”

She underscored the need for people to be vigilant against the CSR strategy.

“If we understand the agenda behind tobacco industry CSRs, we can also be more effective in monitoring and regulating such activities under the global tobacco treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC),” she added.

The first global treaty on public health, the FCTC was signed by various countries, including the Philippines, to reduce tobacco consumption worldwide.

It also bans sponsorship by tobacco companies and advertisements, marketing and promotion of cigarette products, among other policies.

Ritthiphakdee said that Article 5.3 of the treaty “recommends parties to de-normalize and, to the extent possible, regulate activities described as ‘socially responsible’ by the tobacco industry, including corporate social responsibility activities.”

“National and regional measures are needed to make the public aware that the tobacco industry’s CSR activities are as toxic as cigarette smoke,” she added.

She said among countries in the region, only the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam have legislative measures to ban CSR and/or the publicity of CSR activities. 

The Philippines’ education department, she claimed, has issued a circular to restrict interaction of officials with the tobacco industry and includes a prohibition of the tobacco industry contributing funds.

“Thailand, through a Cabinet decision, bans both donations and publicity of CSR by tobacco companies to government agencies while a tobacco control law passed in Vietnam last year has banned CSR activities related to culture and sports by the tobacco industry,” she added.

Based on the records of the Action for Economic Reforms, a non-government organization that is advocating against smoking in the Philippines, some 88,000 Filipinos die from tobacco-related illnesses every year.

The government has collected some P28 billion excise tax from tobacco products in 2012, but some P188 billion were spent for four illnesses associated with smoking.