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The tobacco company stands accused of “complete double standards” for campaigning against tobacco control measures in Africa which are already enforced in the UK.

Campaign in Zambia

A letter obtained by media originating from the corporation's branch in Zambia to the country’s government ministers asks for measures restricting tobacco marketing and promotional activities to be abandoned or delayed.

The company is attempting modifications of a pending law that include decreasing the recommended coverage of pictorial cautions on cigarette packaging, the withdrawal of controls on flavored smoking items, and watered-down penalties for any companies violating the new laws.

Health advocate reaction

“If I was a politician, I would say that they permit the protection of the British people and continue the mortality of the Zambian people,” said Master Chimbala.

Thousands of residents a year succumb to smoking-associated diseases, according to global health agency statistics.

The campaigner stated the letter was understood to have been copied to several government departments and was in distribution within public interest organizations.

International corporate influence worries

It comes amid expanded apprehension about industry interference with public health regulations. Last month, international health experts raised concerns that the smoking product companies was intensifying efforts to undermine international regulations.

“Evidence exists of industry lobbying globally. Tobacco company fingerprints are on delayed tax increases in Indonesia, delayed regulations in Zambia and even a compromised resolution at the UN international gathering,” said the tobacco industry watchdog.

Likely impacts

“Should anti-smoking legislation doesn't get enacted because of this letter, the consequences may be suffered in human lives who might potentially stop smoking.”

The anti-smoking legislation being considered by Zambia’s parliament includes measures that exceed UK legislation by also applying to e-cigarettes, and requiring that graphic health warnings cover three-quarters of product packaging.

Company alternative suggestions

Via documentation, the corporation proposes this be lowered to thirty to fifty percent “following international guideline limits”, postponed for minimum 12 months after the law is enacted.

Global health authorities in fact recommends a alert needs to encompass at least 50% of the front of a pack “and aim to cover as much of the primary showing sections as possible”. In the UK, warnings are required to occupy nearly two-thirds of a cigarette pack surfaces.

Flavored tobacco discussion

BAT asks for the elimination of comprehensive limitations on flavored cigarette varieties, arguing that it would drive users to “illicitly sold” products. The company proposes banning a limited selection of “scents derived from desserts, candy, energy drinks, soft drinks and alcohol drinks”. Each flavored smoking item have been banned in the UK since 2020.

The draft bill proposes sanctions for different infractions “varying from a fraction of annual sales to ten-year jail sentences”.

Business explanation

In the letter, the managing director of the African subsidiary says the firm is “committed to good corporate behaviour” and “endorses the aims of governments to lower tobacco use and the connected wellbeing effects” but claims that “some regulations can have negative and unanticipated results.”

Activist reaction

The advocate stated the corporation's recommended amendments would “dilute these regulations so much that the impact needed for it to cause long-term change in society will not be achieved”.

The circumstance that multiple comparable regulations existed in the UK, where the corporation is based, was “complete contradiction”, he commented.

“We exist in a global village. When I cultivate smoking products in my property and gather the crop and market the products – and my family members avoid tobacco, but my community's youth consumes … to profit individually and all the generations of my children while my community's youth are perishing … is in itself complete moral bankruptcy.”

Tobacco control legislation in the United Kingdom or other countries had not caused companies to close, the campaigner stated. “Laws don't eliminate the industry. They merely safeguard the people.”

Standard business position

A BAT Zambia spokesperson said: “The corporation runs its business in compliance with current country statutes. Additionally, the company participates in the country’s legislative process in line with the appropriate structures which provide for stakeholder participation in regulation development.”

The company was “not resisting legislation”, the representative commented, mentioning that underage people should be safeguarded against obtaining cigarettes and nicotine.

“We support developing rules to accomplish desired population health targets, while acknowledging the spectrum of entitlements and duties on industry, consumers and related stakeholders,” the spokesperson stated, noting that BAT’s proposals “mirror the circumstances of the African nation's economy and cigarette sector, which encompasses rising levels of illegal commerce”.

Zambia’s department of business, commercial affairs and industrial development was solicited for statement.