Tobacco corporations lobbying EU hard on health
Published by The Guardian
12 January 2010
Written by Sarah Boseley, Health editor
Proposals to restrict smoking in public were in BAT's sights in the 1990s but the changes the lobbying brought about to EU policymaking have been fundamental and enduring, say the academics.
They are now being used to undermine legislation designed to protect the public against toxic chemicals, they say.
The strategy is revealed in internal documents that BAT was forced to disclose during litigation on tobacco harm in the US.
Disguised behind respectable consultancies and thinktanks, the companies succeeded in getting a form of impact assessment made mandatory for every EU policy which – critics say – emphasised the financial costs to business and underestimated the impact on public health.
The manoeuvering behind the scenes is revealed in a paper published by researchers from the school of health at Bath University, the Centre for International Public Policy at Edinburgh University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Their paper, published today by PLoS (Public Library of Science) Medicine, says that "BAT and its corporate allies have fundamentally altered the way in which all EU policy is made".
They say it "increases the likelihood that the EU will produce policies that advance the interests of major corporations, including those that produce products damaging to health, rather than in the interests of its citizens".
The internal documents show that Bat began lobbying for what it called "structured risk assessment" in the mid 1990s.
"Our analysis reveals that BAT saw RA [risk assessment] as a means of precluding the introduction of public smoking restrictions, which it saw as a growing threat in Europe," says the paper.
"The UK consultancy firm Charles Barker appears to have then been asked to outline the advantages for BAT of embedding RA within UK and European policymaking processes and advised that BAT would need to tread carefully, lobbying through a 'front' organisation and enlisting 'big industry names in support'."
Full article published here.
12 January 2010
Written by Sarah Boseley, Health editor
"Major corporations, led by British American Tobacco, waged a successful lobbying campaign to hamper the passing of public health legislation and weaken its impact, a group of academics claim today.
Proposals to restrict smoking in public were in BAT's sights in the 1990s but the changes the lobbying brought about to EU policymaking have been fundamental and enduring, say the academics.
They are now being used to undermine legislation designed to protect the public against toxic chemicals, they say.
The strategy is revealed in internal documents that BAT was forced to disclose during litigation on tobacco harm in the US.
Disguised behind respectable consultancies and thinktanks, the companies succeeded in getting a form of impact assessment made mandatory for every EU policy which – critics say – emphasised the financial costs to business and underestimated the impact on public health.
The manoeuvering behind the scenes is revealed in a paper published by researchers from the school of health at Bath University, the Centre for International Public Policy at Edinburgh University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Their paper, published today by PLoS (Public Library of Science) Medicine, says that "BAT and its corporate allies have fundamentally altered the way in which all EU policy is made".
They say it "increases the likelihood that the EU will produce policies that advance the interests of major corporations, including those that produce products damaging to health, rather than in the interests of its citizens".
The internal documents show that Bat began lobbying for what it called "structured risk assessment" in the mid 1990s.
"Our analysis reveals that BAT saw RA [risk assessment] as a means of precluding the introduction of public smoking restrictions, which it saw as a growing threat in Europe," says the paper.
"The UK consultancy firm Charles Barker appears to have then been asked to outline the advantages for BAT of embedding RA within UK and European policymaking processes and advised that BAT would need to tread carefully, lobbying through a 'front' organisation and enlisting 'big industry names in support'."
Full article published here.
Labels: BAT, charles barker, EU lobbying, health, The Guardian
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