SUPPORTING STATEMENT: The tobacco industry’s longstanding role working to block laws and regulations that would protect citizens’ health is well documented around the world.[1] We believe PMI faces considerable reputational risk if it is not fully transparent about the lobbying it does and positions it promotes, especially related to tobacco. Companies like Altria have recently expanded their public reporting on lobbying they do directly and through third parties like trade associations.
Philip Morris International does not disclose its payments to trade associations and social welfare organizations, or amounts for lobbying at the country level and (in the case of the United States, state levels). including grassroots lobbying. Grassroots lobbying does not get reported in the United States under the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act, and disclosure is uneven or absent in states.
PMI recently expanded its lobbying activities in the US at the state level, since being authorized by the FDA to market its heated tobacco product IQOS in the US.
Controversy followed PMI’s establishment in 2017 and full funding of the 501c3 Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. Research by the University of Bath’s Tobacco Control Research Group found that much of the Foundation’s work “produced research and opinion which supports tobacco industry interests by side-lining evidence-based tobacco control measures and endorsing interventions which ensure the sale of industry products; advocating for tobacco industry involvement in science and policymaking; and misrepresenting evidence on tobacco and nicotine products.” PMI made its final grant payment of US$122.5 million to the Foundation in September 2023. [2]
The Secretariat for WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, in preparation for the November 2023 Conference of Parties to the Convention “noted with concern that some Parties have been approached by the tobacco and other industry representatives, to offer travel and technical support, including advisors, for their official delegations” and to “remain vigilant in respect of any offer of support received from the tobacco industry.” [3] The Guardian reported that PMI “is waging a big lobbying campaign to prevent countries from cracking down on vapes and similar products”[4] for the Session.
We support greater transparency of PMI’s lobbying expenditures and activities in order to mitigate potential reputation and misalignment risks.
[1] https://www.uicc.org/news/tobacco-industry-interference-policy-decisions-undermines-effective-control, https://ncdalliance.org/sites/default/files/resource_files/NCDs_and_tobacco_Industry.pdf, https://www.phrp.com.au/issues/online-early/how-tobacco-companies-use-the-revolving-door-between-government-and-industry-to-influence-policymaking-an-australian-case-study/
[2] https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2023/05/02/tc-2022-057667
[3] https://fctc.who.int/newsroom/news/item/14-08-2023-call-for-parties-to-remain-vigilant-in-preparation-for-the-cop10-and-the-mop3
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/12/philip-morris-lobbying-to-stop-who-attack-on-vapes-and-similar-products