ADD YOUR NAME: PMI must pay for its abuses, not for PR schemes
Public health ministers around the globe and delegates to the global tobacco treaty
It’s high time that Philip Morris International (PMI) -- and the rest of the tobacco industry -- stop funding PR schemes and start paying for its abuses.
As PMI prepares to put on a show for its investors during its annual shareholders' meeting, now is the time to challenge PMI executives and tell global decision-makers: Stop Big Tobacco’s deadly schemes.
Take action to demand government officials around the world make Big Tobacco pay.
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To:
Public health ministers around the globe and delegates to the global tobacco treaty
From:
[Your Name]
I am deeply concerned because I see the tobacco industry is attempting to sow doubt, spread misinformation, promote new products and continue to aggressively sell tobacco products globally by delaying, circumventing, using the COVID-19 crisis to promote their deadly products, and stopping common-sense tobacco control.
We can’t afford to have this happen. We can’t let the industry addict a new generation of youth and take advantage of the crisis to increase their profit. We can’t let it get its foot in the door of public health policymaking once more.
Luckily, we already have the tool we need to stop Big Tobacco: the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC, or global tobacco treaty).
As the next meetings (COP9) of the global tobacco treaty approach, I call on you to:
· Continue advancing implementation of the Global Tobacco Treaty in-country at Regional, National, and sub-national government levels, particularly.
· Commit to advancing the strongest possible implementation of Article 19 “liability” through the existing tools like the civil liability toolkit and the development of the legal experts database -- as Parties have agreed to the past two COPs -- to rightfully hold PMI and the tobacco industry liable for the tobacco crisis.
· Fill out and sign the mandatory Declaration of Interest Forms ahead of COP9.
· Advance measures of the FCTC at its next conference that counters cross-border advertising that undermines neighboring countries tobacco policy (Article 13), continues to advance the collaboration between human rights fora and Tobacco Control (HR Decision), support the continued development of an Inter Agency Task Force that applies aligns the UN system with FCTC precedence.