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The tobacco company stands accused of “utter hypocrisy” for opposing anti-smoking regulations in Africa which are already enforced in the UK.

African regulatory opposition

A letter obtained by media originating from the corporation's branch in Zambia to the country’s government ministers asks for plans to ban tobacco marketing and promotional activities to be canceled or deferred.

The corporation is pursuing amendments to a draft bill that include reductions in the suggested dimensions of visual health alerts on cigarette packaging, the elimination of limitations on flavored smoking items, and diminished punishments for any businesses disregarding the new laws.

Anti-tobacco campaigner response

“As an elected official, I would say that they allow the safeguarding of the British people and sustain the fatalities of the Zambian people,” stated Master Chimbala.

More than 7,000 Zambians a year succumb to tobacco-related illnesses, according to World Health Organization estimates.

The campaigner stated the letter was understood to have been copied to multiple official agencies and was in circulation among civil society groups.

Global industry interference concerns

It comes amid wider concerns about corporate intervention with health policies. In recent weeks, WHO officials raised concerns that the tobacco industry was intensifying efforts to weaken global control measures.

“We see evidence of business advocacy everywhere. Tobacco company fingerprints are on postponed duty hikes in Indonesia, halted laws in Zambia and even a weakened declaration at the UN summit conference,” stated the corporate monitoring director.

Likely impacts

“If a tobacco control measure doesn't get enacted because of this letter, the cost might be borne in lives of people who might otherwise quit smoking.”

The tobacco control bill being considered by Zambia’s parliament includes proposals to go further UK legislation by extending coverage to e-cigarettes, and stipulating that pictorial cautions cover three-quarters of product packaging.

Business countermeasures

Via documentation, the corporation proposes this be lowered to thirty to fifty percent “according to global suggested parameters”, postponed for minimum one year after the bill passes.

The WHO in fact recommends a warning should cover at least fifty percent of the product container front “and attempt to encompass as much of the primary showing sections as possible”. Within Britain, warnings need to encompass sixty-five percent of a product container sides.

Flavor restrictions debate

BAT asks for the withdrawal of extensive controls on scented smoking items, arguing that it would push consumers toward “illegally traded” products. The company proposes banning a limited selection of “tastes inspired by desserts, candy, energy drinks, soft drinks and alcohol drinks”. Every scented tobacco product have been prohibited in Britain since 2020.

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

Corporate defense

In the letter, the managing director of British American Tobacco Zambia claims the corporation is focused on good corporate behaviour” and “endorses the aims of governments to lower tobacco use and the related medical consequences” but claims that “certain measures can have undesirable and unforeseen outcomes.”

Activist reaction

Chimbala said BAT’s proposed changes would “undermine this law so much that the necessary effect for it to cause long-term change in society will not be achieved”.

The circumstance that multiple comparable regulations were present in the UK, where the company maintains its main office, was “total double standard”, he commented.

“We live in a connected world. Should I grow cigarettes in my property and gather the crop and market the products – and my offspring don't use tobacco, but my neighbor's family uses … to enrich myself and all the future family lines while my neighbour’s children are perishing … is in itself absolute spiritual failure.”

Anti-smoking regulations in the United Kingdom or other countries had not resulted in corporate closures, the campaigner stated. “Regulations don't close the industry. It only protects the people.”

Formal company response

The corporate communicator said: “The corporation runs its activities following with relevant national regulations. Moreover, the corporation engages in the country’s legislative process in line with the appropriate structures which allow for relevant group engagement in regulation development.”

The company was “not against rules”, they said, adding that minors should be protected from access to tobacco and nicotine.

“We champion developing rules to realize planned public health goals, while accepting the variety of privileges and responsibilities on corporations, customers and associated groups,” they said, mentioning that the corporation's recommendations “mirror the circumstances of the local commercial environment and smoking product business, which encompasses rising levels of black market activity”.

Zambia’s department of economic activities and commercial operations was solicited for statement.