Tobacco Companies Use Malawi to Lobby Against Global Tobacco Control

Transnational tobacco companies, through the International Tobacco Growers' Association, an organization created by tobacco companies in 1984 to weaken global tobacco control activities, produced and disseminated reports on the economic importance of tobacco in Malawi, including claims of losses of jobs and foreign earnings in Malawi due to the passage of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Tobacco companies conducted a “Roadshow” media event in Malawi (and elsewhere) in an effort to discredit World Bank evidence of the public health benefits of tobacco control, installed industry representatives on Malawi's delegations to World Health Organization meetings, and introduced resolutions or made amendments to tobacco-related resolutions in United Nations agencies focused on tobacco control policymaking to conduct research on the economic implications of tobacco control in tobacco growing countries. The industry's continuous plea for more research on tobacco economics temporarily displaced health as the focus in tobacco control policymaking and required policymakers to focus on the economic impact of tobacco control policymaking in developing countries. Tobacco industry interference in policymaking and lobbying power over Malawi government and farmer officials failed to derail the passage of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. However, industry interference contributed to Malawi's refusal to sign the Convention. Tobacco companies' influence on Malawi government representatives and farmer officials is a means by which tobacco companies attempt to shape the terms of global health policy and prevent tobacco control policymakers from having any meaningful effect in Malawi.