246442 Big tobacco's influence on the food you eat and the air you breathe: Industry attempts to shape the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Framework Convention on Climate Change

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Mariaelena Gonzalez, PhD , Center for Tobacco Control Research & Education, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Stanton A. Glantz, PhD , Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
By inserting themselves into non-tobacco-related international treaty negotiations, tobacco companies are influencing our health through the food we eat and the air we breathe in order to create a regulatory environment favorable to their industry. We used publicly available tobacco industry documents to investigate how, during the 1980s and 1990s, tobacco companies sought to influence the contents of the Biosafety Protocol of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Montreal and Kyoto Protocols of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC).

The CBD and FCCC potentially address tobacco production and manufacturing. The Biosafety protocol of the CBD proposed to regulate the shipment of products containing genetically modified organisms between countries. Tobacco companies were experimenting with genetically modified tobacco at this time. The Montreal Protocol of the FCCC phased out chlorofluorocarbons, which were used in the cigarette manufacturing process. The Kyoto Protocol bans other greenhouse gasses like those produced by the tobacco-growing process (including deforestation for agricultural land and flue-curing tobacco). Tobacco companies used third parties, like conservative think tanks and the Grocery Manufacturers Association of America, and food subsidiaries, Kraft and Nabisco, to influence treaty debates. In some cases, the companies were able penetrated the treaty-negotiation process through employees placed on committees which evaluated scientific evidence for treaty negotiators.

Tobacco companies are active participants in the international regulatory arena. It is crucial for public health officials and advocates to understand which non-tobacco related international treaties overlap with tobacco control concerns in order protect these treaties from tobacco industry influence.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
1. Understand how and why tobacco companies sought to influence the treaties the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Framework Convention on Climate Change. 2. Evaluate tobacco company strategies to influence non-tobacco related treaties. 3. Explain the importance of protecting the general international treaty making process from corporate interference in order to promote public health.

Keywords: Tobacco Industry, Tobacco Policy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I conducted the research, analysis, and writing related to this project with the help of co-authors.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.