From the CTFK website: http://global.tobaccofreekids.org/en/global_updates/detail/2012_05_16_thai

Research Alert

The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health published a study describing how transnational tobacco companies used multiple strategies to interfere with tobacco control policymaking in Thailand and how the public health community successfully countered them. Findings are based 20 years of documentation on tobacco control advocacy work, review of tobacco industry documents, and key informant interviews.

Researchers found that the public health community has been able to stop or significantly limit companies’ interference in policymaking by:

• Advocating successfully for policies consistent with FCTC Article 5.3 and that exclude tobacco companies from policymaking;
• Increasing public awareness of regulations to prevent tobacco industry interference;
• Vigilantly monitoring tobacco industry activity;
• Dedicating resources to the effective enforcement of regulations; and
• Taking legal action when tobacco companies violated laws and policies and engaged in marketing tactics designed to skirt the law.

The study provides examples of how advocates responded to specific instances of tobacco industry interference.

Key Messages:

• Despite the significant challenges posed by the tobacco industry in Thailand, tobacco control advocates have been able to overcome these challenges and marginalize the industry.
• Tobacco control advocates in low- and middle-income countries may be able to develop similar countermeasures to tobacco industry interference based on the Thai experience.

Full Citation: Charoenca N, Mock J, Kungskulniti N, Preechawong S, Kojetin N, Hamann SL. Success counteracting tobacco company interference in Thailand: An example of FCTC implementation for low- and middle-income countries. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2012;9:1111-1134.

Additional Resources: For additional information about tobacco industry interference and how to counter it, including information about tobacco industry tactics to undermine tobacco control and guidance on developing policies to prevent tobacco industry interference in tobacco control policymaking [English only], visit: http://global.tobaccofreekids.org/en/industry_watch/policy_interference/.

The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes scholarly work covering a broad spectrum of important topics which are relevant to environmental health sciences and public health protection.(CTFK)