28 January, Bangkok – The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) condemned Imperial Tobacco, a UK-based tobacco company, for its continuing failure to comply with the tobacco control law in Lao PDR. Despite a regulation requiring UK-style plain or standardized tobacco packaging and a new set of pictorial health warnings by 5 December 2024, Imperial Tobacco’s subsidiary, Lao Tobacco Ltd (LTL), continues to sell cigarettes without the standardized packaging and without the new pictorial health warnings, despite a six-month grace period for compliance.
Lao PDR faces a significant tobacco burden, with over 800,000 smokers and at least 6,700 annual deaths from tobacco-caused diseases, incurring annual healthcare and economic losses exceeding LAK 3.6 trillion (USD 164.2 million) due to tobacco use.
Standardized tobacco packaging, a crucial component of comprehensive tobacco control, effectively reduces the appeal of tobacco products and enhances the effectiveness of pictorial health warnings on tobacco packaging to discourage children from taking up smoking while encouraging smokers to quit.
In the UK, Imperial has been complying with standardized packaging requirements since 2017. Its failure to comply with similar requirements in Lao PDR is clear evidence of its double standards. Both countries are Parties to the global health treaty, the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and 26 countries now require standardized tobacco packaging to protect the health and well-being of their people.
“On its website, Imperial Brands claims to be a responsible company that is transforming and challenging itself to do better, but its actions speak louder than words. Imperial Brands is a duplicitous company that is willing to violate the law of a poor country to make profits and keep poor people smoking,” said Dr Ulysses Dorotheo, Executive Director of SEATCA.
“SEATCA stands with the people of Lao PDR and demands that Imperial Brands comply immediately with Lao PDR’s tobacco control law and ensure that all its cigarettes are sold in standardized packaging with the new pictorial health warnings,” added Dorotheo.
Contact Information:
Ms Val Bugnot, Media and Communications Manager, SEATCA
Email: val@seatca.org
Mobile: +63 917 312 4600
About SEATCA
SEATCA is a multi-sectoral non-governmental alliance promoting health and saving lives by assisting ASEAN countries to accelerate and effectively implement the tobacco control measures contained in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). SEATCA is an accredited ASEAN entity and an official Observer to the WHO FCTC Conference of Parties. WHO bestowed on SEATCA the World No Tobacco Day Award in 2004 and the WHO Director-General’s Special Recognition Award in 2014.