Global Health Governance and the Commercial Sector: A Documentary Analysis of Tobacco Company Strategies to Influence the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Weishaar, Heide; Collin, Jeff; Smith, Katherine E.; Grüning, Thilo; Mandal, Sema; Gilmore, Anna

doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001249

Cited by 49 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 82 publications

(102 reference statements)

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“…165 One major challenge has been the push for voluntary, nation-level approaches rather than a coordinated global treaty. 166-170 After passage of the Framework Convention, it has been documented that the tobacco industry has attempted to undermine this treaty by subverting its provisions, 171-173 has pursued lawsuits against signatories that have implemented treaty provisions, 174 and has been noted by the WHO as actively preventing implementation of treaty provisions that aim to keep the tobacco industry out of public health policy-making. 175 Robust and transparent governance is necessary to overcome these challenges.…”

Section: Stemming the Tide: Cardiovascular Health Promotion Throughoumentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Perspective on Acute Coronary Syndrome

Vedanthan

Seligman

Fuster

2014

Circulation Research

212

137

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Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is the greatest single cause of mortality and loss of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) worldwide, and a substantial portion of this burden falls on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Deaths from IHD and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) occur, on average, at younger ages in LMICs than in high-income countries, often at economically productive ages, and likewise frequently affect the poor within LMICs. While data regarding ACS in LMICs are limited, there is a growing literature in this area and the research gaps are being steadily filled. In high-income countries, decades of investigation into the risk factors for ACS and development of behavioral programs, medications, interventional procedures, and guidelines have provided us with the tools to prevent and treat events. Although similar tools can be, and in fact have been, implemented in many LMICs, challenges remain in the development and implementation of cardiovascular health promotion activities across the entire life course, as well as in access to treatment for ACS and IHD. Intersectoral policy initiatives and global coordination are critical elements of ACS and IHD control strategies. Addressing the hurdles and scaling successful health promotion, clinical and policy efforts in LMICs are necessary in order to adequately address the global burden of ACS and IHD.

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Section: Stemming the Tide: Cardiovascular Health Promotion Throughoumentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Perspective on Acute Coronary Syndrome

Vedanthan

Seligman

Fuster

2014

Circulation Research

212

137

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“…Finally, philanthropy has the potential to neutralise on-going work aimed at highlighting the net negative social and economic impacts of the tobacco industry, which has been a key driver of efforts to regulate the industry under the FCTC [128], [179], [180], [181], [182]. Charitable donations are a form of symbolic communication which have the potential to change perceptions through the associations they create.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corporate Philanthropy, Political Influence, and Health Policy

Fooks

Gilmore

2013

PLoS ONE

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BackgroundThe Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) provides a basis for nation states to limit the political effects of tobacco industry philanthropy, yet progress in this area is limited. This paper aims to integrate the findings of previous studies on tobacco industry philanthropy with a new analysis of British American Tobacco's (BAT) record of charitable giving to develop a general model of corporate political philanthropy that can be used to facilitate implementation of the FCTC.MethodAnalysis of previously confidential industry documents, BAT social and stakeholder dialogue reports, and existing tobacco industry document studies on philanthropy.ResultsThe analysis identified six broad ways in which tobacco companies have used philanthropy politically: developing constituencies to build support for policy positions and generate third party advocacy; weakening opposing political constituencies; facilitating access and building relationships with policymakers; creating direct leverage with policymakers by providing financial subsidies to specific projects; enhancing the donor's status as a source of credible information; and shaping the tobacco control agenda by shifting thinking on the importance of regulating the market environment for tobacco and the relative risks of smoking for population health. Contemporary BAT social and stakeholder reports contain numerous examples of charitable donations that are likely to be designed to shape the tobacco control agenda, secure access and build constituencies.Conclusions and RecommendationsTobacco companies' political use of charitable donations underlines the need for tobacco industry philanthropy to be restricted via full implementation of Articles 5.3 and 13 of the FCTC. The model of tobacco industry philanthropy developed in this study can be used by public health advocates to press for implementation of the FCTC and provides a basis for analysing the political effects of charitable giving in other industry sectors which have an impact on public health such as alcohol and food.

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“…Thanks to exhaustive research by a group of academic public health specialists who reviewed thousands of pages of documents and conducted numerous interviews, a public record exists of the lobbying strategies the companies used (Weisshaar et al 2008). Only a brief summary of findings is possible here.…”

Section: Instrumental Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

Multinationals as global institution: Power, authority and relative autonomy

Ruggie

2017

Regulation & Governance

164

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This article aims to inform the long-standing and unresolved debate between voluntary corporate social responsibility and initiatives to impose binding legal obligations on multinational enterprises. The two approaches share a common feature: neither can fully specify its own scope conditions, that is, how much of the people and planet agenda either can expect to deliver. The reason they share this feature is also the same: neither is based on a foundational political analysis of the multinational enterprise in the context of global governance. Such an analysis is essential for providing background to and perspective on what either approach can hope to achieve, and how. This article begins to bridge the gap by illustrating aspects of the political power, authority, and relative autonomy of the contemporary multinational enterprise. The conclusion spells out some implications for the debate itself, and for further research.

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Global Health Governance and the Commercial Sector: A Documentary Analysis of Tobacco Company Strategies to Influence the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Abstract: Heide Weishaar and colleagues did an analysis of internal tobacco industry documents together with other data and describe the industry's strategic response to the proposed World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Cited by 49 publications

References 82 publications

Global Perspective on Acute Coronary Syndrome

Global Perspective on Acute Coronary Syndrome

Corporate Philanthropy, Political Influence, and Health Policy

Multinationals as global institution: Power, authority and relative autonomy

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