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 Established in 2017, the FSFW focuses on eliminating usage of
cigarettes and works toward smoking cessation using new technologies
and alternative products. It says it works independently, but the
World Health Organization (WHO) has said there are "clear conflicts"
due to the $80 million in annual funding the foundation receives
from Philip Morris.
At least three Indian anti-tobacco groups earlier this year wrote to
the federal health ministry in New Delhi calling for the rejection
of any possible partnerships with FSFW, according to copies of their
representations seen by Reuters.
India's federal health ministry has sent a letter, dated June 24, to
chief secretaries of all states, saying they should not partner with
FSFW and also advise other departments and institutions in their
region accordingly.
The ministry said Philip Morris was funding FSFW as well as
manufacturing and promoting harm-reduction smoking devices. Reuters
has previously reported Philip Morris has plans to launch its iQOS
smoking device in India which it says is less harmful than
conventional cigarettes.
"Any collaboration with the Foundation for a Smoke Free World should
be avoided in the larger interest of Public Health," senior health
ministry official, Sanjeeva Kumar, wrote in the letter, which was
reviewed by Reuters.
The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, which is led by former WHO
official Dr. Derek Yach, said it "operates with complete
independence from Philip Morris" and was committed to full
transparency about who its funders were.
Philip Morris, which has a stated longer-term vision to replace
cigarette sales with products such as its iQOS device, in a
statement said FSFW was "an independent body governed by its own
independent Board of Directors".
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TOBACCO IN INDIA
In recent years, the Indian government has intensified its
tobacco-control efforts, raising cigarette taxes and ordering
companies to print bigger health warnings on cigarette packs.
India has 106 million adult smokers, second only to China, and more
than 900,000 people die each year in India due to tobacco-related
illnesses.
A federal health ministry official said on Sunday the letter on FSFW
had been sent as a preventive measure to dissuade states from any
collaboration with the foundation, and similar instructions were
likely to be sent to other federal ministries.
The FSFW said there were no projects with any state government
institutions in India. "We seek partnerships with all who share our
goal to end smoking in the world," a spokesperson said in a
statement to Reuters.
In May, FSFW said its team was committed to working with others "to
accelerate an end to smoking in this generation" in India. It also
invited people to study its strategic plan.
That same month, Philip Morris in a press statement said it had
urged the Indian government to create a regulatory environment for
devices such as its iQOS.
When the FSFW was launched in 2017, the WHO had said it will not
partner with the foundation and asked governments around the world
and public health communities to follow the agency's lead.
(Story refiled to fix grammar in paragraph 4)
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Martin Howell and David
Evans)
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