Revealed: how ‘big tobacco’ used EU rules to win health delay | Business | The Guardian

Revealed: how ‘big tobacco’ used EU rules to win health delay | Business | The Guardian: "The world’s largest tobacco companies were instrumental in promoting Europe-wide, pro-business regulations that they used to delay health initiatives.

Analysis carried out by the University of Bath’s Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG) has found that the companies played a key role in pushing the European commission’s Better Regulation agenda, which places business interests at the heart of policy drafting. They then used the new laws to block and delay a series of major health reforms, including UK introduction of plain packaging.

Under the terms of the Better Regulation agenda, which internal tobacco industry documents reveal was enthusiastically supported by British American Tobacco, European governments, including the UK, must conduct public consultations and impact assessments when introducing laws that affect business. The tobacco companies took advantage of these laws, using third parties and fake grassroots campaigns to swamp the consultations on anti-smoking initiatives such as the introduction of plain packaging. In addition, they were highly selective in what they submitted. All failed to include evidence – disclosed as a result of historic legal action – that they knew branded packaging was crucial to the marketing of their products, something they consistently denied in public."



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