The tobacco industry continues to subvert government attempts to prevent tobacco-related deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday in a fresh call to counter corporate lobbying and litigation.
Countries with partly state-owned tobacco companies, such as Japan, which has a stake in Japan Tobacco Inc., should "firewall" their health policy-setting from their commercial interests, the United Nations agency said.
A Reuters investigation published last week revealed that Philip Morris International Inc. is waging a secret campaign to subvert the WHO's anti-smoking treaty.