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• ASH Protests At BAT's Footprint On Africa 

As British American Tobacco celebrates 100 years of trade in Africa at its AGM in London (on Wednesday, 30th April), campaigners will be outside, protesting about the heavy footprint it leaves on the continent - death, hunger, poverty, and environmental destruction.

A new report by ASH, BAT's African Footprint [1], says that while smoking is declining in the West, BAT's profits in Asia and Africa grew by £2 million to £470 million last year. The growth in sales means more ill-health and ultimately rising tobacco-related deaths.

According to an analysis carried out for the campaigning charity ASH, one person dies for every million cigarettes sold. BAT sold 101 billion cigarettes in the Africa and Middle east region last year. Sir Richard Peto, Professor of Medical Statistics at Oxford University said: "If BAT continues selling 100 billion cigarettes a year in Africa and the Middle East, this will, in the long run, cause 100,000 deaths per year."

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