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• Tobacco Industry Blocking Global Treaty On Smoking In Asean Countries 

The tobacco industry in Southeast Asia is systematically obstructing implementation of a global treaty on curbing smoking and tobacco use, a regional advocacy network warned today.

Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (Seatca) said since it took effect in 2005, implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in the region has been undermined by insidious tactics of big tobacco companies.

It said abuses by tobacco corporations have ranged from attempting to write tobacco control laws and blocking the passage of key legislations in the Philippines, Laos and Cambodia, and using so-called "corporate social responsibility" to circumvent laws and regulations in Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and the Philippines.

The region's governments have been vulnerable to interference through the industry's lobbying, public relations dealings and CSR activities, Seatca said in a statement.

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