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Thais battle ties to tobacco industry  

A “smoking gun” used to mean some kind of lurking, underlying proof behind an evil deed. Oddly, now it has come to show how much influence the tobacco industry has over government, mainstream media, the entertainment industry and individual economies, when a simple novel about the evils of smoking is turned into one about gun control.

If the tobacco industry is powerful enough to impose its will on Hollywood, it certainly won’t have much trouble in Thailand. It is trying to do just that through a gathering of industry players, including its “thought leaders,” at a three-day forum in Bangkok called Tabinfo Asia 2009, which runs from Nov. 11-13. It boasts the biggest tobacco exhibition in Asia and business and networking opportunities for regional players.

Despite the industry’s influence, however, a coalition of protesters gathered to confront it at the Impact Exhibition and Conference Center where the forum is being held. One of the protest leaders, Prakit Vathesatogkit, executive secretary of Action on Smoking and Health Foundation (ASH Thailand), said at Wednesday’s protest, "Tabinfo Asia 2009 is a signal for the international community to understand that the tobacco industry will not stop brainstorming new strategies to lure new smokers, particularly youths and women."

Almost as if to underscore Prakit’s words, Tabinfo posted four main issues to be discussed by the tobacco industry’s “thought-leaders” in a global environment of changing regulations and negative public perceptions. The last of the four – which should have appeared first, if only for diplomatic purposes – was “harm and risk reduction.” . . .

The fact that the state’s Thailand Tobacco Monopoly is heading up the three-day conference/exhibition/game plan meeting is not a good sign. Local influence and vested commercial interests with Thai tobacco are rife. As far back as 1950, the Thai government’s Excise Department bought 256 acres of land from the Crown Property bureau to increase tobacco production for domestic and export use. Four years later responsibility for the industry was transferred to the Ministry of Finance.

Given such grassroots beginnings and ties, it’s an uphill battle for anti-smoking advocates

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