The cigarette industry wants a bigger slice of Asia. Activists want them to butt out.
Jump to full article: GlobalPost, 2009-11-15
Author: Patrick Winn - GlobalPost
Intro: Assailed by the western world's laws, taxes and anti-smoking mores, the global tobacco industry has little choice but to keep pushing eastward into Asia.
Tobacco bosses learned this week that some Asians are ready to push back.
This week, more than 500 screaming protesters converged outside TabInfo Asia 2009, the region's largest tobacco summit in years. More than an expo, the event is also a strategy session conducted in secrecy.
"As rules, regulations, and perceptions of tobacco change around the globe, Asia Pacific has become one of the world's most important tobacco markets," according to promotional materials.
The event, set up by the Raleigh, N.C.-based Tobacco Reporter magazine, invited major industry players gathered to discuss "operating in a world of bans" and "ingenious ways of operating in an increasingly regulated, plain-pack, dark market environment."
"Asia is the fastest growing tobacco market in the world. They can't afford to ignore this region," said Prakit Vathesatogkit, executive secretary of the Bangkok-based Action on Smoking and Health Foundation.
"We can't really stop them from coming," Prakit said, "but we can try to stop them from circumventing regulation."
On Wednesday, the summit's first day, attendees were beset by a loose coalition of Southeast Asian anti-smoking protesters. Outside the event doors, a 500-plus crowd of mostly college students screamed at men in suits entering Bangkok's largest convention center.
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