The retreat of tobacco companies into less well regulated corners of the globe was never going to be pretty.

The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (Seatca) has accused the tobacco industry of undermining efforts to implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) - a global treaty on curbing smoking and tobacco use.

According to Bernama, the Malaysian new agency:

Seatca "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."

Seatca is calling on parties to the WHO FCTC to take steps to implement Article 5.3, which obliges parties to "act to protect (public health) policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry."

The alliance insists that Article 5.3 “is based on the premise that in public health programs, the tobacco industry is the problem, and NOT a stakeholder.”

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