New online project to reveal activities and influences of local tobacco industry

A  new online project, TobaccoUnmasked, designed to reveal the activities and influences of the tobacco industry on public health policy, has been launched in Sri Lanka. 

Using a wiki-based platform similar to Tobacco Tactics, TobaccoUnmasked will publish and disseminate findings relating to the tobacco industry. Launched at an event in Colombo  President,  Maithripala Sirisena, the new TobaccoUnmasked wiki will be part of the new Centre for Combatting Tobacco (CCT) website. CCT is established in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo.

CCT in Sri Lanka monitors the activities of the tobacco industry in line with Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a report by phsy.org said. Article 5.3 relates to the setting and implementation of public health policies, specifically that they must be protected from the vested interests of the tobacco industry.

CCT is established in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. Head of the Tobacco Control Research Group, Professor Anna Gilmore explained: "Progress in reducing tobacco use is continuously stymied by the actions of the tobacco industry. Researching and exposing how this industry works is therefore key to enabling progress. We are delighted to have been able to support our Sri Lankan colleagues in setting up their excellent observatory."

Recent studies, including by the Tobacco Control Research Group at Bath, have highlighted how lower-income countries including in Asia and Africa are increasingly targeted by major tobacco companies and seen as key to future profitability.

Earlier this year, a network of the world's first tobacco industry observatories was convened at the University with representatives from TobaccoUnmasked in Sri Lanka, as well as international colleagues from Thailand, Brazil, South Africa and Lebanon. The idea of establishing a series of national observatories based on the University of Bath's model came from the FCTC Secretariat in recognition of the importance of such work.