Bribery kills

British American Tobacco illegally paid politicians and civil servants in countries in East Africa. Paul Hopkins, who worked for BAT, a British company, in Kenya for 13 years, said he had begun paying bribes after being told it was the cost of doing business in Africa.

"BAT is bribing people, and I'm facilitating it," he said. "The reality is if... they have to break the rules, they will break the rules."

A Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), representative from Burundi, Godefroid Kamwenubusa, and a representative from the Comoros Islands, Chaibou Bedja Abdou, were both paid $3,000 (£2,000). A former representative from Rwanda, Bonaventure Nzeyimana, was paid $20,000.

The secret documents  show the company paid bribes to undermine anti-smoking legislation. In return for the illegal payment to Mr Kamwenubusa, a Burundian senior civil servant, BAT also wanted a draft copy of the country's Tobacco Control Bill. And an email from a contractor working for BAT says Mr Kamwenubusa would be able to "accommodate any amendments before the president signs".

Dr Vera Da Costa e Silva, from the WHO, said BAT "is irresponsible to say the least…It is using bribery to profit at the cost of people's lives, simple as that."

The nicotine murderers

Despite the danger tobacco poses, the federal government of Nigeria is  yet to sign into law a wide-ranging act which will regulate the sale and advertising of tobacco products and restrict where people are allowed to smoke People under the age of 18 won't be allowed to buy cigarettes, and health warnings will have to cover at least 50 percent of the packaging. All forms of tobacco advertisements, sponsorships, promotions and endorsements will be banned. The bill, once enacted, could dramatically reduce the number of tobacco-related deaths in Nigeria, he said.

In July 2009, over 40 civil society groups, lawyers and public health advocates stormed the National Assembly in the capital, Abuja, to demand that the Nigerian legislature to sign the National Tobacco Control Bill into law. The bill had been brought before the Assembly five months earlier, but it took more than two years before lawmakers finally approved it. Since March 2011, the bill has been awaiting ratification by the federal government. The bill hasn't been enacted because of pressure from tobacco lobbying groups. One assemblyman, who only agreed to speak if his name was withheld, confirmed that the tobacco lobby has weakened the government’s resolve to introduce effective legislation.

Tola Oyebode, a doctor and a member of one of the protest groups said  "I see people die every day from tobacco addiction"

Nigeria is one of the largest markets for tobacco products in Africa. About 13 million Nigerians are smokers, and about 17 billion cigarettes are produced in the country each year. Over the past decade, there has been a steady increase in the number of smokers, he said. About 7 million cigarettes are smoked each day.

Joseph Bulus, a doctor, said tobacco kills about half of its lifetime users. About 70 million people died worldwide as a result of smoking between 1950 and 2000, and it’s estimated that over the next 50 years, 450 million may die because of tobacco use. Most of those deaths will be in developing countries. Stringent anti-tobacco laws in the west have turned those companies' attention to sub-Saharan Africa and Nigeria is considered the "jewel" in the tobacco business. Tobacco-related health problems are worse in Nigeria because the tobacco content of the cigarettes sold in the country is higher than in those sold in western nations.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2012/05/19/Tobacco-lobby-thwarts-anti-smoking-law-in-Nigeria/UPIU-8941335372958/