The tobacco industry’s thwarting of marketing restrictions and health warnings in Lebanon
- 1Department of Health Behaviour and Education, Center for Research on Population and Health, American University Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
- 2Centre on Global Change and Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT UK
- R Nakkash, Department of Health Behaviour and Education, Center for Research on Population and Health, American University Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon; rima.nakkash{at}aub.edu.lb
- Received 24 December 2008
- Accepted 26 May 2009
Abstract
Aims: This article outlines how the tobacco industry has undermined tobacco control efforts in Lebanon since the early 1970s.
Methods: An analysis of online and on-site tobacco industry documents, reviews of newspapers, policy and other documents, and interviews with key policy makers were conducted.
Results: Findings reveal how the weakness of tobacco control legislation in Lebanon has been the product of an effective tobacco industry strategy to weaken the content and scope of regulation, and delay adoption and implementation.
Conclusions: The tobacco industry has built and maintained strong alliances that were and are regularly mobilised to effectively oppose regulation. Despite ratification of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005, Lebanon's tobacco control track remains weak. Public health professionals and the government should work hard to oppose such tobacco industry tactics.
Footnotes
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Competing interests: None.
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Ethics approval: The protocol was reviewed and approved by the institutional review boards at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the American University of Beirut.
