Threats, Bullying, Lawsuits: Tobacco Industry’s Dirty War for the African Market
June 26, 2019
As part of a series of investigative stories supported by Vital Strategies, a partner in STOP, in the Guardian, British American Tobacco (BAT) and other multinational tobacco firms were found to have threatened governments in at least eight countries across Africa, demanding they dilute the kind of policy and regulatory protections that have saved millions of lives in other countries. The story looks at BAT’s tactics, focusing on legal action in Uganda and interfering with a ban on selling single cigarettes in Kenya. The giant tobacco firms hope to boost their markets in Africa, which has a fast-growing, young and increasingly prosperous population.
