A stakeholder consultation with officials from the Health and Media Ministries, academics, heads of media institutions and the tobacco control stakeholders in Sri Lanka titled “The allies and friends of the tobacco industry in Sri Lanka and their impact on public health” was successfully held on 18th July 2024 at the Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo. The Centre for Combating Tobacco (CCT) organised the stakeholder consultation in partnership with the Young Professionals’ Alliance for Health (YouPAH) to formulate recommendations for effective future actions to counteract industry interference in tobacco control policies and actions and promote the well-being of Sri Lankans.

Professor Vidya Jyothi Vajira Dissanayake, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, welcomed the gathering followed by Dr. Mahesh Rajasuriya, the Lead, CCT, briefing on the scientific basis of the WHO FCTC recommendations related to tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorships. The National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) Act and its provisions related to tobacco advertising and promotion were highlighted by Dr. Alan Ludowyke, the Chairperson of NATA. Global evidence and experience related to effective strategies in countering tobacco industry interference in media were presented by Mr. Phil Chamberlain, the Deputy Director of Tobacco Control Research Group, the University of Bath, UK. A discussion on ‘where to from here’ ensued following a series of presentations by the CCT team elaborating their investigation findings.

The investigation by the CCT team included interviews with stakeholders in the field of tobacco control and a desk review to help identify the allies and friends of the tobacco industry in Sri Lanka, over the last 6 months. This project was powered by the funding support of Stopping Tobacco Organizations and Products (STOP) at the University of Bath, UK, and the Vital Strategies. The identified allies and friends of the tobacco industry operate in many fields such as entertainment, advertising & public relations, media, research, and in the Parliament/ political parties/ forums, and governmental institutions. The tactics of the allies and friends of the industry were found to be befriending, lobbying/ advocating/ educating, monetary interference within the spectrum from gifts to bribes (including sponsorships), publishing research/ media articles, generating fake public opinions/demands, litigation/threats of litigation and personal threats/blackmail. The detailed findings of this investigation will be published on tobaccounmasked.lk. The findings are updated as and when required and disseminated widely via social media and CCT networks.

The following recommendations were made at the end of the discussion as the way forward.

1. Facilitating NATA with increased human resources, infrastructure and annual budget to implement its activities effectively throughout the country.
2. Establishing a separate unit in the Police to act on tobacco and alcohol related complaints.
3. Obtaining ground-level support from Divisional Secretariat offices and Medical Officer of Health (MOH) offices for effective tobacco control.
4. Establishing units/ observatories like CCT affiliated to every university.
5. Empowering people to make a voice on tobacco industry interference without waiting for NATA to act.
6. Immunising the children and youth against the tactics of the tobacco industry.
7. Optimal utilization of marketing strategies to counter-attack the tactics of the tobacco industry as well as to promote health by liaising with experts in the field of marketing.
8. Introducing criteria for the entertainment industry when rendering their productions for the awarding ceremonies/competitions. Ex- Making the film/teledrama ineligible for the competition/award if it running the agenda of the tobacco industry.
9. Regular monitoring of “social media influencers” to identify the new tactics of the industry.