Background

R Street Institute was set up as a not-for-profit organisation in 2012 by former employees from the Heartland Institute and American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC),  and is a member of the State Policy Network.² (See Think Tanks for more on ALEC and SPN).

Relationship with the Tobacco Industry

R Street Institute states that it is “funded by voluntary contributions from foundations, corporations and individuals” but does not disclose any details.³ However, Altria has made unspecified donations to the organisation between 2014 and 2020.⁴⁵⁶⁷ R Street Institute has also lobbied for the lower regulation and taxation of newer nicotine and tobacco products in the US and in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Current and former policy and research staff

• Chelsea Boyd, Research Fellow, Harm Reduction, focusing on “decreasing harmful health outcomes for people who engage in high-risk behavior, such as smoking and recreational drug use”.⁸
• Mazen Saleh, Policy Director, Integrated Harm Reduction.⁹
• Pritika C. Kumar, Resident Senior Fellow for Integrated Harm Reduction Policy. Previously a regulatory scientist at Altria.¹⁰– Caroline Kitchens, former Director, Government Affairs, with a focus on agriculture, harm reduction and energy policy.¹¹ Caroline joined R Street from the American Enterprise Institute (see Think Tanks page)
• Brad Rodu, former Associate Fellow, focusing on “substituting safer tobacco products for smokers who are unable or unwilling to quit smoking with conventional cessation methods”. His research at the University of Louisville has been supported by tobacco industry funding.¹²
• Joel Nitzkin, former Senior Fellow, Harm Reduction, worked on “shaping much of the R Street Institute tobacco control policy and speaking on behalf of such policy to state and local authorities, the American Medical Association and federal authorities”.¹³
• Dr Edward Anselm, former Senior Fellow from 2015 to 2018. He published several articles advocating for looser regulations and easier access to newer nicotine products.¹⁴¹⁵

A full list of current staff can be found on the R Street Institute website.

Activities

One of the featured issues on R Street Institute’s website is harm reduction. It states that it “aims for integrated harm reduction with tobacco, opioid and sexual behavior” and that it believes “an ‘abstinence only’ approach to risky behaviours will not work on a population-wide basis”.¹⁶ As of April 2022, six out of the seven regulatory comments on harm reduction published on its website related to tobacco.¹⁷

Many of its publications and lobbying letters also echo tobacco industry arguments, including the need to regulate newer products differently from other tobacco products, and criticising bans on product flavourings.¹⁶ Some articles are also published on the Heartland Institute website.¹⁸

Lobbying in the US

• Letter to the FDA, August 2017, supporting PMI’s Modified Risk Tobacco Product application for its HTP IQOS.¹⁹
• Letter to the FDA , June 2018, regarding the potential lowering of nicotine levels in conventional cigarettes. Citing potential risks of illicit tobacco, the letter urged the FDA to avoid “excessive regulatory barriers” and “provide a risk-proportionate route to market for low-risk, non-combustible alternatives, such as e-cigarettes, heated tobacco [HTPs] and smokeless tobacco products.”²⁰
• Letter to the FDA, September 2018, urging the Food and Drug Administration to grant British American Tobacco /Reynolds American a Modified-Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP) status for its Camel snus, arguing that this would benefit public health.²¹
• Letter to House Energy & Commerce Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee, February 2020, regarding the potential positive impact of e-cigarettes on public health. ²²
• Lobbying letters have also been sent to US district and city councils.²³²⁴²⁵

Lobbying in LMICs

R Street Institute has published press releases, articles and consultation submissions,²⁶ in relation to tobacco control measures in low and middle-income countries:

Vietnam

A letter was sent to the Vietnamese Prime Minister in June 2020, calling for looser regulation on next generation products saying that: “these products present a public health opportunity to improve the lives of people who use combustible products and cannot or do not want to stop.”²⁷ The letter also criticised the use of health warnings, standardized packaging and other evidence-based tobacco control measures in place in Vietnam.²⁷

Thailand

A press release was published in November 2020, promoting a policy paper titled “Exploring the Differences in Tobacco Policy between the United Kingdom and Thailand” which recommended the use of e-cigarettes to reduce smoking rates.²⁸²⁹

South Africa

Comments to a consultation on taxation of e-cigarettes were submitted in January 2022, arguing for lower taxes for “lower-risk products”. This also referred to PMI’s heated tobacco product IQOS and described HTPs inaccurately as “electronic nicotine delivery systems” (ENDS).³⁰

Attended Concordia Summit

R Street Institute has attended the Concordia Summit, which is supported by Philip Morris International.³¹³²

Relevant Link

R Street Institute website

TobaccoTactics Resources

• Newer Nicotine and Tobacco Products
• Altria
• Heartland Institute
• Think Tanks

References

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Factasia.org is a Hong Kong based organization, founded in 2013, which promotes newer nicotine and tobacco products, including e-cigarettes (also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems, or ENDS) and heated tobacco products, and campaigns for their use in tobacco harm reduction. It is registered as a company, Fact Asia Consultants Ltd, in Hong Kong.³³³⁴

As of October 2020, Factasia´s website stated:

“factasia.org seeks to represent the rights of adults in Asia who choose to enjoy smoking or other related forms of consumption of nicotine. factasia.org aims to protect their interests and to provide independent and unbiased data on the issues surrounding smoking – and related issues – in Asia.” ³⁵

According to the tobacco industry publication Tobacco Reporter, Factasia.org was formed to represent the rights and interests of smokers who choose to smoke or consume tobacco, and to provide data on the issues surrounding smoking in Asia.³⁶

Factasia.org receives funding from Philip Morris International, as well as the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association (TVECA) and other companies providing services to the tobacco industry, according to its website.³⁷

However, Factasia.org states that it does not work for the tobacco industry. ³⁶

Activities

Factasia.org conducts its activities under three main themes that it describes as: “consumer choice, rational debate and sensible regulation”.³⁵ It states that “Factasia.org aims to communicate with consumers as well as politicians, legislators and appropriate law enforcement officials”.³⁵ According to Tobacco Reporter, Factasia “aims to lobby on behalf of the millions of growers, distributors and retailers throughout the region whose livelihoods are under threat from bad legislation and excessive taxation” ³⁶

Commissioned Surveys to Argue for Reduced Regulation

The organisation conducted several opinion surveys of smokers in Asia-Pacific markets through the polling company IPSOS. One survey conducted in 2015-2016 included responses from nine countries (Mecau, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, and New Zealand) and over 4,200 smokers.³⁸ This survey evaluated awareness, use and perception towards e-cigarettes. A similar survey was conducted in Hong Kong in 2018 with 1,000 respondents.³⁹ Results of these surveys were presented in global pro-vaping conferences and used to develop support for reduced regulations and restrictions on e-cigarettes.⁴⁰

In 2015, Factasia.org held an E-cigarette Symposium with speakers from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). ⁴¹

Lobbied at COP8

Factasia has lobbied against the Conference of the Parties (COP) of WHO FCTC. Heneage Mitchell, cofounder and director of Factasia.org, was among the group who protested outside COP8 in Geneva in 2018, arguing that the WHO should accept harm reduction as a “basic human right” (Image 1).⁴²⁴³

Heneage Mitchell was present with Martin Cullip, a pro-tobacco blogger and Simon Clark, the Director of the tobacco industry front group Forest at a COP8 side event, hosted by the tobacco industry-funded, representing the Institute of Economic Affairs. The International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO) was also present, after being denied FCTC observer status. For more information see the page on INNCO.

Image 1.”Heneage Mitchell from Factasia (second from left) was part of a group protesting outside FCTC COP8 event in Geneva, 2018 (Source factasia.org)

Lobbied COP8 via Twitter

Researchers from the Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG) analysed Twitter data to gain insights into activity of the tobacco industry and its allies, including Factasia.org, in the run up to COP8, and their attempts to influence the FCTC.⁴⁴⁴⁵

The researchers concluded that:

“The extensive activity by NGP advocates with links to organisations funded directly and indirectly by PMI … as well as a substantial online presence by PMI executives themselves, suggests a strategic approach by PMI to influence COP8 debates”.⁴⁴.

For more details see International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organisations (INNCO)

Factasia.org is a supporter of the “Smoke Free for Life” (SF4L) campaign, organised by Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).See below for details.⁴⁶⁴⁷

Relationship with the tobacco industry

According to Factasia.org’s website, Philip Morris International and Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association (TVECA),  an e-cigarette trade association, are among its supporters.³⁷

Other supporters listed on their website, as of October 2020, were are:³⁷

• Axiom Select LLC – Service provider to tobacco industry from machinery to services which include “regulatory issues, product development, harm reduction, cost / project management and sourcing.”.³⁷⁴⁸
• Cerulean – Provider of test and measuring equipment for the tobacco industry. As a provider, it has presented at several tobacco industry events as the Global Tobacco & Nicotine Forum, World Tobacco Middle East, Tobacco Science Research Conference, among others. ⁴⁹
• Moisttech – Provider of moister & measurement control products, that provides services to the tobacco industry.
• Primary Engineering (Thailand) Ltd – Provide service & maintenance for tobacco industry equipment

As stated on the Factasia.org website, its cofounder and director Heneage Mitchell has commentated on the tobacco industry across the Asia region for over 15 years.⁵⁰ His LinkedIn profile states, he was the former managing editor/co-publisher at October Multimedia from 2009-2013 and managing editor of Lockwood Publications from 2002 –2009. ⁵¹  Lockwood publications was the publisher of industry publication Tobacco Asia.⁵².

John Boley, the other cofounder of Factasia.org was a speaker at the Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) in 2016 and 2017. GFN is an event organised by Knowledge-Action-Change (K-A-C) which is funded by PMI-funded Foundation for a Smoke-Free World.

The panel of speakers at the Factasia.org E-cigarette Symposium 2015 included;  e-cigarette researcher Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, representatives of TVECA and the Asian Vape Association (AVA), and Terry Barnes representing Institute of Economic Affairs(IEA) (see image 2) ³⁵. The IEA is a think tank which has a history of collaboration with the tobacco industry.⁵³

Image 2: Factasia.org E-cigarette symposium held in Hong Kong in 2015. From Left: Ray Story (TVECA), John Boley, Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, Heneage Mitchelle , Nav Lalji (AVA) (Source: Factasia)

Staff

Heneage (‘H’) Mitchell and John Boley, are both founders and directors of the organisation.^{51 54}

According to his LinkedIn profile, Mitchell became Managing Director of factasia.org in October 2013, after working in journalism, publishing and other businesses, including writing on tobacco (see above for details). ⁵¹ He states that his specialities include public relations and campaign management.⁵¹ and in 2017.⁵⁵ His presentation in 2016 was titled “Developing a united front for consumers to public health authorities in Asia-Pacific – challenges and opportunities” and, in 2017, “The lexicography of harm reduction”.⁵⁶

Lobbying decision-makers

Collaborating with third party organizations and funding their activities in order to reach out to decision makers is one of the most common tobacco industry tactics.(See Third Party Techniques) Factasia has not been the exception, as evidenced in the promotion of  looser regulations for newer products in Australia:

Lobbied Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)

Regarding PMI´s IQOS, Factasia made a submission in June 2020, after the Australian medicines regulator, the TGA, made an interim decision refusing Philip Morris Ltd application to exempt its IQOS product from the Poison’s Schedule. Factasia´s submission argued that “It is unconscionable that Australia continues to ignore the evidence and is now seeking to further restrict access by adult smokers to these life-saving technologies by considering legislation to require a doctor’s prescription to purchase nicotine-containing vape products.” ⁵⁷ Despite intense lobbying by PMI to allow the sale of IQOS, in August 2020, the Australian government’s Therapeutic Goods Administration rejected the sale of HTPs in Australia.⁵⁸⁵⁹.

Lobbied Australian parliament:

After lobbying with CAPHRA for fewer restrictions on e-cigarettes in Australia, in summer 2020,⁶⁰   Factasia made a formal submission to the Australian Parliament on October 16, 2020, arguing that “The government has a unique opportunity to act for the good of its citizens by recognizing that harm reduced nicotine products save lives and benefit all Australian citizens by reducing the death and disease caused by smoking. Smokers need to be able to access the life-saving technology of harm reduced nicotine products. This should be a key part of Australia’s Tobacco Control policy”.  ⁶¹ Furthermore, Factasia lobbied for newer products to be legalized in Australia and regulated differently than tobacco products. ⁶¹

Partnerships

Factasia.org is associated with the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA)⁶⁰  and supports its SF4L campaign.⁴⁶ Heneage Mitchel was at the launch of SF4L, along with Peter Paul Dator, president of Vapers PH; Clarisse Virgino, the CAPHRA Philippine representative; and Nancy Loucas, executive director of CAPHRA (see image 3 below).^{62 47}

Image 3: (from left) Peter Paul Dator, president of Vapers PH; Clarisse Virgino, the Philippine representative to the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates; Nancy Loucas, executive director of CAPHRA; and Heneage Mitchell  at the Asia-wide education and information campaign #SmokeFree4Life in Poblacion, Makati City.

Relevant Link

Factasia.org

Tobacco Tactics Resources

• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum
• Next Generation Products
• Philip Morris International
• Lobbying Decision Makers

TCRG Research

Robertson, A. Joshi, T. Legg T, et al., Exploring the Twitter activity around the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Tobacco Control Published Online First: 11 November 2020, doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-055889

Stopping Tobacco Organizations and Products, Tweetable Influence: The Tobacco Industry’s Attempt to Engage in COP8, STOP blog, 12 November 2020, available from: exposetobacco.org

References

The post Factasia appeared first on TobaccoTactics.

Background

I-Com was founded in 2005 by, what it describes as, a collection of “scholars, professionals and managers” with the objective “to promote debates and analyses on competitiveness concerning innovation, in the Italian, European and international politico-economic contexts”.⁶⁵ The think tank focuses on areas such as digitalisation, energy, innovation, health and institutions.⁶⁵

Relationship with the Tobacco Industry

As of 14 October 2020, I-Com listed British American Tobacco’s (BAT) EU Office as a partner on its website. On 14 October, other partners included Amazon, European Energy Retailers, Enel, Google, Huawei, Johnson and Johnson, MSD, and Qualcomm.⁶⁶

As of 3 November 2020, BAT was no longer listed as a partner.⁶⁷

The think tank began publishing content on tobacco and harm reduction after World No Tobacco Day on 31 May 2020. I-Com joined the European Commission’s public consultation on ‘Europe’s Beating Cancer Action Plan’ with the intention of “[contributing] to the EU decision-making process towards the adoption of the European Cancer Plan”.⁶⁸ The public consultation provided an opportunity for citizens, researchers, policy-makers and other stakeholders to input opinions on best practices for addressing cancer.⁶⁸

In May 2020, I-Com published an article outlining its contribution to the public consultation. In regard to harm reduction, the article states:⁶⁸

• “a harm reduction strategy for smokers should be defined, including the use of alternative nicotine delivery products such as e-cigs. Regulation needs to balance risks and benefits with the aim of reducing smoking through the supply of behavioural support and evaluating the impact through constant monitoring”
• “a successful cancer plan must be committed to risk reduction and improving daily assistance through continued efforts to decrease smoking rates by preventing the uptake of smoking and promoting cessation through harm reduction plans”

In July 2020, I-Com published a factsheet titled “Cancer Prevention: Better Lifestyle Policies – A Priority for the European Union”.⁶⁹⁷⁰ The think tank called for public authorities to promote and “encourage harm reduction strategies”.⁶⁹⁷⁰ The factsheet provided an analysis of stakeholder submissions to the public consultation on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. It revealed that “nearly 20% of contributions supported the definition of harm reduction plans for alcohol and tobacco” and “one in every six recommended policies which encourage the use of reduced risk nicotine products by smokers, such as e-cigarettes”.⁶⁹

In September 2020, I-Com organised a roundtable discussion on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan involving MEPs. The open platform brought together 50 participants to discuss how the European Parliament can play a role in contributing to the Beating Cancer Plan and best practices for cancer prevention. Speakers at the roundtable included Clive Bates, former Director of ASH, and Konstantinos Poulas, professor at the University of Patras.⁷¹⁷²

Following the roundtable, the think tank recommended “increasing the availability of smokeless tobacco products” as a means of minimising harms.⁷¹⁷²

People

• Stefano Da Empoli – President and Principal Policy Analyst⁶⁵
• Mattia Ceracchi – Head of EU Affairs⁶⁵
• Eleonora Mazzoni, Head of Innovation Area ⁶⁵

Use of Think Tanks by the Tobacco Industry

The tobacco industry has a history of collaborating with think tanks around the world, to assist in indirect lobbying. These think tanks provide an echo-chamber for key messages from the industry. For more information on think-tanks and allies of the tobacco industry around the world, see Think tanks and Third party techniques.

Tobacco Tactics Resources

• British American Tobacco
• Think Tanks
• Third Party Techniques
• Harm reduction

References

The post Institute for Competitiveness (I-Com) appeared first on TobaccoTactics.

Consultancy

To recruit supposedly independent experts who are critical of tobacco control measures.
WHO Definitions of Tobacco Industry Tactics for resisting effective tobacco control, 2009.”

The tobacco industry has a history of using Think Tanks, scientists or other consultants to work on their behalf. Paying for research and for endorsement from medical doctors, for instance, as explored on the Influencing Science page, is also a form of hired help and third party techniques. Recent examples of hiring so-called independent experts include the industry’s use of this tactic to oppose the UK government’s policy on the Display Ban or on Plain Packaging.

• For a list of pages in this category, see Hiring Independent Experts
• See Third Party Techniques for more information on other similar industry tactics

Hiring Independent Experts
Third Party Techniques
Influencing Science
Think Tanks
Challenging Legislation

References

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Shane Frith is currently (2012) the Director of the Brussels-based think tank New Direction. Its slogan is: “Promoting free enterprise, small government, individual freedom and a new direction for Europe.”

New Direction — The Foundation for European Reform is a free market, euro-realist think-tank established in 2010 in Brussels and the UK affiliated to the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists.

At the Mission page of the organisation’s website, Frith poses with a very frail-looking Margaret Thatcher; the posting is dated March 2012⁷³
Frith was one of the founders of the libertarian think-tank Progressive Vision, with Mark Littlewood, who has since moved on to become Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs.⁷⁴ However, according to Companies House, in June 2012 Progressive Vision was still registered at Littlewood’s home address while both were still listed as its directors.⁷⁵
Frith is also the founder and a director of the Doctors’ Alliance and serves on the advisory board of Nurses for Reform.⁷⁶ He was the Managing Director of the Stockholm Network until 2007, calling itself “the leading pan-European think tank and market oriented network.”⁷⁷ He then moved on to “take forward the Doctors’ Alliance as an independent initiative”.⁷⁸ He talks about his views on alternatives to government-run healthcare in this presentation at the University of Oxford in 2009, with Helen Evans of Nurses for Reform.
He has worked for a number of London based think tanks, including Reform, Open Europe
and the Centre for Policy Studies. Frith has also been a parliamentary candidate for the New Zealand National Party – the Conservative Party – and held a number of positions within the party in the 1990s.⁷⁹

Pro-Smoking Activities

Frith spoke at the second Freedom Zone event hosted by Forest and The Free Society on the fringe of the Conservative Party Conference in 2009. The event, co-hosted by The Free Society and The Freedom Association, was entitled “Politics and Prohibition: will a Conservative government challenge the bully state?” Other speakers included:

• Roger Helmer MEP, chairman of The Freedom Association
• Brian Monteith, former Forest spokesman (and MSP) and author of The Bully State: The End of Tolerance

According to Simon Clark from Forest who chaired the event: “It was a little unbalanced because the speakers (and the chairman!) were united in their view that something has to be done to roll back the bully state in areas such as smoking, drinking and driving, but it was a useful exercise nonetheless.” ⁸⁰

References

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