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Big Tobacco promotes e-cigarettes, undermines health protections through U.S. business groups worldwide · U.S. Right to Know articles

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  Big li>Tobacco
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  promotes e-cigarettes, undermines health protections through US business groups worldwide. Key
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  findings Tobacco companies belong to U.S. Chamber of Commerce affiliates in 80
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  countries. Industry executives hold leadership or advisory roles in about 27
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  of chapters. Philip Morris International and British American tobacco
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  dominated Amcham leadership roles globally. Tobacco companies remain embedded in influential
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  US business groups worldwide, giving the industry a
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  discrete and powerful channel to weaken regulation and undermine public health, a
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  new study finds. For decades, tobacco companies
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  have used business groups and front organizations to oppose anti-smoking restrictions. A
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  study published last month, May 2026, in tobacco Control suggests the industry's
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  Chamber memberships abroad are more important than ever. They give big tobacco
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  a forceful way to push back on taxes, price measures, and regulations.
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  The also help the industry promote newer nicotine products at a time
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  when governments are grappling with how to legislate them amid mounting health
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  concerns. Tobacco companies belong to 80 chapters of the American Nature of
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  Cosmers worldwide, the study shows. In about one quarter of chapters with
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  tobacco members, industry executives hold leadership or advisory roles. Nearly
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  sixty percent of chamber chapters with tobacco members took at least one
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  documented, aligned with tobacco industry interests, from 2010 to 2025. It's
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  an ally of the tobacco industry, said study coauthor Maria Sunta, who
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  directs Global Research and Advocacy at the Global Center for Good Governance
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  in tobacco Control, GGTC. That alliance has important public health consequences.
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  Higher tobacco taxes, warning labels, and nicotine product restrictions are
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  among the most effective anti-smoking tools. When those policies are weakened or
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  delayed, preventable disease and death can follow. Tobacco kills more than seven
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  million people each year them
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  tobacco industry's influence in a country undermines public health protections, weakens laws,
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  and leaves vulnerable populations exploited with cheaper recreational addictive products, including
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  cigarettes or vaping devices, the researchers wrote. Through strategic engagement with trade
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  and business networks, the
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  industry is able to delay, weaken, or derail regulatory reforms designed to
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  reduce tobacco consumption and
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  protect populations from harm. The researchers say AmCham influence has been documented
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  in more than 60 countries.
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  over the past 15 years. They warn, public officials must be on
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  alert and monitor Amcham activities related to tobacco in these countries. Researchers
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  track tobacco industry ties worldwide. The US Chamber of Commerce is the
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  country's largest business federation, representing more than 3 million businesses and associations.
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  Through American Chambers of Commerce, AMCAMS, its global network reaches nearly 200
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  countries. Amchams are independent business associations in most countries affiliated with
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  or endorsed by the US Chamber. The advocate for companies
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  trade, and
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  investment, while enjoying significant access to governments and global forums. In fact,
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  the Chamber convened forty ambassadors, twenty eight heads of state, and eighty
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  minister level engagements across five hundred meetings last year alone. We inform
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  our members with timely policy analysis and legal advice, connect they with
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  leaders in business and government, through world-class events and intimate gatherings, and
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  equip them with tools and resources to help the some succeed. Its
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  website reads, the chapter did not respond to a request for comment.
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  A pattern of dismantling anti smoking protections, Article 5.3 of the World
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  Health Organization's Tobacco Control Treat requires ratifying countries to protect public health
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  policy from tobacco industry interference. The US has not ratified the
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  treaty. The study builds on evidence that business groups and third parties
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  helped the tobacco industry
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  oppose public health, measures. A landmark 2015 report found the US Chamber
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  and AMCAM affiliates intervened in tobacco control debates in more than a
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  dozen countries. That report, along with a
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  New York Times investigation, document efforts to fight graphic health warnings, tobacco
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  taxes, plain packaging, and advertising restrictions. Other reports have documented tactics.
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  The new study goes further by mapping AMCHAM activity across all world
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  health organizations. Member States using evidence through 2025. Researchers reviewed chapter
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  websites, publications, social media, policy submissions, and industry monitoring databases. Dr.
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  Britta Manas, a research fellow with the
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  Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath, said it provides
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  the most systematic and up-to-date picture yet of tobacco companies engagement with
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  Amcham networks. That is valuable because it moves the discussion beyond individual
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  examples and helps show the scale and persistence of these concerns, she
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  said. Tobacco companies push beyond cigarettes. They U.S. Chamber
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  of Commerce defends cigarettes and the tobacco industry's interests, agrees Stanton Glantz,
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  founding director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and equation.
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  The difference now is that the industry is promoting e-cigarettes, heated tobacco
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  devices, and oral nicotine pouches. It also uses sustainability messaging to recast
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  itself as
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  part of the solution. That can sow confusion, especially as young people
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  face mixed messages about newer nicotine products. The are continuing to play
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  their traditional role in fighting taxation and meaningful controls on illicit trade.
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  But the have also come important allies of the new marketing efforts,
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  Glantz said. Resisting tobacco taxes. AmCham chapters also
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  oppose tobacco tax increases or excise policies in at least six countries,
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  the study reports. In Poland, where PMI and BAT sit on Amcham's
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  advisory council, they chapter oppos amendments to proposed excise taxes. Those changes
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  affected e-cigarettes, heated tobacco devices, and e liquids. The
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  industry often argues that higher taxes fuel illicit trade, reduce revenue, and
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  hurt the economy, the researchers note. In fact, earlier this year, the
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  European Commission received a large wave of anonymous, pro industry arguments as
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  against a proposed tobacco tax increase. EU officials said the campaign was
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  likely coordinated to distort public feedback. This framing obscures the inherent conflict
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  of interest, as tobacco companies have a commercial incentive to oppose strong
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  taxation policies while simultaneously seeking influence over regulatory processes, the researchers
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  wrote. Promoting newer nicotine products In addition, AMCAM engagement
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  amplifies industry messaging that prioritizes profits over health, the study shows that
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  includes pitching e-cigarettes and heated tobacco devices as harm reduction and smoke
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  free products. Those activities have intensified, says Asunta, because the industry
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  now has a broader range of products to defend and promote. In
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  Slovakia, for instance, Amchams magazine published a feature titled A Smoke Free
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  Future for Slovakia. The piece centered on an interview with Philip Moris,
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  Slovakia's general manager. It presented the company's push to replace cigarettes with
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  heated tobacco products as a public health mission, despite emerging health risks.
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  One recent study found that e-cigarette use after quitting smoking may weaken
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  some benefits, including lower lung cancer risk and death. Another reported that
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  otherwise healthy young adults who regularly used e-cigarettes showed abnormal heart and
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  lung responses during exercise. These narratives often rely on the arguments that
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  nicotine, though addictive, is not the primary cause of smoking related diseases,
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  shifting the focus instead to combustion as the main source of harm.
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  The researchers wrote. Burnishing Tobacco Company's image Amcham
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  sponsors corporate social responsibility and community projects allow tobacco companies to portray
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  themselves as responsible citizens rather than producers of harmful and addictive products.
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  The study found that MSHA chapters in 15 countries promoted or partnered
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  with tobacco companies on community or environmental projects. They ranged from a
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  volunteer day at schools to a journalism awards program framed around sustainability
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  and rural development. Why indirect influence matters. You aren't talking
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  to Philip Morris, you're talking to the Chamber of Commerce. Stan Glance.
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  Access is a key part of the equation. A government official may
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  never meet directly with a tobacco industry representative. Instead, the chamber can
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  deliver industry-aligned messages while appearing to speak for the broader business community.
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  As Glance said, You aren't talking to Philip Morris. You're talking to
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  the Chamber of Commerce. People should be worried because when the tobacco
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  industry uses Amcham as its front to undermine and to do all
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  the things that it is actually not supposed to be doing, then
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  government officials are not freed up to act in the best interests
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  of public health, said Asunta. Researchers call for stronger tobacco lobbying safeguards.
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  The authors note several limitations. For instance, the analysis relied solely on
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  public records, so it may underestimate undisclosed tobacco industry ties. The researchers
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  urged governments to require disclosure of AMCAM affiliations, partnerships, and policy alignment
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  with tobacco companies. Cult called for stronger bans on tobacco and nicotine
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  advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and for a cessation first approach. Policymakers
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  and public health advocates can use this study to enhance transparency, limit
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  industry influence in trade bodies, and adopt stronger safeguards against conflicts of
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  interest in policymaking, they wrote. Reference Nyazi F,
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  Psi DK, Asunta M et al. Chambers of Secrets, How the U.S.
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  Chamber of Commerce Advances Tobacco Industry Agendas. Tobacco Control, Published Online May
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  4, 2026. Doi TIN.1136 slash TC259671 Photo.
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  Philip Morris Tobacco Company was the gold partner at the March 2026
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  Amsham Manufacturers Forum in Poland.