Bassi Shalini, Chopra Mansi, Chugh Aastha, Das Shivangi, Bhojani Upendra, Nazar Gaurang P, Amin Adhip, Dutta Jhumki, Lal Pranay, Gupta P C, Arora Monika
HRIDAY, New Delhi, India.
Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru, India.
Tob Use Insights. 2024 Sep 12;17:1179173X241271543. doi: 10.1177/1179173X241271543. eCollection 2024.
The tobacco industry intends to ensure continuing marketing of tobacco products by influencing and interfering in tobacco control policies. This paper assessed trends of tobacco industry interference (TII), the level of implementation, and the government's response to enforcing Article 5.3 guidelines in India to safeguard tobacco control efforts from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.
We conducted a descriptive comparative analysis of four consecutive India TII Indexes (January 2018-December 2021) based on the seven key 5.3 recommendations and twenty indicators to capture (i) the Level of Industry Participation, (ii) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Activities, (iii) Benefits to the Tobacco Industry, (iv) Forms of Unnecessary Interactions, (v) Transparency, (vi) Conflict of Interest, and (vii) Preventive Measures. The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance's (SEATCA) TII Index was used to undertake this assessment.
The comparative analysis showed that the overall score of the India TII Indexes over the years decreased from 72 (2018) to 57 (2021). Improvements were shown over the years in adherence to Article 5.3 for limiting unnecessary interactions with the tobacco industry, avoiding conflicts of interest, and having preventive measures. However, major gaps were observed in restricting industry participation, regulating their so-called CSR, providing benefits to the industry in the form of incentives, exemptions, and maintaining transparency.
The study provides the status of implementing Article 5.3 and its guidelines in India. Given the gaps in the existing measures, India needs to comprehensively adopt Article 5.3 guidelinesin all states and union territories adopting whole-of-government approach. There is an urgent need to establish an observatory for periodic compilation of the TII indexes to monitor the tobacco industry and report violations at the national and sub-national levels.
烟草行业试图通过影响和干预烟草控制政策来确保烟草产品的持续营销。本文评估了烟草行业干预（TII）的趋势、实施水平，以及印度政府在执行第5.3条准则方面的应对措施，以保护烟草控制工作免受烟草行业的商业利益和其他既得利益的影响。
我们基于7项关键的第5.3条建议和20项指标，对印度连续四个TII指数（2018年1月至2021年12月）进行了描述性比较分析，以衡量（i）行业参与程度，（ii）企业社会责任（CSR）活动，（iii）对烟草行业的益处，（iv）不必要互动的形式，（v）透明度，（vi）利益冲突，以及（vii）预防措施。本评估采用了东南亚烟草控制联盟（SEATCA）的TII指数。
比较分析表明，多年来印度TII指数的总体得分从2018年的72分降至2021年的57分。在遵守第5.3条以限制与烟草行业的不必要互动、避免利益冲突和采取预防措施方面，多年来有所改善。然而，在限制行业参与、规范其所谓的企业社会责任、以激励、豁免等形式给予行业利益以及保持透明度方面，仍存在重大差距。
该研究提供了印度实施第5.3条及其准则的现状。鉴于现有措施存在差距，印度需要在所有邦和联邦属地全面采用第5.3条准则，采取政府整体应对的方式。迫切需要建立一个观察站，定期编制TII指数，以监测烟草行业，并在国家和次国家层面报告违规行为。
