FSFW Launches New Initiative
The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World has launched ‘the Smoke-Free Index®’, in conjunction with two new partners.
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by Dave Cross
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The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World is an independent organisation with “the purpose of improving global health by ending smoking in this generation.”
The Foundation supports its mission through three core pillars:
- Health, Science and Technology
- The Agriculture Transformation Initiative
- Industry Transformation
The FSFW says its “Health, Science, and Technology work complements on-going tobacco control efforts and focuses on countries where most smokers live, a smoker-oriented agenda to accelerate quitting and switching to reduced-harm products.”
“The Agricultural Transformation Initiative aims to diversify tobacco-dependent economies, and the Foundation’s Industry Transformation efforts focus on attaining change within the entire global tobacco industry and nicotine ecosystem.”
Critics object to the fact that the FSFW received millions of dollars from the Philip Morris International tobacco company. The Foundation states: “The Foundation has, constituted in its bylaws, an independent research agenda, independent governance, ownership of its data, freedom to publish, and protection against conflict of interest. Furthermore, strict rules of engagement will be put into place to ensure any interactions with the tobacco industry are fully transparent and publicly reported.”
Announcing the creation of the Smoke-Free Index®, to be published in June 2020, FSFW said: “The Smoke-Free Index® will annually evaluate 15 of the largest tobacco companies in the world, along with their actions in 35 countries. The purpose of the Index is to provide quantifiable evidence over time of what steps the companies are taking toward achieving a smoke-free world and any actions they take to undermine that progress.”
FSFW’s president, Derek Yach, said: “The tobacco industry must change its practices. The Smoke-Free Index® will provide the much-needed assessment of the industry’s progress – or lack thereof – to end the production of combustible cigarettes.”
“Euromonitor International and SustainAbility are among the most respected independent research firms in the world and we are confident they will produce an invaluable tool that will help stimulate effective industry transformation.”
Euromonitor International is the world’s leading provider for global business intelligence and strategic market analysis. We have more than 40 years of experience publishing international market reports, business reference books and online databases on consumer markets.
SustainAbility, an ERM company, is a hybrid think tank and strategy consultancy that for over thirty years has worked with companies to address all aspects of corporate sustainability strategy to help inspire and enable business to lead the way to a more sustainable economy.
The Foundation says the index is the first action of the Industry Transformation initiative: “Euromonitor International and SustainAbility will collaborate on developing the Index through a work process that includes research, global stakeholder engagement, index development, data analysis, and independent oversight. Their progress will be communicated at critical milestones leading up to the release of the initial Smoke-Free Index® in June 2020.”
Resources:
- The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World - https://www.smokefreeworld.org
- Euromonitor International - http://www.euromonitor.com/
- SustainAbility - https://sustainability.com/
- Derek Yach writes to the WHO - https://www.planetofthevapes.co.uk/news/vaping-news/2019-01-25_foundation-writes-to-who.html
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.
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