The Union was selected to co-lead a new global tobacco industry watchdog called STOP (Stopping Tobacco Organizations and Products) to crack down on industry interference particularly in low- and middle-income countries. STOP publishes investigative reports revealing the tobacco industry’s lobbying tactics and marketing strategies, and builds tools for countries to effectively counter tobacco industry schemes designed to get new users hooked on their deadly products.
With our combined expertise, the three STOP partners are empowered to track and share every tactic and every strategy of the tobacco industry. Armed with this information we will mobilise tobacco control experts on the ground, around the world to intervene.
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ total STOP investment of US$ 20 million over three years will be used to expand tobaccotactics.org, the Tobacco Atlas, and the Tobacco Interference Index, adding innovative big data and crowdsourcing methods along with detailed analyses of whistle-blower documents. STOP will also identify and target policy windows where timely interventions can produce significant impacts. A rapid response team will produce briefs, exposés of industry front groups, opinion pieces, and content for both earned and social media outreach that will aid local advocates globally. Grants will also be made to NGOs in developing countries to combat industry interference.
The Union, together with the University of Bath, UK, and the Global Centre for Good Governance in Tobacco Control, Thailand, are co-leading the project, in collaboration with sub-grantee, Vital Strategies.