Groups Reveal Report on Bloomberg’s Meddling in PH
The Manila Bulletin cites Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on Bloomberg’s anti-tobacco meddling:
The Nicotine Consumers Union of the Philippines (NCUP) and the Philippine E-cigarette Industry Association (PECIA) said the revelation made by U.S. think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) about the intrusion by Bloomberg Philanthropies in the Philippines and other countries should serve as a wake-up call to the government.
Documents leaked to CEI described how Bloomberg’s Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) influenced anti-tobacco policies around the world. In a blog titled “Exposed: Bloomberg’s Anti-Tobacco Meddling in Developing Countries” and posted on the website of CEI, Michelle Minton disclosed the content of the 128-page document of CTFK 2017 strategy for LMICs. CTFK is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charity of financial billionaire Michael Bloomberg.
Minton said the leaked internal communications from CTFK “show the true extent of its influence, which reaches throughout all levels of civil society, media and even government, and appears aimed at imposing its will on the developing world, regardless of the needs and interests of the people who live there. Worse, it often provides funding to foreign government entities, seemingly without much regard for those governments’ level of respect for liberal values and democratic governance,” Minton said.
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“The strategy may be effective for manipulating LMICs into adopting the tobacco policies Bloomberg and CTFK favor, but it may also be perpetuating or exacerbating the legacy of colonialism in the developing world,” said Minton.