"The pressure group Culture Unstained submitted a freedom of information request earlier this year, which it says revealed correspondence sent in January in which the government raised questions about the details of the deal. The Times reports that the the Department of Health and Social Care told the Department for Culture, Media and Sport that the deal could be a breach of the World Health Organization's framework convention on tobacco control (FCTC)."
"Critics of the deal have welcomed the move, which has been called for since 2016 when 1,000 experts signed an open letter to the British Museum and the Royal Academy over what they called the morally unacceptable sponsorship by JTI. Dr Allen Gallagher, the co-director of the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath, said such agreements enable a deadly industry to use UK cultural institutions as a way to try and improve its public image."
The British Museum chose not to renew a 15-year sponsorship with Japan Tobacco International, ending the partnership in September. A freedom of information request revealed government correspondence that raised questions about the deal's details. A government department informed another that the arrangement could breach the World Health Organization's framework convention on tobacco control, which bars states from advertising and promoting smoking products. JTI's name was removed after a Tobacco Control Research Group report linked the sponsorship to the firm's lobbying strategy. JTI continues to sponsor the Royal Academy of Arts and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Critics who called the sponsorship morally unacceptable welcomed the end.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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