Michael Bloomberg: Difference between revisions

**The meeting was organized by Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, initiated by YPSA, DAM, ACD and AID Foundation and supported by CTFK, The UNION & Bloomberg Philanthropies.

**The workshop was addressed by the honorable Deputy Secretary (WHO) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOH&FW) Mr. Md. Rafiqul Islam Sarker, and Senior Assistant Secretary (WHO) Ms. Nasrin Mukti, Coordinator of National Tobacco Control Cell (NTCC) Dr. Iqbal Kabir from MOH&FW, Director-Grants of CFTFK Ms. Pamela Sumner Coffey, CEO of BCCP Mr. Mohammad Shahjahan, Technical Consultant of The Union Mr. Md. Akramul Islam, Program Officer of CFTFK Ms. Anu Khanal, Research Assistant Ms. Hema, Chief Executive of YPSA Md. Arifur Rahman, Chairman of PROGGA were addressing the opening session of the workshop. The workshop is participated by the representatives from different organizations from all over the country who are working on Smoke free issue. The organizations are: WBB Trust, ACLAB, AID, ACD, SCOPE, NATAB, Shimantik, RAAC/AID, YPSA and PROGGA

**The Union organized a Course on Management and Leadership from 11th to 18th January held in Bhubaneswar, Urissa, India with the assistance from Bloomberg Philanthropies. A total of 23 participants from Bangladesh and India have participated in the course. 8 participants from Bangladesh including 2 Deputy Secretaries to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Bangladesh and 6 from different NGOs participated in the course.

**The course contents were Policy of tobacco control, BI (Bloomberg Initiative) goals and resources, Smoke free policy, Leadership issues, FCTC, The role of The Union India Office in tobacco control...

**The two –day workshop today, on 12th November 2009 ended at YPSA-HRDC, organized by YPSA and PROGGA in cooperation with Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);" data-mce-style="background-color: #ffff00;">('''CTFK''')</span>, The Union and Bloomberg Initiatives.

*2009 Jul - [http://ypsa.org/2009/07/cftfk-bloomberg-and-union-representatives-visited-ypsa/ CFTFK, Bloomberg and Union Representatives visited YPSA]

**Ms. Pamela Sumner Coffey, Director, International Grants of Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);" data-mce-style="background-color: #ffff00;">('''CTFK''')</span> accompany with Ms. Kelly Larson, MPH from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Delhi office and Mr. Md. Akramul Islam, Technical Consultant from The UNION visited YPSA and reviewed YPSA project titled ‘ Promoting Smoke Free Local Government and Public Places in Chittagong Division’ on 21 July ’09 in YPSA head office.

**Mr.Nazmul Haider , Program Officer of YPSA recently participated in the Management and Leadership Training Course organized by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The UNION ) at Hyderabad , India from 30 March – 7 April 2009 . The course was supported by Bloomberg Initiative for Tobacco Control

*Meanwhile, supposed philanthropic savior and nicotine prohibitionist Michael Bloomberg, a financial backer of The Union, has also sought to influence tobacco control in India so much so that his charity has repeatedly been under investigation by Indian authorities.

**The Union and partners began collaborating with Indian Ministries of Health at the national and state levels in 2013 to support the formulation of an e-cigarette position.

*In 2020, The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), a Bloomberg  partner for ‘The Initiative to reduce tobacco use’, published its fourth position statement on e-cigarettes. In it, The Union called for a blanket ban on all electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and heated tobacco products (HTPs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

*This document presents 10 reasons why The Union’s proposal to impose a multi-continental ban on e-cigarettes and HTPs has the potential to cause significantly more harm than good.

*Global organisations such as the WHO, Bloomberg Philanthropies and The Union wield great influence in LMICs through sponsorship of healthcare programs and public initiatives. This influence manifests itself through top-down policymaking approaches, telling LMICs what is best for them. To put it bluntly, policies such as these inherently view the inhabitants of LMICs as second-class citizens. These are policy decisions that do not consider individuals, their rights, and their battle to quit or reduce and the difficulties involved. It is wrong to deny more than a billion tobacco users, most of those in LMICs, a voice and a choice. Consumers have the right to be heard.

*Keywords: The Union, Bloomberg, Bloomberg Initiative to reduce tobacco use, MPOWER, WHO,  

*“The FDA, an attached agency of the DOH which was tasked to prepare the implementing guidelines for the regulation of vapor products and HTPs, should have not approached and collected money from The Union and Bloomberg Philanthropies in the first place, because these organizations were known for advancing their own anti-vaping agenda globally,”  

*“It’s hard to believe that Bloomberg Philanthropies and its affiliated tobacco control organizations, The Union and the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);" data-mce-style="background-color: #ffff00;">('''CTFK''')</span>, didn’t realize that the grants being awarded to enforce tobacco bans in the Philippines (some with unsettlingly aggressive titles such as “Greater Teeth and Tools: Enforcing and Implementing the Tobacco Regulation Act”) could be used to add a further crackdown to the extrajudicial arrests, incarcerations and killings already taking place.”

*“But the truth is, Bloomberg and affiliates were quite aware of what they were doing. This was revealed in October 2020, during public talks hosted by the Philippine FDA (P-FDA) on the topic of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. Filipino citizens and stakeholders in attendance voiced concern that the P-FDA authorities charged with making decisions about nicotine policies had been awarded grants by the Bloomberg Initiative and The Union”

*As part of this initiative, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);" data-mce-style="background-color: #ffff00;">('''CTFK''')</span> provides legal, communications and research support to governments and non-governmental organizations around the world to assist in promoting, adopting and implementing tobacco control policies. Also as part of this initiative, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);" data-mce-style="background-color: #ffff00;">('''CTFK''')</span> works with the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease to provide grants to governments and non-governmental organizations in low- and middle-income countries to accelerate progress in tobacco control.

**International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease

*“It’s hard to believe that Bloomberg Philanthropies and its affiliated tobacco control organizations, The Union and the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);" data-mce-style="background-color: #ffff00;">('''CTFK''')</span> , didn’t realize that the grants being awarded to enforce tobacco bans in the Philippines (some with unsettlingly aggressive titles such as “Greater Teeth and Tools: Enforcing and Implementing the Tobacco Regulation Act”) could be used to add a further crackdown to the extrajudicial arrests, incarcerations and killings already taking place.”

*“But the truth is, Bloomberg and affiliates were quite aware of what they were doing. This was revealed in October 2020, during public talks hosted by the Philippine FDA (P-FDA) on the topic of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. Filipino citizens and stakeholders in attendance voiced concern that the P-FDA authorities charged with making decisions about nicotine policies had been awarded grants by the Bloomberg Initiative and The Union”