Nigel Farage’s group campaigning towards the World Well being Group (WHO) is staffed by consultants who work with the nicotine merchandise trade, the Guardian can reveal.
Farage is the chair and a co-founder of Motion on World Well being, which campaigns to reform or exchange the WHO, arguing that it shouldn’t be placing strain on governments to herald public well being measures.
The opposite co-founder is David Roach, whose agency supplies secretariat providers to the World Initiative on Novel Nicotine, which advocates for nicotine pouches and different merchandise. Roach’s agency has additionally lobbied prior to now yr on behalf of a vaping firm known as ANDS.
Within the Motion on World Well being “manifesto”, launched earlier than the UK election, it opposed “extreme regulation” on vaping. It mentioned: “Adults needs to be handled like adults, as a substitute of the WHO bullying international locations into treating its residents like youngsters by way of extreme rules on meals, alcohol, fizzy drinks, and vaping merchandise which might be 95% much less dangerous than smoking.”
Farage launched the group in Could, and his position on the organisation doesn’t seem on the MPs’ register of pursuits. It’s understood Farage has made a late declaration to the register in latest weeks, but it surely has not but appeared publicly.
His spokesperson had no touch upon the group’s hyperlinks to consultants working with the novel nicotine trade, which have been uncovered collectively with the Good Regulation Venture.
The spokesperson mentioned: “Nigel Farage just isn’t paid in his position at Motion on World Well being. He’s chairman of the organisation as a result of he has lengthy believed that the WHO is bloated, undemocratic and an entire disaster.”
Roach is the marketing campaign director of Motion on World Well being, and two extra of his workers members from his firm, David Roach Consulting, are listed as working for the organisation.
Requested about his purchasers, Roach mentioned no vaping or novel nicotine corporations have been offering funding to Motion on World Well being, and that David Roach Consulting was not being paid for its providers to the organisation. He mentioned Motion on World Well being didn’t have a public listing of funders as a result of that may breach confidentiality.
Requested whether or not it needs to be transparently declared by Motion on World Well being that David Roach Consulting was collaborating in a marketing campaign towards the WHO whereas having had purchasers within the vaping and nicotine trade, Roach mentioned: “We don’t presently work with any vaping corporations, however I think about most novel nicotine corporations would assist AWH’s goals to reform or exchange the WHO given its misguided strategy to reduced-risk merchandise.”
He added: “Motion on World Well being (AWH) is a global marketing campaign group dedicated to reform all points of WHO actions. Well being insurance policies which infringe on nationwide sovereignty needs to be underneath the management of nation states, not unelected world our bodies. It shouldn’t dictate or put strain on governments to implement public well being measures which intervene with home insurance policies; and reasonably than pushing for one-size-fits-all treaties and mandates, the WHO ought to as a substitute be mandated to advise and facilitate worldwide cooperation.
“We’d like an entire evaluation of the WHO with a give attention to taking again management of nationwide public well being in areas the place it frequently overreaches.”
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Jo Maugham, the director of the Good Regulation Venture, mentioned marketing campaign teams with out transparency round their funding needs to be handled with scepticism about who was financing them. He mentioned “social media influencers promoting toasters” needed to declare any hidden funders, so “the regulation actually ought to deal with the sale of political concepts in the identical means”.
The WHO has accused Motion on World Well being of spreading misinformation about its worldwide treaty designed to enhance world pandemic preparedness.
WHO member states are negotiating a deal to shore up cooperation towards new pathogens. If adopted, the legally binding treaty would commit international locations to serving to one another within the occasion of a pandemic, enhance analysis and sharing of knowledge, and promote honest entry to vaccines.
Responding to Motion on World Well being’s claims, a spokesperson mentioned a draft of the treaty reaffirmed “the precept of sovereignty” of member states.
“Claims that the draft settlement will cede sovereignty to WHO and can give the WHO secretariat energy to impose lockdowns or vaccine mandates on international locations are false and have by no means been requested nor proposed,” they mentioned. “This settlement is not going to, and can’t, grant sovereignty to WHO.”
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