World no Tobacco Day 2013: a former employee of the industry reveals manufacturer’s secrets of tobacco products

Undoubtedly, this is the most telling testimony of press luncheon organized by the Cameroon Coalition against Tobacco (C3T), as a prelude to the celebration on May 31, 2013, of the 25th World No Tobacco Day (WNTD).

This former employee of the British American Tobacco, who participated in the manufacture of cigarettes, confirms the presence of formalin in the composition of this poison. With his former taster status, he seems to know what he’s talking about, having served as a guinea pig for the industry to ensure its products’ effects on consumers.

Discussions during the press luncheon were punctuated by such testimonies, either from former smokers, or victims of passive smoking. Similarly, the contributions of experts from ministries of health, trade, higher education, as well as leaders of civil society, have permitted to bring an answer to the journalists’ preoccupations. The press luncheon which held on Tuesday, May 28, 2013 at the House of Solidarity in Yaounde, constituted for C3T a platform for information and exchanges on tobacco control in Cameroon. It was also a question of sensitizing opinion leaders such as the media, on their role as potential vectors of illegal advertising of the tobacco industry, in relation with the theme of WNTD 2013.