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ASH has today made a formal complaint about theviolation of agreements governing tobacco sponsorship of sporting events. British AmericanTobacco is using the World Cup Cricket tournament to market one of their cigarette brandsto children in the Third World, through the Wills sponsorship of the Indian Cricket Team.The Wills logo is clearly visible on the shirts of the Indian team, and child-size replicaT-shirts are available internationally (1). On the eve of the big match between Englandand India at Edgbaston, and in advance of World No Tobacco Day on Monday (2), ASH iscalling for World Cup Cricket '99 to go tobacco free.

ASH is concerned that the use of the Wills logoon the shirts of the Indian team will encourage more children in India to smoke. A studyof Indian children published in the BMJ in 1996, concluded that cricket sponsorship bytobacco companies increased children's likelihood of experimentation with tobacco(3).

ASH believes that the Wills sponsorshipcontravenes two voluntary agreements between the Government and the tobacco industry,which govern the conduct of the industry (4). We have today written to COMATAS, thecommittee which monitors both agreements, to lodge an official complaint (5).

The marketing of child-size T-shirts displayingthe logo of a BAT brand also contradicts assurances given to an ASH campaigner by BATChairman Martin Broughton at BAT's recent AGM (6). Clive Bates, Director of ASH, haswritten to BAT asking how BAT's promotion of the Wills brand on children'scricket shirts equates with BAT's new desire to be seen as a "responsiblecompany in a controversial industry" (7).

ASH is also arguing that the organisers of theCricket World Cup 1999, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), should take steps tomake the event totally tobacco-free, following the examples set by the Soccer World Cupand the Olympics. We are calling on the ECB to request that the Indian team cover up theWills logos on their shirts.

Health campaigners in India have called for theWills sponsorship of the Indian team to be stopped. Earlier this month, the VoluntaryHealth Association of India filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Delhi High Court,seeking that the Wills sponsorship contract with the Indian Cricket Team is cancelled (8).

Emma Must, International Campaign Manager at ASH, commented:

"With World No Tobacco Day coming up on Monday, the England and Wales CricketBoard should seize this opportunity to make the rest of the World Cup tobacco free. Theyshould ask the Indian team to remove the Wills logos from their shirts. Indian childrenmust not become victims of the British tobacco industry ".

Taposh Roy of the Voluntary Health Association of India, said:

"The Wills sponsorship has to be stopped. It is not popularising cricket inIndia, but hooking young people to the deadly smoking habit. The playing fields of Indiamust not be turned into mass graves where children lie buried. It is this realisationwhich has to seep into the Board of Cricket Control in India who have been acceptingtobacco sponsorships."

Notes:

(1) Official World Cup Cricket replica shirtsin the Indian Team colours, displaying the Wills logo, are available in child sizes fromthe MCC shop at Lords, in high street sports shops and by international mail order fromthe official Cricket World Cup website (www.lords.org/worldcup/merchandise).

(2) World No Tobacco Day is organised annuallyon the 31^st May by the World Health Organisation to generate public awarenessof the dangers of smoking and stimulate action.

(3) 'Effects of sports sponsorship bytobacco companies on children's experimentation with tobacco', S. G Vaidya, U DNaik, and J S Vaidya, BMJ 313, 17 August 1996.

(4) The Fourth Agreement on Sponsorship ofSport by Tobacco Companies in the UK (1995) and the Voluntary Agreement on TobaccoProduct's Advertising and Promotion (1994).

(5) COMATAS is the Committee for MonitoringAgreements on Tobacco Advertising and Sponsorship. It is composed of representatives fromthe Government departments concerned (ie Culture, Media and Sport, and Health) and thetobacco industry in equal numbers.

(6) When asked at BAT's AGM on 29April about the marketing of child-size t-shirts bearing BAT brand logos in Vietnam,Broughton replied that "there is no company policy to target children". He addedthat a specific T-shirt referred to was "probably a counterfeit".

(7) See website of BAT subsidiary Brown andWilliamson (www.bw.com).

(8) The Voluntary Health Association of India(VHAI) Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Delhi High Court on 13 May 1999.According to VHAI, the litigation "seeks to enforce article 21 of the Constitution ofIndia and prevent irreparable harm being caused to the lives of millions of cricket lovingIndian children and youth from cigarette smoking as a result of cigarette advertising andcricket sponsorships". The next hearing has been fixed for 23^rd July 1999.

ENDS

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