Bloomberg's Latest Move to Fight Big Tobacco Around the World
We’ve reported before on Bloomberg Philanthropies’ crusade against tobacco. Michael Bloomberg and his foundation have invested nearly $1 billion to fight a global public health problem that claims 6 million lives a year—and is on track to kill an estimated eight million people annually by the 2030s, mostly in developing countries.
Bloomberg Philanthropies has now stepped up that fight with the launch of Stopping Tobacco Organizations and Products (STOP), a new global watchdog that will monitor tobacco industry tactics and practices it deems harmful to public health.
This isn't the first time the foundation has launched an initiative to directly do battle with Big Tobacco. A few years ago, Bloomberg teamed up with the Gates Foundation to create the Anti-Tobacco Trade Litigation Fund to help low- and middle-income countries fend off international trade suits brought by tobacco companies. (The Gates Foundation has given around $200 million since 2008 for tobacco control.)
Given Big Tobacco’s huge budget to promote smoking, it's fortunate that two of the biggest titans of modern philanthropy have stepped up to limit its influence. But make no mistake: Mike Bloomberg is the field marshal in this global battle, following his core approach to philanthropy: throwing big money at big problems with clear solutions. No donor has come close to matching the energy or resources that the former New York City mayor has poured into the anti-tobacco effort. In fact, as we've pointed out, the field of philanthropists working on tobacco control is remarkably thin—given that smoking kills more people annually than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined