Two big UK tobacco companies have failed to persuade the high court to strike out a case against them that alleges they are responsible for the exploitation of Malawian farming families and child labour in their drive for profits.

According to the World Health Organization ( WHO ), tobacco kills nearly six million people a year, including more than 600,000 non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke.

Increasingly, international health bodies frame public health measures, including tobacco control, in the context of human rights (HR). It is unclear how prevalent is the connection between human rights and tobacco control within global health governance. This paper describes the inclusion of HR in tobacco control governance, and the inclusion of tobacco control in HR treaty oversight. We depict the current reach of HR’s normative influence in framing the tobacco epidemic in global, regional, and country-specific contexts.

In Africa, tobacco farmers can become entangled in a cycle of debt and poverty amounting to slavery. Tobacco companies control the entire process—from granting loans for fertilizer and seeds to setting the price the farmer is paid at harvest. Because farmers don’t earn enough to employ workers, or even to afford gear to protect against sharp tools and chemicals, they often pull children from school to perform the dangerous work of tobacco farming.

By making legal threats and lobbying politicians, the tobacco industry worked to undermine a radical new bill to create a “smoke free” generation, documents show.

The tobacco industry has a long history of manipulating science to conceal the harms of its products. As part of its proclaimed transformation, the world’s largest tobacco company, Philip Morris International (PMI), states it conducts “transparent science.” This paper uses recently leaked documents from PMI and its Japanese affiliate, Philip Morris Japan (PMJ), to examine its contemporary scientific practices.