Geneva — Bowing to public pressure, on Thursday the UN’s labour body agreed to stop accepting funding from tobacco companies, a decision that has cut the last remaining ties between the world body and the industry. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) said it would adhere to a June resolution passed by the UN Economic and Social Council "preventing tobacco industry interference". The ILO’s governing body "agreed that no new funding shall be accepted by the ILO from the tobacco industry and that existing public-private partnerships with the tobacco industry will not be prolonged beyond their expiry dates." In October, nearly 200 organisations and individuals from around the world warned the ILO that its reputation was being tarnished by its continuing partnership with tobacco. The ILO had justified its ties to the tobacco companies as a way of helping improve the working conditions of about 60-million people involved in tobacco leaf growing and production worldwide. The agency...
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