Multinational tobacco companies are working through developing countries to try to water down the worldwide tobacco treaty, AFP reported Feb. 9.

Critics charge that the companies are lobbying governments that have signed the treaty to push for adoption of the weakest health policies outlined in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. 

"The tobacco giants really fought the treaty's negotiation, and are now engaging in tactics all over the world in an attempt to interfere in the treaty's implementation," said Kathryn Mulvey of Corporate Accountability International. "We've seen time and time again that when the tobacco industry is involved in health policy we don't get strong health policy."

The treaty went into effect last February and has been ratified by 122 nations, but not the U.S.

Activists said that the tobacco industry has tried to influence tobacco policy in nations like Nigeria.