TobaccoUnmasked

Welcome to TobaccoUnmasked

TobaccoUnmasked is the information portal of the Centre for Combating Tobacco (CCT). It contains evidence based information on the tobacco industry, with detailed profiles of tobacco companies relevant to Sri Lanka and their employees. The pages of this website also contain profiles of tobacco industry allies; institutions and individuals linked with the industry in various ways.

TobaccoUnmasked describes strategies adopted by the tobacco industry in the themes of influencing policy, tobacco tax & price related issues, corporate social investments, tobacco cultivation and marketing and promotion. Tobacco industry arguments and their responses against different policy processes are reported as a learning exercise for future reference.

How to Find Information on TobaccoUnmasked

There are several ways in which you can find information on TobaccoUnmasked:

You can search for a specific topic in the Search Bar on the top of the screen. To search, type the topic you want to find the information into the box, and press 'Enter'.
If its a recent issue, you can go through the list of most recent pages in the ‘What’s New section’ which will display new entries or major updates to the existing pages.
Or, you can search through the ‘Key Topics’ section that categorizes the pages based on the themes the investigations were conducted.
Searching for an individual? Click the relevant category below for an easy search:

Disclaimer:The individual profiles are published only to facilitate implementation of FCTC Article 5.3. It is not the intention of the TobaccoUnmasked team to tarnish the individuals' image nor to cause them harm. The list of individuals under each category is not complete and only based on the findings of the ongoing investigative research of the TobaccoUnmasked team. The posts and the lists are constantly updated with new findings.

What’s New on TobaccoUnmasked?

20th April 2026 - We published another Background page on E-cigarettes, explaining the legal status of Use of E - cigarettes as a Medical Intervention in Sri Lanka. Please visit the page and be aware about the e-cigarette related legislations in Sri Lanka.
10th April 2026 - Today we added two more to our collection of profiles of Tobacco Industry Directors and Employees - Gary Tarrant and Towhid Akbar.
04th April 2026 - Noel Somasundaram is a Consultant Endocrinologist in Sri Lanka. Since 2020, he has been involved in several research and publications that promote the tobacco related harm reduction narrative, which is commonly used by the tobacco industry. Read more in our newest page
28th March 2026 - How Different Budget Proposals Captured Tobacco Taxation in Sri Lanka is our latest page summarising the political commitment in implementing the FCTC Article 6: Price and Tax Measures to Reduce the Demand of Tobacco in Sri Lanka.
27th March 2026 - The Sri GAGs – TSG Advertising is a social media-based advertising agency based in Colombo. They published Facebook posts quoting a report by “Smoke Free Sweden” criticising current Sri Lankan tobacco control efforts.
21st March 2026 - “Tale of Two Nations Vol 9 – A comparative study of how Sri Lanka and Sweden are faring in the fight against smoking” is a report published by the “Smoke free Sweden”, a campaign directly linked to tobacco industry. Read our newest page Debunking – “Tale of Two Nations Vol 9: A Comparative Study of how Sri Lanka and Sweden are Faring in the Fight Against Smoking” on the latest tobacco industry tactic to propagate its harm reduction approach in Sri Lanka.
28th February 2026 - Excise Department of Sri Lanka is the main state office that collect tax from tobacco and alcohol in Sri Lanka. Visit our newest page and read about tobacco industry tactics related to the duties and functions of the Excise Department of Sri Lanka.
27th February 2026 - We have updated our page Tobacco Industry Tactics to Evade Tax based on the new information we have found in investigating the topic. This is a Background page that summarises tactics tobacco companies use all over the world.
24th February 2026 - CCT is in a mission of compiling evidence on tobacco industry interference on tobacco taxation in Sri Lanka in the new millennium. Thus, we are revisiting some of our previous investigations to reclassify them under broad themes of tobacco industry tactics related to taxation. The first page on the series is Tobacco Industry Tactics to Evade Tax in Sri Lanka: Stockpiling Cigarettes. Learn more about the tactic stockpiling by visiting our newest page.
18th February 2026 - A programme publicised as “South Asia’s First Quit Like Sweden Anti-Tobacco Round Table” was held in Sri Lanka in November 2025 organised by an initiative named Quit Like Sweden (QLS). Read more details about the event and its organizers via our newest page Quit Like Sweden Programme in Sri Lanka.
7th February 2026 - Dilith Jayaweera is a Sri Lankan politician and was a Presidential candidate for the 2024 Presidential elections. Visit our newest profile in the Politicians category to be informed with more details.
30th January 2026 - ‘Wyawasayakaya’ (The Entrepreneur) Initiative is one of the Corporate Social Investments of the Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC). It was initiated in 2022 in partnership with the National Youth Services Council and the National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA), violating the Article 5.3 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) recommendation to reject partnerships with the tobacco industry.
28th January 2026 - Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya page is updated with information that newly emerged through our investigations. Visit the page to read newest details.
17th January 2026 - National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) is a government organisation under the administrative power of Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education. In 2022, NAITA initiated a project to provide industrial training for 250 apprentices, in partnership with Outreach Projects (Guarantee) Limited the Corporate Social Investment Subsidiary of Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC). Read more details in our newest page.

Key Topics

Click on the key topics below to access more information on tobacco industry and its activities in Sri Lanka. Interested in the definitions for each key topic to understand the reason for categorising the pages under them? Please visit our page Key Topics.

Background

Includes pages on global and national tobacco control laws and policies and tobacco industry tactics

Tobacco Industry

Includes pages directly related to the tobacco industry under following themes;

Tobacco Industry Activities

Includes pages on tobacco industry actions and strategies under following themes;

Tobacco Industry Arguments and Responses

Includes pages on responses and reactions of the tobacco industry under following themes;

Institutions Linked to the Tobacco Industry

Includes pages on institutions reported to date to have had any interactions with tobacco industry or their proxies under following themes;

Individuals associated with the Tobacco Industry

Includes pages on politicians, government officials, celebrities, academics, researchers, professionals and other public/popular figures to have had any interaction reported to date with tobacco industry under following categories;

Individuals and Institutions Interfering in Tobacco Control

Include pages on individuals and institutions that opposed or took action to delay tobacco control policies or actions or propagated the interests of the tobacco industry, however, with no proven link with the tobacco industry to date.

Partner Organizations

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About Us

CCT is the Sri Lankan tobacco observatory established at the Faculty of Medicine University of Colombo under the Article 5.3 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The aim of the CCT is to monitor the tobacco industry activities related to implementation of Article 5.3 in Sri Lanka and the region.

Our implementation partners include; Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) Sri Lanka, National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol(NATA) and the Expert Committee on Tobacco, Alcohol and Illicit Drugs of the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA).

The project was powered by Framework Convention on Tobacco Control(FCTC)Secretariat and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The UNION) and technical assistance was provided by the Tobacco Control Research Group, University of Bath and the Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California San Francisco.

Strict Referencing Policy

Information published in tobaccounmasked.lk adheres to a strict referencing policy. You can find the sources of information under the resources list at the end of each post. The posts developed by reporters are edited by the Editor and peer reviewed before publication.

Reproduction and Distribution of Published Material

You are free to copy and redistribute the material for non commerical use with appropriate credit to the CCT. Please acknowledge CCT as the copyright holder by stating: "This material is reproduced from tobaccounmasked.lk. Copyright, Centre for Combating Tobacco and used under permission of the Centre for Combating Tobacco. All rights reserved."

Suggested citation: Centre for Combating Tobacco, Faculty of Medicine University of Colombo. TobaccoUnmasked, 2017, Available at http://tobaccounmasked.lk/index.php?title=Main_Page, Accessed (date accessed).

Acknowledgments

TobaccoUnmasked follows the model of TobaccoTactics, introduced by Tobacco Control Research Group, University of Bath. CCT wishes to acknowledge the library of the Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) Sri Lanka for providing literature to develop TobaccoUnmasked posts.