October 2011, The Netherlands - A Dutch documentary entitled “Minister of Tobacco” has recently been released detailing alleged links between the Netherlands Minister of Health, Edith Schippers, and the tobacco industry.

The documentary describes and provides evidence of Ministry of Health officials having made frequent contact with the tobacco industry. The Ministry declined an invitation to be interviewed regarding the topic.

Since October 2010, at which point Edith Schippers came into office, tobacco control initiatives in the Netherlands have been weakened or cancelled - including the reversal of the smoke-free law in small bars, funding cuts for media campaigns and the cancellation of reimbursement for stop-smoking medications.

The documentary was aired on 21 October in the Netherlands and is available at http://zembla.vara.nl/ (in Dutch only).

To see an English transcript of the Documentary, please click here