FORMER Agriculture secretary Leonardo Montemayor warned that participation of nongovernment organizations in the Ninth Conference of Parties (COP 9) of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) could possibly exert influence in the tobacco regulation policies of low and middle-income countries.

Montemayor, the board chairman of the Federation of Free Farmers, said that there could be some organizations with 'vested interest' that will throw their weight around on the WHO to shape tobacco regulation policies.