Major tobacco companies have always had a reputation for being underhanded in the way they market harmful products toward gullible consumers. But they have outdone themselves in recent months as they put more and more time and money into marketing tobacco products in developing countries.

In order to ensure that they keep making a profit, companies such as Philip Morris International and British American Tobacco are spending billions of dollars on marketing campaigns in Asia and Africa.  They’re also challenging regulations on advertisements and health warning labels and the imposition of higher cigarette taxes. In one case, Philip Morris sued the government of Uruguay for excessive tobacco regulations after the country instituted a new law requiring health warnings to cover 80 percent of package designs.

All these actions come as a committee of public health officials from 171 countries around the world meet this week to plan a worldwide anti-smoking treaty. As tobacco companies see their potential for profits threatened, they continue to try to intimidate governments with lawsuits and intense lobbying.

This blatant attempt to exploit the world’s poorest people is reprehensible. It is one thing to market cigarettes in a country like the U.S., where the general population is well-informed of the risks associated with smoking. But in areas where education systems are often weak and underfunded and where health care programs may not be as comprehensive as they are elsewhere, targeting poor individuals is completely unethical.

Although corporations are obviously in the business of making a profit, that does not mean that companies should operate without a conscience. Attempting to increase sales is acceptable, but exploiting people is not. But because tobacco companies have the money and the right to fight restrictions that benefit the general public well being, it is doubtful that much will be done in the near future to stop them. Hopefully attempts to forge a global anti-smoking treaty succeed and unethical companies are forced to reconsider their priorities.