Tobacco.org

DEBUSMANN: Mexico's Hypocritical Tobacco Laws vs. Allowed Drug Use 

Last month, the Mexican government adopted a law that decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. In doing so, Mexico became the latest of a string of countries to eliminate criminal penalties for the individual user, thereby shifting the emphasis from punishment to treatment. With this change in policy, Mexico joins Colombia, Argentina, Spain and Portugal, all of which have taken similar steps. . . .

Little attention, however, has been paid to the fact that as far as tobacco is concerned, the Mexican government is going in the opposite direction.

Over the last several years, the Mexican government has become increasingly harsh and restrictive in terms of anti-smoking regulations. In February 2008, the Mexican Senate approved a law that banned the smoking of tobacco in workplaces, as well as public buildings and transportation. Mexico City's legislature took it a step further, modifying a standing regulation which allowed for special smoking areas in bars and restaurants. The new law bans smoking completely. Additionally, new health warnings were added to packs of cigarettes and street vendors were banned from legally selling individual cigarettes - a common practice in a country of poor people. . . .

Both laws have been applauded by those who consider drug and tobacco usage to be public health problems. Like drugs, there is no denying that tobacco usage is a serious threat to public health in Mexico. Every year thousands of Mexicans die from diseases related to tobacco smoking. Reports indicate that children, sometimes as young as ten years old, smoke regularly. But while the new law concerning illegal narcotics highlights the recognition that enforcing regulations on personal consumption is nearly impossible, the recent regulations on tobacco use seem to ignore that fact.

Tobacco has a long history in Mexico. As Allan Wall wrote in MexiData.info in February 2008, tobacco was used by the Maya, and "an Aztec goddess known as Cihuacoahuatl was portrayed as having a body of tobacco." . . .

The Mexican government should review its policies of harm reduction to make sure that they are not causing further problems. Furthermore, the Mexican government must realistically look at its ability to enforce such far-reaching laws before it passes them.

Until the manner in which enforcement is handled is made clear, this law, like many past laws in Mexico, is nothing more than a license for corruption.

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• Mexico DF: Smoke-Free City Case Study (PDF) 

1.1.1 On 26 February 2008, the Legislative Assembly of Mexico DF (Federal District) passed a law Ð La Ley de Protecci—n a la Salud de los No Fumadores [Law for the Protection of the Health of Non-Smokers] Ð requiring all indoor workplaces and public places in the city to be smoke-free. On the same day, the Mexican Senate passed the federal General Law on Tobacco Control that also addresses exposure to second-hand smoke. However, the national law is not sufficiently protective as it allows indoor designated smoking areas.

1.2 The Study

1.2.1 This case study demonstrates how Mexico DF developed and implemented its smoke-free agenda, discusses the impact of its smoke-free law and identifies lessons learned. Information was gathered from interviews with key informants (listed in the Acknowledgments), as well as available studies and documentation. . . .

7.2 Success Factors

7.2.1 Political champions. The active role taken by key politicians and senior civil servants -- both Members of the DF Legislative Assembly and from the DF Ministry of Health -- in steering the law through the legislative process and engaging with a high-profile media debate was vital in achieving a comprehensive smoke-free law.

7.2.2 Strong, knowledgeable, and coordinated NGOs support. The presence of informed, influential and dedicated tobacco control advocates able to support the political process, lead campaigns and to be flexible and responsive to a rapidly changing policy environment was also an essential ingredient of success. Their willingness to work together combined with knowledge of the rationale for smoke-free laws and of good practice from elsewhere, as well as their links to key decision-makers, significantly boosted the prospects of a successful outcome.

7.2.3 Coordinated and well-funded communications efforts. The DF experience reinforced experience from elsewhere in the world of the value of having coherent campaigns to inform and reassure workplaces about the reasons for the law, what the law means for them, and how it will work in practice. At the same time, it highlighted the benefits of using promotional campaigns and the media to raise awareness of the dangers of exposure to second-hand smoke, counter opponents' arguments and mobilize support for comprehensive smoke-free legislation. Ensuring consistency in the primary messages, emphasizing the health rationale and explaining that the law was not anti- smoker were key.

7.2.4 Adequate funding and technical support. Funding was available to NGOs and government to ensure paid staff working full-time on the campaign, and sufficient budgets to run media campaigns and other supportive activities. The funding was complemented by high-level technical support from international experts when needed, which supported in-country activists to move more quickly and effectively.

7.2.5 Clear, comprehensive law. Successful implementation and perceived high levels of compliance were greatly aided by having a law that prohibits smoking in all enclosed workplaces and public spaces, with very few exemptions. Mexico DF's law confirms experience elsewhere that such laws are clearer, simpler to draft, fairer and easier to enforce. The DF law also meets the criteria favoured by most of the hospitality sector for smoke-free laws that cover all premises.

7.2.6 Readiness to respond to industry arguments, and research to support arguments. Many of the issues and  arguments raised during the debates about the law were similar to those that arise in almost every place when smoke- free legislation is considered. The ability of smoke free advocates to tap into tried and tested arguments -- particularly where they were backed up by local or, at least, national research -- was a major advantage. . . .

7.4.2 While challenges remain, the smoke- free law is a major public health achievement for Mexico DF and will generate significant health benefits for citizens in the years ahead. The Mexico DF smoke-free experience is an example for others to learn from and to follow. The progress made with relatively modest resources, and in a short period of time, demonstrates the potential for other large cities in Latin America and elsewhere to adopt similar laws. 1 ValdŽs-Salgado R, Lazcano-Ponce EC, Hern‡ndez-çvila

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Mexico City Case-study Launch (PDF) 

The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease’s Mexico Office launched a research document highlighting the success factors and lessons learned of the Mexico City’s smoke-free experience. With the presence of the Chief of Government of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, and Secretary of Health, Dr. Armando Ahued Ortega, The Union presented Mexico DF: Smoke-Free City Case Study. The Chief of Government recognized the work of The Union for developing the first independent assessment of the efforts of Mexico City to achieve a successful implementation of the 100% smoke-free law. Numerous civil society organizations as well as representatives from the Government of Mexico City attended to the event. Paula Fujiwara, Director of the HIV Department of The Union gave a presentation with the most important findings of the case study. Mirta Molinari, from The Union’s Mexico Office, and Jennifer Ellis from Bloomberg Philanthropies also stated that the success in implementing the smoke-free law should serve as a model for other cities in the world. The case- study documents this process and is a guide for other cities trying to go 100% smoke-free.

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Mexico City Smoke-free Case Study launched  

The Union's Mexico Office released a research document highlighting the success factors and lessons learned from Mexico City's experience with going "smoke-free" at a special event on 3 September. Mexico City's Chief of Government Marcelo Ebrard and Secretary of Health Dr. Armando Ahued Ortega were among those who attended.

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MEXICO: BIG TOBACCO EVADED TAX HIKE WITH BRIBES - LAWMAKER ($$) 

Diego Cevallos Inter Press Service English News Wire 10-27-2005 MEXICO CITY, Oct. 26, 2005 (IPS/GIN) -- Members of the Mexican Congress have accused foreign tobacco companies of bribing Mexican lawmakers and doctoring figures to prevent tax hikes. Philip Morris and British American Tobacco "corrupted the conscience" of Mexican legislators until they finally succeeded in securing the defeat of a bill that would have raised cigarette industry taxes, Deputy Miguel Toscano of the conservative ruling National Action Party (PAN) alleged on Wednesday. Toscano, a member of the Chamber of Deputies Finance Committee, voiced his accusations after the majority of his colleagues voted Tuesday to withhold ...

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CHAPMAN: International tobacco control should repudiate Jekyll and Hyde health philanthropy  

The founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, famously said "...take the Devil's money, wash it in the Blood of the Lamb, and use it to save a dying world". Booth thus opened the door for people of goodwill to take money for noble works from assorted devils. . . .

So what should global tobacco control workers make of the world's richest man,1 Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helú, pouring rivers of money into health, education and poverty charities in Latin America? Slim announced last year that he will expand the endowment of his foundations, such as the Carso Foundation, to US$10 billion over the next 4 years, up from US$4 billion, and will dedicate himself more to philanthropy. Slim set up the Carso Health Institute initially endowed with US$500 million and nominated Dr Julio Frenk (former Ministry of Health in Mexico and former candidate for WHO's director general position) for the Institute's executive director position.2 . . .

There is now a conga line of health and poverty relief agencies and researchers applauding Slim's philanthropy and hoping to get in on the action. Business philanthropy is to be applauded but when a philanthropist's day job is a major contributor to the death and disease that his generosity in part seeks to redress, it is time for all self-respecting agencies to make a stand and refuse to have anything to do with it.

Although most known for his telecommunications business, Group Carso, which he controls, Slim owns many other businesses including until recently a majority ownership of Cigatam, Mexico's largest tobacco company. Cigarros la Tabacalera Mexicana (Cigatam) was majority owned by the Carso Group (Philip Morris Mexico owns the other half (49.9%)). In July 2007 Philip Morris International (PMI) announced an agreement to buy an additional 30% of shares

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Tobacco - North America (NAFTA) Industry Guide - An Essential Top-Level Data and Analysis 

The Tobacco - North America (NAFTA) Industry Guide is an essential resource for top-level data and analysis covering the Tobacco industry in each of the North American Free Trade Agreement (United States, Canada, and Mexico) countries. The report includes easily comparable data on market value, volume, segmentation and market share, plus full five year market forecasts. It examines future problems, innovations and potential growth areas within the market.

The tobacco market covers the sale of chewing tobacco, cigarettes, cigars & cigarillos and loose tobacco. The market value is calculated according to retail selling price (RSP) and includes all taxes and levies. All currency conversions in the report are calculated at 2007 annual average exchange rates.

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Research and Markets: In 2013, the Tobacco Market is Forecast to Have a Value of $138 Billion, with a CAGR of 10% over the 2008-2013 Period 

Research and Markets(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/14729e/tobacco_top_5_em) has announced the addition of the "Tobacco - Top 5 Emerging Markets Industry Guide" report to their offering.

The Tobacco - Top 5 Emerging Markets Industry Guide is an essential resource for top-level data and analysis covering the Tobacco industry in each of the Top 5 Emerging markets (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa). The report includes easily comparable data on market value, volume, segmentation and market share, plus full five year market forecasts. It examines future problems, innovations and potential growth areas within the market.

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• Tax increase to boost tobacco black market?  

The rising price of tobacco is rippling across Arizona, forcing smokers to dig deeper for cash, sparking a potential black market boost and prompting an increase in calls to a state cessation help line.

The federal tax on a pack of cigarettes April 1 went from 39 cents to $1.01, which raises the price by about 10 percent. Cigar taxes went up 40 cents per stick, about a 10 percent increase for most smokers.

The tax on bulk tobacco - the roll-your-own type many smokers have turned to lately to save money - went from $1.09 per pound to $24. That's a 2,102 percent increase.

"They're creating a whole new black market, is what they're doing," said Dan Johnson, 54, a 30-year smoker who rolls his own. "There's going to be a lot more smuggling, that's for sure."

A couple of weeks ago, the price of a packet of "rollies" was about $1.25; now it's approaching $4, said Johnson, a day laborer who can ill afford the added cost.

The state Department of Revenue confirms that rising costs spur the black market.

Revenue Agent Jack Doyle told a state Bureau of Tobacco Education and Prevention Program committee in January that black market products from Mexico, Indian reservations and states with lower or no taxes take money from the state coffers. . . .

"If you can buy a carton of cigarettes in Mexico for $7 and sell it here for more, why not?"

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International Community Demands Big Tobacco Comply Swiftly with Health Treaty US Congress Considers Bill to Regulate Tobacco 

At the 14th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in India this week, governments and civil society are demanding tobacco corporations comply swiftly with new treaty guidelines preventing industry interference in health policy.

Big Tobacco has long interfered in public health laws and regulations that might threaten its profits. The industry has done everything from offering contributions and "partnerships" with governments and drafting tobacco control laws to planting its representatives in tobacco control bodies.

The global tobacco treaty, formally known as the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), slams the door on such tactics. . . .

At the conference, Corporate Accountability International and the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) will be exposing Philip Morris International's interference in Mexico's efforts to implement the global tobacco treaty. Under the treaty, "corporate social responsibility" by the tobacco industry is treated as what it is: a form of advertising, promotion and sponsorship - and therefore subject to a comprehensive ban. PMI is currently sponsoring and promoting the Marlboro MXBeat concert series, which appeals primarily to youth.

The organizations will be working with allies to generate photo petitions to PMI's top decisionmakers, demanding a stop to the corporation's meddling in health policies around the world.

But the conference will also be an opportunity to spotlight the impact new treaty guidelines are already having on untangling the industry from tobacco control policy.

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• Marlboro MXBeat Concert Series Defies Mexico's National Tobacco Control Law 

International and Mexican public health leaders today harshly criticized Philip Morris for its sponsorship of a four concert series entitled Marlboro MXBeat that unquestionably appeals to youth and violates Mexico's national tobacco control law and urged the Mexican government to act quickly to stop these concerts by enforcing its new national tobacco control law.

The Mexico national law explicitly prohibits the tobacco industry from any form of sponsorship that promotes tobacco products or tobacco use, yet the Marlboro MXBeat concerts are being heavily promoted and advertised by Philip Morris and the Mexican government has failed to act. The failure of the Mexican government to enforce its own laws puts Mexico's youth at risk and undermines respect for the rule of law.

The Philip Morris concerts are being heavily advertised and are taking place in four of the main cities in Mexico, including Guadalajara, Puebla, Monterrey and Mexico City. The concert series - which features a variety of music groups including the hugely popular N*E*R*D, Vampire Weekend, Girl Talk and recent Grammy nominee Nortec, appeal widely to Mexican youth. Promotional materials for the concerts include advertisements in magazines such as Chilango and GQ, billboards, a promotional Web site, and blogs.

The Marlboro MXBeat concerts and their promotion clearly violate Mexico's national General Tobacco Control Law

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• Días de humo 

Focused mainly in the development of the design of objects and the graph around the tobacco during century XX in Mexico, Days of smoke in addition it will show to historical antecedents as far as the consolidation and the social assent of a culture of the tobacco. A trip towards the past, towards which today already it is history and that allows us to generate stories and memories in nostalgia, around those days of smoke…

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Dias de Humo, The Days of Smoking  

For Mexico City’s smokers, who were recently deprived the pleasure of enjoying their habit in restaurants, bars, offices and other public places, an exhibition celebrating the pleasure and history of tobacco might feel like someone’s blowing smoke in their faces.

But organizers of “Dias de Humo” (Days of Smoke), which opened last week at the Museo Soumaya, say that the intention behind the show is to celebrate smoking’s place in history, art and culture, not to encourage the habit.

12 photos * 28 views

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• Mexico City smokers enjoy a bit of nostalgia 

For Mexico City’s smokers, who were recently deprived of the pleasure of enjoying their habit in restaurants, bars, offices and other public places, an exhibition celebrating the pleasure and history of tobacco might feel like someone’s blowing smoke in their faces.

But organizers of “Dias de Humo” (The Days of Smoking), which opened last week at the Museo Soumaya, say the intention is to celebrate smoking’s place in history, art and culture, not to encourage the habit.

Pre-Hispanic pipes, personalized cigarette holders and snuffboxes, newspaper articles, old television ads and publicity posters tell what is more than just the history of tobacco.

Some of Mexico’s most famed artists and public figures, such as José Guadalupe Posada, Frida Kahlo and José Clemente Orozco, are included in an exhibit that is really a kind of history of Mexico, using the tobacco industry and smoking culture as the organizing thread.

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Tobacco Underground - ‘The Guy in the Wheelchair’ 

Jorge Abraham

Abraham, now 38, lived a luxurious life until 2004, with an ever-present entourage of bodyguards and personal assistants, and at one point owning four late-model vehicles. Not everyone believed he made his fortune legally operating his import-export businesses in El Paso and across the border in Juarez. Drug dealers in Mexico and FBI agents in Texas suspected he made his millions smuggling narcotics. But Abraham had a deal that was sweeter than dope.

Abraham was the unlikely kingpin of one of America's biggest ever cigarette smuggling rings -- a racket that spanned three continents and six states and moved as many as a half-billion contraband cigarettes across the United States. As lucrative as narcotics, but with far less onerous penalties, tobacco smuggling is booming around the country -- and around the world. Abraham, released from federal custody in June, recently talked for the first time publicly about his operation, the cheap, illegal smokes that Americans increasingly crave, and the bungled case against him that led from Chinese counterfeiters and American Indian smoke shops to a chilling Mexican house of death.

"This was an extremely important case," said John W. Colledge III, former program manager for international tobacco smuggling at U.S. Customs Service. "Very sophisticated… probably one of the two most significant [federal cigarette] cases."

But Abraham's case was far from isolated. The trade in illicit tobacco today makes up 11 percent of all tobacco sales, and it has made cigarettes the world's most widely smuggled legal consumer product, according to the Framework Convention Alliance for Tobacco Control

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