Tobacco.org

• Battling Big Tobacco: Physician activism vital on smoking's new frontiers 

It's no coincidence that the small South American country of Uruguay had a physician as president when it began implementing some of the strongest tobacco-control policies in the world five years ago. Dr Tabaré Vásquez, an oncologist, became president there in 2005 and proceeded to turn the nation of just 3.5 million people into a leading example of how to try to curtail cigarette consumption.

He achieved this through methods that are widely acknowledged to work by those advocating for global tobacco control: banning smoking in public places; increasing taxation on and subsequently the price of cigarettes; banning advertising, sponsorship, and promotion by tobacco companies; restricting the use of misleading words on cigarette packs; and making smoking-cessation programs and products widely available.

But the tobacco industry fought back . . .

Next in line to face the wrath of this industry—and a widely expected lawsuit—is likely the Australian government . . .

According to Reyes Caorsi and others speaking at the AHA meeting, cardiologists, other physicians, and health professionals must play a vital role in combating the tactics of tobacco companies.

And that, Matthew L Myers (president, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids [CFTFK], Washington, DC) told heartwire at the meeting, means staying one step ahead of the cigarette companies, which will never stop attempting to fight those trying to effect change and which will keep pushing to expand their markets in any way they can. . . .

And make no mistake, says Myers, cigarette companies are keen to replicate the Russian experience in every emerging market in the world. "Where we go could be a lot worse than where we've been," he observed.

"When we look at China and think our task is to get male smoking rates down from the majority to a low number, we'd better not forget the tobacco industry is taking the 2.4% [of Chinese women who smoke] and driving it up.

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Philip Morris to close Uruguay plant  

US tobacco giant Philip Morris International said Friday it would close its plant in Uruguay after filing a lawsuit against the country's anti-smoking laws.

"The wide availability and presence of illegal products on the market, combined with reduced demand and regulatory and fiscal measures that limit the ability to market our products profitably, have made the plant's operation no longer viable," the company said in a statement.

Nicolas Echeverria, general manager of PMI subsidiary Abal Hermanos, said that "extreme" tax and regulatory measures had "shifted market dynamics."

The factory closure will trigger layoffs for 62 workers at the plant.

Abal Hermanos products will now be manufactured at PMI facilities in Argentina, the company said, adding that it would continue selling its products in Uruguay and keep 28 employees there.

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• Philip Morris says closes plant in Uruguay amid lawsuit  

U.S. tobacco giant Philip Morris said on Friday it shut down its plant in Uruguay because the country's anti-smoking policies make business unprofitable.

Philip Morris' local unit sued Uruguay at the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in February 2010. The company seeks compensation for damages allegedly caused by the state's anti-tobacco measures.

Uruguay imposed a ban on smoking in public spaces in 2006, raised taxes on tobacco products and forced firms to include large warnings and graphic images including diseased lungs and rotting teeth on cigarette packages.

It also banned the use of the words "light" and "mild" from cigarette packs to try to dispel smokers' misbeliefs that the products are safer.

"Plant operations are no longer viable because of the broad availability and presence of illegal products in the market, combined with a reduction in demand and fiscal and regulatory measures that limit our capacity to commercialize our products profitably," the firm's Abal Hermanos local unit said in a statement.

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Plant operations are no longer viable [in Uruguay] because of the broad availability and presence of illegal products in the market, combined with a reduction in demand and fiscal and regulatory measures that limit our capacity to commercialize our products profitably.
Philip Morris' Abal Hermanos local unit, in a statement.

NRT Smoking Cessation Aids in Uruguay: New research report available at Fast Market Research 

New Healthcare research report from Euromonitor International is now available from Fast Market Research

The strict (and successful) measures instituted by the government on tobacco; the ban on smoking in all public places, including restaurants, bars and clubs; full ban on advertising and promotions; health warnings covering 80% of packs surface and one type of cigarette per brand took an unexpected turn when Philip Morris International filed a demand in front of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes claiming that these regulations infringe the existing Bilateral...

Euromonitor International's NRT Smoking Cessation Aids in Uruguay report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data 2006-2010, allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. Forecasts to 2015 illustrate how the market is set to change.

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Recently released market study: Smoking Tobacco in Uruguay 

Pipe smoking is not a widespread tradition in Uruguay and it has not been affected by the anti-tobacco legislation, as pipes are usually smoked at home where the bans have no effect. There has been a stable consumer base of RYO tobacco in rural areas among ranch and farm workers, which has not shown a significant variation after the implementation of the anti-tobacco regulations. The total number of RYO smokers increased after the 2002 economic crisis when many cigarette smokers had to trade...

Euromonitor International's Smoking Tobacco in Uruguay report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data 2006-2010, allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be the new legislative, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts to 2015 illustrate how the market is set to change.

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• SHUKLA: Beware The Tobacco Bullies: Do Not Let Them Use Free Trade Agreements To Endanger Public Health 

Tobacco giants, who always put profit ahead of lives and health, are invoking investor-state dispute mechanisms in bilateral investment agreements to challenge moves of governments which are aimed at controlling the widespread use of tobacco products. This scary development highlights the dangers of signing trade or investment treaties which could give corporations the right to sue governments over legitimate health or other public interest regulations.

Cigarette company Philip Morris is currently suing the Australian government . . .

It is unfortunate that after putting up an initial fight, Uruguay has eventually bowed to pressure from Philip Morris. It has agreed to amend legislation which slaps large health warnings on cigarette packets and bans the sale of those branded as "light". It said it would tweak the legislation, or possibly draft a new law, to fend off the complaint and comply with international trade obligations. One mooted change was reducing the size of health warnings from the current 80% of a packet's size to 65%. Another was to permit the sale of "light" cigarettes. The government said such changes would be minor.

Tabaré Vázquez, has accused the tobacco giant of "blackmailing" pressure. . . .

Courtroom bullying and pressure tactics by tobacco bigwigs are likely to have a broader intimidating effect on other governments, especially the developing ones, and those who still do not have good anti tobacco legislation in place. Moreover, other countries would do well to revisit existing trade and investment agreements they have already signed or under negotiation to reject such a provision and other provisions which can undermine a government's ability to take measures which it deems are in the public interest.

India is in the process of signing a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union, and would do well to read the fine print regarding such issues before signing on the dotted line. The risks of sloppy free trade agreements evidently are manifold and so it remains for the negotiating countries to ensure that these agreements do not end up in choosing between health and death.

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Uruguay praised by WHO as pioneer in combating the global tobacco epidemic  

The World Health Organization, WHO praised Uruguay and Canada as pioneers on legislation demanding large graphic health warnings on package of tobacco, on the release of its third periodic report on the global tobacco epidemic.

The report says that more than one billion people in 19 countries are now covered by laws requiring large, graphic health warnings on packages of tobacco, nearly double the number of two years ago, when only about 547 million people were covered in 16 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday in its third periodic report on the global tobacco epidemic.

Mexico, Peru and the United States of America become the latest countries to require the large, graphic warnings, which are proven to motivate people to stop using tobacco and to reduce the appeal for people who are not yet addicted.

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Philip Morris launches legal action against Australia; similar to Uruguayan case  

Tobacco giant Philip Morris International launched legal action this week against the Australian government over the country's plans to strip company logos from cigarette packages and replace them with grisly images of cancerous mouths, sickly children and bulging, blinded eyes.

The government believes the new rules will make the packages less attractive to smokers and turn Australia into the world's toughest country on tobacco advertising.

Australia thus joins Uruguay, Brazil and in the coming weeks the United States in an aggressively exposing the consequences of smoking.

Several outraged cigarette makers have threatened lawsuits, arguing the move illegally diminishes the value of their trademarks. . . .

In South America Uruguay's government requires that 80% of the front and back of all cigarettes packages be devoted to warnings. In Brazil, labels feature graphic images of dead foetuses, haemorrhaging brains and gangrened feet.

Philips Morris has also initiated legal action against Uruguay.

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• Smoking bans on the rise but more needed: WHO 

Anti-smoking measures have become so widespread that they now affect some 3.8 billion people -- just over half the world's population, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

But the WHO called for more action, warning that tobacco use could kill a billion people or more over the course of the 21st century "unless urgent action is taken."

"If current trends continue, by 2030 tobacco will kill more than eight million people worldwide each year, with 80 percent of these premature deaths among people living in low- and middle-income countries," it added.

The WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic was launched in Uruguay as the health body sought to highlight the country's legislation against smoking that now faces a lawsuit by tobacco giant Philip Morris.

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TIENHAARA: Government closes tobacco options 

However, there is one further legal avenue that is less well known to pundits: international investment arbitration. Investment arbitration, also referred to as investor-state dispute settlement, allows a foreign corporation to sue a country where it has an investment in a private process similar to commercial (firm-firm) arbitration. In order for a company to access investor-state dispute settlement, it must be based in a country that has a bilateral investment treaty (investment promotion and protection agreement in Australian parlance) or trade agreement containing a chapter on investment with the country that it is operating in. What is crucial is that if such an agreement exists the investor does not need his home state to back his claim - he has direct access to binding arbitration.

The experience of Uruguay serves to illustrate the risk posed by investor-state dispute settlement. . . .

Unsurprisingly, American tobacco company Philip Morris is pushing for investor-state dispute settlement to be included in the Agreement. In a public submission to the US Trade Representative, the company notes that the ability to take governments to arbitration is a ''vital'' aspect of investment protection.

The submission also specifically refers to Australia's proposed plain packaging legislation as ''tantamount to expropriation'' - the exact claim that the company has made against Uruguay. Unfortunately for Philip Morris, this thinly veiled threat appears to have backfired.

In opposing the inclusion of investor-state dispute settlement in not only this Agreement, but in all its future trade agreements, the Gillard Government has moved to protect the plain packaging legislation, as well as scores of other legitimate regulatory measures, from being scrutinised in an expensive and unaccountable international forum. It can be hoped that Australia's progressive policy stance will not only be supported domestically but also quickly emulated in other countries around the world.

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Philip Morris takes Uruguay to international court because of tobacco-ban policy 

One of the world's biggest tobacco companies is launching a claim against Uruguay for considering the country's legislation commercially damaging to the company. Philip Morris corporation has filed a claim at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a World Bank branch.

According to the claim, Uruguay's policies on tobacco control are damaging the company's performance in the small the South American country.

Former Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez, an oncologist, banned smoking in public buildings four years ago. Tobacco advertising is also banned and cigarettes' packets must carry large health warnings.

The rules, which also prevent the sale of products branded as "light," put Uruguay at the vanguard of global anti-smoking laws.

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Philip Morris sues Uruguay over anti tobacco legislation  

David and Goliath - One of the world's biggest tobacco companies is launching a claim against Uruguay for considering their legislation commercially damaging to the company.

One of the smallest Latin America's countries faces a multi million corporation, based in Switzerland, in Parisian courts this week. The corporation has filed a claim at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a World Bank branch.

According to the claim, the countries´ policies on tobacco control are damaging the company's performance in the small the South American nation.

Former Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez, an oncologist, banned smoking in public buildings four years ago. Tobacco advertising is also banned and cigarettes' packets must carry large health warnings.

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• Tobacco giant Philip Morris suing Uruguay over ban  

Tobacco giant Philip Morris is suing Uruguay in a world tribunal over a smoking ban that it sees damaging its business prospects.

The extraordinary legal action, if successful, will see the state of Uruguay hauled before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a World Bank branch.

Anti-tobacco campaigners have hailed Uruguay's tough stand on tobacco. Analysts said Philip Morris chose a small Latin American for potentially precedent-setting litigation instead of taking on major countries in the West that all have legislated with varying degrees of enthusiasm to discourage tobacco use.

ICSID is an autonomous international institution established under the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between states and nationals of other states. ICSID is mandated to provide facilities for conciliation and arbitration of international investment disputes.

Governments until recently were reluctant to act against tobacco use because of lucrative taxation earnings but popular sentiment drove authorities to start getting tougher on smoking.

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Improving the Delivery of Global Tobacco Control  

a critical bottleneck to the delivery of proven health promotion emerges in the role that the tobacco industry plays in promoting tobacco use and blocking effective tobacco-control policies. This “corporate bottleneck” can also be understood as a root cause of massive disease and suffering upon vulnerable populations worldwide, for the goal of maximizing corporate profit. Naming, understanding, and responding to this corporate bottleneck is crucial to the success of tobacco-control policies. Three case studies of tobacco-control policy–South Africa, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and Uruguay–are presented to explore and understand the implications of this analysis.

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• TIENHAARA: Government closes tobacco options  

Comments from British American Tobacco Australia executive David Crow earlier this week again raised the spectre of a legal fight over the Federal Government's plain packaging legislation. Experts have pointed out on numerous occasions that there are no clear legal avenues open to tobacco companies. . . .

However, there is one further legal avenue that is less well known to pundits: international investment arbitration. Investment arbitration, also referred to as investor-state dispute settlement, allows a foreign corporation to sue a country where it has an investment in a private process similar to commercial (firm-firm) arbitration. . . .

In opposing the inclusion of investor-state dispute settlement in not only this Agreement, but in all its future trade agreements, the Gillard Government has moved to protect the plain packaging legislation, as well as scores of other legitimate regulatory measures, from being scrutinised in an expensive and unaccountable international forum. It can be hoped that Australia's progressive policy stance will not only be supported domestically but also quickly emulated in other countries around the world.

Jump to full article »