Tobacco.org

• Pushing up smoking incidence: plans for a privatised tobacco industry in Moldova 

It is evident from the tactics revealed here that countries undertaking tobacco industry privatisation and the organisations advising them need to ensure a transparent process and a truly competitive tender in order to maximise potential revenue gains. To minimise the harms they should more cautiously assess joint venture proposals and their true effects on employment, and seek to prevent the predicted increase in consumption likely to arise through the growth of advertising and decline in prices by implementing effective tobacco control policies particularly comprehensive advertising bans and adequate taxation rates. The case of Thailand, which was forced to open its market to cigarette imports as a result of a General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) ruling, shows that comprehensive advertising bans and steep tax increases can be implemented despite opposition and prevent increases in smoking prevalence.74 Cigarette consumption, however, continued to increase until the economic crash of 1997,75 not least because of the TTCs aggressive tactics, slashing prices, and exploiting legislative loopholes.74

Our findings also raise a more general issue about the role that international financial organisations play in promoting tobacco industry privatisation. We would argue that empirical studies of the health and economic effects of privatisation are needed to properly inform this debate. These should inter alia examine the effects on employment, trade balance (given the TTCs use of non-local leaf), and creation of demand, and the long-term effects on health and economy. Meanwhile, a precautionary approach should be pursued. Ideally, health impact assessments should be undertaken before individual privatisations. Loan conditions should ensure that public health is protected and that corrupt TTC and government activity is minimised. Such objectives would be advanced by making the implementation of tobacco control policies and open, competitive tenders pre-requisites for privatisation. Otherwise these organisations will simply serve to propagate the TTC's relentless expansion and exploitation of yet more vulnerable populations and the further spread of the global tobacco epidemic.

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