Tobacco.org

• Govt Slams Suit on Tobacco Firms 

Oyo State government has joined the league of state governments, which have sued some tobacco firms in Nigeria for causing harm to public health by their products. The companies are British American Tobacco Company, Philip Morris International, International Tobacco Limited and three others. In the suit filed by the Attorney-General of the state alongside Environmental Rights Action (ERA) last month, government amongst other reliefs, is praying the court to grant "an order of mandatory injunction restraining the defendants from marketing, distributing, selling or putting into the stream of commerce either by themselves or through their distributors, agents, resellers, trade partners, marketers, and/or any other person, any tobacco related products of whatever make or brand within a 1000 metre radius of any school, hospital, cinema, playhouse or location, children's shopping area, childcare facilities or such other public places in Oyo State that are predominantly a location for minors and young persons under 18 years old to "hang out," play, assemble, congregate for any purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to education, recreational, social, religious, sports or any other purposes." . . .

The plaintiffs were jolted into action when they came into possession of some internally generated documents of the tobacco companies which disclose plot by the companies, through the use of deceit, to conscript underaged persons to engage in the habit of smoking and getting them addicted at an early age, to ensure continued sales and profits throughout the lifetime of the addicted.

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