“There is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the interests of the tobacco industry and the interests of public health policies,” thus begins the statement from Alianza ENT, the Civil Association that fights against non-communicable diseases and also the Framework Convention for the Tobacco Control, an international health treaty that our country signed in 2004.
The decision of President Luis Lacalle Pou to relax the regulations on the packaging and neutral labeling of cigarettes and enable the sale of the so-called “soft boxes” that had been banned by the government of Tabaré Vázquez generated rejection in organizations that fight against tobacco use.
Alianza ENT was no exception. In his view, the policies implemented in the Vázquez government “have been successful and effective” and the prevalence of consumption fell from 32% in 2001 to 19% in 2019.
“The organizations that make up the Uruguay ENT Alliance express our concern and rejection of the measures adopted by the Executive Power that dismantle the Tobacco Control Policies”, the document establishes and accuses the government of not respecting the award of the trial that Uruguay won against Philip Morris.
“Combating smuggling is the reason given to implement, which, in our opinion, is a clear setback in the protection of people’s health, with respect to a product that sickens and kills, in any of its formats or ‘ qualities´”, says the association and points out that “Under no circumstances is it reasonable to dismantle a Public Health policy to combat smuggling”.
In another passage, the statement asserts that the Civil Society “time and time again it has called for the implementation of the measures included in the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, based on scientific evidence and proven effectiveness. Given that the political will now exists to be able to move forward on this issue, we hope that it will eventually be implemented.”
Finally, the association questions: “Is our government’s concern about the increase in tobacco industry sales, which implies more consumers, and therefore, more deaths and illnesses due to tobacco, or does it continue to decrease the number of consumers?” and ends: “We still have time to reverse this decision.”
Below is the complete document signed by the unions registered in Alianza ENT.
