Release: Colombia adopts sweeping tobacco control law

Ongoing vigilance needed to overcome tobacco industry interferences

For Immediate Release:
July 24, 2009

Contact:
Nick Guroff, 617-695-2525

This week, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe signed comprehensive tobacco control legislation. Law 1335 of July 21, 2009 establishes:

• A ban on publicity, promotion and sponsorship by tobacco corporations (within two years);
• Text and graphic health warnings on 30 percent of the front and back of tobacco packaging (within one year);
• 100% smokefree public places;
• Government educational and media programs designed to prevent tobacco addiction.

“This law goes a long way toward meeting Colombia’s obligations under the global tobacco treaty,” said Yul Francisco Dorado Mazorra, Latin America Coordinator for Corporate Accountability International, an organizer of the civil society coalition that supported the legislation. “Implementation of these provisions will save thousands of lives, and protect future generations from Big Tobacco.”

Just 15 months ago, Colombia was among a dwindling minority of countries that had not yet ratified the global tobacco treaty, formally known as the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). Philip Morris International (PMI), the world’s largest and most profitable tobacco transnational, had recently entered the Colombian market through the acquisition of Coltabaco.

Then in April 2008, Colombia ratified the FCTC. In May 2008, Colombian Vice Minister of Health Carlos Ignacio Cuervo announced the establishment of 100 percent smokefree public places.

The tobacco industry mobilized in an attempt to block the smokefree decree, lobbying in favor of a weak bill that would not meet the requirements of the global tobacco treaty. Civil society responded by launching the Colombia Tobacco Control Coalition, with the support of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use via the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Debate continued through the March-June session of the Colombian Congress. Polling showed that 90 percent of nonsmokers and 70 percent of smokers favored 100 percent smokefree environments. Evidence of heavy pressure by the tobacco industry – including attempts to bribe members of Congress – emerged. Ultimately, the tobacco industry was excluded from any formal role in the negotiations, in conformity with Article 5.3 of the FCTC on the protection of public health policy against tobacco industry interference. However, Big Tobacco continued to make its influence felt through business associations and even the soccer federation.

After Congress passed the legislation in June, PMI announced plans to acquire Protabaco, which would give the tobacco giant a 100 percent share of Colombian cigarette production, a 75 percent share of the Colombian market, and a powerful base for expansion in South America.

“Colombia’s new tobacco control law sends a strong message to PMI and other tobacco giants that it is no longer business as usual in Latin America,” said Kathy Mulvey, International Policy Director for Corporate Accountability International. “Now it is up to public officials, backed by a growing grassroots movement, to resist tobacco industry interference and implement the law swiftly and fully.”

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