Why Uruguay’s David and Goliath fight with big tobacco really matters

[Judi Lynn]

Simeon Tegel July 16, 2014 00:36
Why Uruguay’s David and Goliath fight with big tobacco really matters

Smoking is on course to kill up to 1 billion worldwide this century, most in poor nations. Could this little South American country, in a legal fight with Philip Morris, help turn that around?


LIMA, Peru — A protracted legal battle in an obscure World Bank tribunal over the principles of market competition in a South American backwater. Even by trade dispute standards, this one sounds arcane — the perfect cure for insomnia perhaps.

But before you nod off, here’s a triple shot of espresso:

Uruguay’s fight with Philip Morris, the world’s largest cigarette manufacturer, just might mark a turning point in the global smoking pandemic that the World Health Organization (WHO) expects to cost up to 1 billion lives this century.

Four out of five of those deaths will happen in developing nations, acting like a ball and chain on those countries' attempts to grow economically and lift hundreds of millions out of desperate poverty.

Philip Morris, whose brands include Marlboro, is objecting to a 2009 Uruguayan law that requires cigarette packs to be 80 percent covered by health warnings, including graphic photos of cancer victims.

More:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/140714/uruguay-v-philip-morris-tobacco-smoking

[Judi Lynn]

1. “The strategy is to beat up a small, undeveloped nation that dared to confront the power ...."

Eduardo Bianco, a cardiologist who heads Uruguay’s Tobacco Epidemic Research Center (CIET), adds: “The strategy is to beat up a small, undeveloped nation that dared to confront the power of the tobacco industry, and thus intimidate other countries, especially undeveloped ones.”

“If Uruguay wins, it will open up a Pandora’s box for the tobacco industry and many other countries could follow Uruguay’s lead. Philip Morris knows that.”

Bostic agrees, saying the company wants to establish a “legal chill” on anti-smoking measures around the world.

“Uruguay is a bellwether,” he told GlobalPost. “There have been many of these lawsuits, but against richer nations such as Australia and Norway. This is the first targeting a country with limited resources.”