"The index has enabled us to make great strides in tobacco control both at the national and subnational levels. Thanks to the index and the capacity building done through it, FIC Argentina identified clear evidence of interference and was able to intervene and carry out actions to advance tobacco control.”

Marita Pizarro
Co-Executive Director, Inter-American Heart Foundation, (FIC) Argentina

Introduction

Argentina has one of the highest rates of tobacco use in the Latin American Region. According to the latest National Survey of Risk Factors of the Ministry of Health (2018), more than 22% of the adult population smokes while the age of initiation is between 12 and 15 years.  Almost 9,000,000 people are affected by smoking and more than 47,000 people die annually from diseases attributable to tobacco. Despite signing the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003, Argentina has not yet ratified it due to tobacco industry interference.

Phillip Morris International and British American Tobacco together control 75% of the cigarette market, while the remaining 25% is shared among small companies and medium-sized enterprises.

The National Tobacco Control  Law regulates the tobacco industry through measures such as smoke-free public spaces and implementation of health warnings on tobacco packs. However, the law does not fully prohibit pack display, and advertising and promotion of tobacco products at points of sale. So called corporate social responsibility activities allows the industry to repair its public image in specially targeted programs such as promoting gender equality, meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and supporting children's wellbeing in tobacco-producing provinces, while using the economic and health crisis due to COVID-19 pandemic to benefit itself.

Thanks to the Index, tobacco industry interference was detected at various levels of government, including the policy development, planning and implementation stage detected throughout the country.

New Opportunities with the Index

After the experience of producing the first index in Argentina in 2020, FIC monitored industry activities in the 2021 index. During the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina, we observed and documented how the tobacco industry took advantage of the crisis to promote a positive image of itself. This document was sent to policy makers of the legislative branch at national and subnational levels.

The 2021 index was distributed to the press and social media in the framework of the campaign #NosVendenHumo, which aimed to support a policy for a comprehensive ban on advertising and promotions of tobacco products. The campaign received good media coverage: tobacco industry undermines public health during the pandemic,[i] #NosVendenHumo campaign for tobacco control.[ii]

Advocacy Actions and Results

In 2021, legislative elections took place at the national and subnational levels, which limited our communication and advocacy efforts. However, since FIC had identified the front groups the industry had used to interfere in the policy-making process during the 2020 Index, we were able to continue our monitoring activities.

We have been working on a comprehensive law on tobacco control in the province of La Pampa for several years. In October 2021, the deputy head of the initiative requested our collaboration to counter the opposition from the industry. At the meeting, we shared the results of the index, the tactics of the industry and its interference to frustrate the policy efforts. We planned a joint strategy of advocacy and sensitization of legislators. La Pampa’s legislature invited us to participate in a meeting of the Committees where the tobacco control bill was discussed. Representatives of the tobacco industry and its front groups were also present, and they too presented their arguments. Following this meeting, we prepared counter arguments in the format of the index, based on scientific evidence and the principles of the right to health. The document was sent to all legislators and was added as an annex to the documentation on the bill. Finally, after sharing these documents with legislators, and their building capacity, in November 2021, the law was enacted in La Pampa province without any modifications or loopholes.

Similarly in 2021, in the province of Buenos Aires, where a comprehensive tobacco control policy was being discussed, again the Index was a key document to expose various attempts of interference by the industry and its front groups. Based on earlier experience of the 2020 Index, FIC Argentina prepare documents with counter-arguments to inform legislators and stop the attempts of the industry and its front groups to undermine tobacco control.

Our experience shows the index is an extremely useful tool to systematically identify and document industry interference to advance tobacco control policies.

About FIC Argentina: FIC Argentina promotes public policies that guarantee the protection of the right to health, through the reduction of chronic non-communicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

[i] Telam Digital. Acusan a tabacaleras de reforzar la publicidad a pesar de que fumar es riesgoso. 28 December 2020. Available from: https://bit.ly/3NWBcFU
[ii] Telam Digital. Acusan a tabacaleras de reforzar la publicidad a pesar de que fumar es riesgoso. 28 December 2020. Available from: https://bit.ly/39yFzrU