Alliance Against Tobacco Denounces Tobacco Industry's 'Shameful Records' for 2024 Olympics

On the occasion of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the ACT-Alliance against tobacco is launching this Wednesday, July 31, a vast campaign awareness of the health, social and environmental harms of the tobacco industry's activities. Through a fictional character "Nick'O'tine", who will represent the interests of cigarette manufacturers on social networks, the media and in the public space, the association intends to raise awareness of the sad records of this deadly industry.

The campaign was revealed during an exclusive live stream on journalist Samuel Etienne's Twitch channel on July 30 and will be rolled out and amplified nationwide until the start of the 2024 Paralympic Games.

The ACT campaign will be rolled out in the form of posters in the metro or bus shelters in ten major French cities including the capital, but also on social networks (X, TikTok, Instagram) where the fictional character Nick O'Tine will ironically attempt to defend the main cigarette manufacturers (Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and Seita-Imperial Brands) by inserting himself into the public debate around the Olympic Games.

The sad records held by the tobacco industry

The ACT recalls that tobacco consumption is the leading cause of preventable premature mortality, causing more than 8 million deaths worldwide each year, including 75,000 in France. Worldwide, it is estimated that nearly 1.25 billion people are addicted to tobacco. For the ACT and its members, smoking must be considered a pediatric epidemic. Indeed, 15.6% of 17-year-olds are daily smokers in France and the use of electronic cigarettes is increasing sharply among adolescents. Its daily use tripled between 2017 and 2022, from 1.9 % to 6.2 %, while experimentation increased from 52.4 % to 56.9 %, surpassing that of tobacco. The targeting of the tobacco industry, which focuses its marketing activities on young people to ensure the renewal of its consumers, largely explains these data.

The damage caused by tobacco is not just health-related. Tobacco is mainly grown in low- and middle-income countries, and child labor is endemic in the sector. A 2011 report estimated that there were 1.3 million children under the age of 14 working in tobacco fields worldwide.[1].

In addition, the tobacco industry’s activities also cause massive harm to the environment. Cigarette filters are the largest form of plastic waste in the world – 4.5 trillion are thrown into the environment each year. These filters, which are toxic and hazardous waste, pollute soil and waterways. Tobacco production is water-intensive and current tobacco farming practices are unsustainable. Overexploitation of land for tobacco farming leads to continued deforestation.

Similarly, new nicotine products, such as e-cigarettes, also contain batteries, heavy metals and other hazardous materials that are non-biodegradable and harmful to the environment.

Finally, the ACT points out that tobacco has a major cost for public finances. It costs the French State more than 1.6 billion euros and represents an annual social cost of 156 billion euros.[2].

A call to decommercialize tobacco and nicotine products

To achieve the goal of a tobacco-free generation by 2032, ACT and its members, in particular the National Committee Against Smoking (NCTS), are advocating for a gradual de-marketing of tobacco and nicotine products by banning sales to people born from 2014. This measure has been reintroduced by the new UK government which plans to ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after January 2009.

For the CNCT, which published a white paper in 2023 to achieve a tobacco-free generation, this decommercialization also involves a review of the status and remuneration of tobacconists and much greater control of the activities of this industry.[3].

©Generation Without Tobacco

AE

[1] Tobacco-free generation, World No Tobacco Day: Tobacco industry violates children's rights, published on May 24, 2024, consulted on July 31, 2024

[2] Press release, Tobacco: a major cost for public finances, CNCT, published on August 2, 2023

[3] Press release, The National Committee Against Smoking (CNCT) proposes strong measures to achieve a tobacco-free generation by 2032, published on May 2, 2023, accessed on July 31, 2024