South Africa: Cigarette companies' opposition to government measures.

While the courts had ruled in favor of the South African government On its decision to exceptionally ban the sale of tobacco products to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tobacco industry is filing a new appeal to reverse the verdict.

An exceptional public health measure

At the end of June 2019, the High Court in Pretoria upheld the government's decision to ban the sale of tobacco products, stressing that it was based on a " rational and firm ", allowing in particular to stem the spread of the virus, while reducing its severity. Indeed, studies conducted on the subject demonstrate that a smoker has a greater risk of developing severe forms of COVID-19, which can lead to death.

Public health and the tobacco industry: a structural incompatibility

The tobacco industry, through Fair Trade Independent Tobacco (FITA), is nevertheless seeking to reverse this public health measure, arguing that the consumption of tobacco products is necessary for a portion of the population, even though this argument had been rejected by the South African courts. Furthermore, FITA counters the court's decision with the argument of the increase in smuggling and crime.[1]This discursive strategy, recurrent among cigarette manufacturers, deliberately omits a fact: it is estimated that between 60 and 70% of the illicit tobacco market is directly supplied by the tobacco industry itself, when counterfeit products actually only represent 5 to 8%.[2]For its part, British American Tobacco, which has also filed an appeal against the South African courts, will see its case heard on August 5.

The situation is a further demonstration of the tobacco industry's systematic opposition to the implementation of public health policies, which are by definition incompatible with the economic interests of cigarette companies.

©Generation Without Tobacco

[1] The South African, " Cigarette ban: Hope for smokers as FITA launch court appeal ", July 3, 2020

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/when-will-cigarette-ban-latest-fita-appeal-court/

[2] Tobacco Control, Anna B. Gilmore, “ Tobacco industry's elaborate attempts to control a global track and trace system and fundamentally undermine the Illicit Trade Protocol ", June 13, 2018

https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/28/2/127

©National Committee Against Smoking |