Switzerland is the home of tobacco multinationals

Switzerland is one of the last countries in the world not to have signed the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). This is because the tobacco industry is particularly well-established in the public landscape of this country. Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI), the three giants of this sector, have set up their headquarters in Switzerland, as well as research centres and a few manufacturing plants. This particular interest of cigarette manufacturers for the Confederation can be explained by two main reasons.

• First, the country has much less protective and therefore less restrictive business legislation than the European Union and the United States. In 2003, the Swiss Federal Council reaffirmed its desire to make Switzerland a " attractive place for the tobacco industry^[1]".
• The presence of international organizations, the cult of banking secrecy, the liberal and conservative tradition on economic issues, and the federal structure of Switzerland where small political entities, more easily influenced (cantons) have broad political powers also explain the presence of cigarette companies in Switzerland. This is particularly what was shown by the Lee-Glantz report, which highlights the strategies of the tobacco industry to undermine the negotiations aimed at establishing the FCTC.^[2].

The tobacco industry also benefits from powerful relays within the political class, such as the Swiss Union of Arts and Crafts (USAM), the Association of Economic Circles for a Moderate Prevention Policy (APEM), as well as many parliamentarians. These, in particular, are valuable to the tobacco industry because of their almost systematic opposition to attempts at regulation.

This leniency of the public authorities towards the tobacco industry has direct repercussions. In Switzerland, tobacco causes 8,600 deaths each year, and represents a financial cost of more than 10 billion Swiss francs (including health expenses and productivity losses). The repercussions of tobacco interference in Switzerland have effects all over the world: by opposing the FCTC, cigarette companies are opposing the implementation of measures that have saved tens of millions of lives.^[3].

©Tobacco Free Generation