Netherlands: Tobacco lobby undermines health policies

In the Netherlands, the tobacco lobby has succeeded in gutting part of the national agreement on public health. The lobbying efforts of the tobacco companies have led, among other things, to delaying and distorting the implementation of proven anti-smoking measures.[1].

The agreement, dating from 2018, committed to an ambitious public health approach and aimed to reduce the smoking rate to 5% by 2040. To achieve this, a certain number of measures had been decided, such as the regular increase in the price of tobacco, with the objective of crossing the symbolic threshold of a packet at ten euros by 2023.

Tobacco industry's goal: buying time

However, under the influence of tobacco lobbyists, this automatic tax increase was replaced by a commitment to conduct an assessment of the impact of the current price on consumption (8 euros). In reality, the effects of repeated tax increases on consumption are widely documented, and are the most effective measure to reduce smoking prevalence within a population, starting with the most precarious social categories. This assessment provision thus appears to be a strategy to delay the implementation of measures that go against the interests of the tobacco industry.

The need to protect against interference from cigarette companies

In this way, the Netherlands, a Party to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, is inconsistent with the general obligations of this WHO treaty: to give priority to health considerations in all public policies relating to tobacco and to protect public policies from the tobacco lobby. According to the guiding principles of the treaty, this involves limiting as much as possible and in the greatest transparency the interactions between public authorities and tobacco companies. This situation demonstrates that the tobacco sector continues to adopt predatory strategies against States and populations, incompatible with the development of sustainable public policies.

Keywords: Netherlands, Public Health, Lobby

©Generation Without Tobacco

[1] Tobacco lobby influenced ministers, won possible delay in cigarette price rise: FTM, Dutch News, 24/08/2020, (accessed 26/08/2020)

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