The First Integrated Five-Year Plan signed between Argentina and China for Infrastructure Cooperation (2017-2021) contains 16 projects to be developed in the country. Within these are the construction of two nuclear power plants. The choice of building nuclear plants, instead of investing in wind and solar energy, raises certain concerns about the risks of nuclear energy.
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
The strengthening of the Sino-Argentine relationship was observed with the signing of the First Five-Year Plan (2017-2021) between the two actors, which includes 16 projects to be carried out in the country with Chinese financing. One of the projects that generates economic, but above all environmental, questions is the construction of two nuclear power plants, Atucha III and IV.
Around nuclear power plants there are opinions for and against. There are defenders of this type of energy due to low emissions, however, there is an increasing number of opponents of nuclear energy due to its impacts on the environment, the risk it means and how expensive it is in relation to wind and solar energy .
Our country has three nuclear reactors, the first, Atucha I, was built in 1974; the second plant is that of Embalse that began operating in 1984 and the third plant was Atucha II, which began operating in the national system as of 2014. Nuclear-type energy represents 6% of the country’s energy. Energy Matrix.
The agreement for the construction of two nuclear power plants dates from the government of Cristina Kirchner, who agreed to build with China in 2015. When Macri took over as president, the effectiveness of this type of energy was questioned, however it was ratified the agreement with China on the construction of nuclear power plants (Atucha III and IV). Despite this, due to the economic crisis that the country is going through, the government had to choose to build a single plant so that the size of the loan is not so large and the country can face it.
Thus, the Atucha III nuclear power plant will be built, which will add 745 megawatts to the network and will be located in the town of Lima, Province of Buenos Aires. The contract for the construction of this plant includes a loan from China for $ 10 billion, which covers 85% of construction costs; the rest will be invested by Argentina.
Initially, when the agreement was signed, the governments of both countries expressed the importance of signing the contracts before September 2017, and, consequently, begin the construction of one of the plants that same year and the second in 2019. However, none of these events happened.
This Five-Year Plan aims to increase complementarity, cooperation and benefits in the infrastructure sector, contributing to the development of bilateral economic relations and the nations of both countries.
Chinese financing has grown markedly in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Argentina has not been the exception to this growth. Relations between the two countries have evolved in such a way that China is important as a bilateral lender, where the largest amount of loans has been allocated to infrastructure and energy projects.
From Fundeps a request for information was made at the beginning of the year to the National government for the First Five-Year Plan between China and Argentina, emphasizing the construction of nuclear power plants. The main questions that were consulted were about the modalities and characteristics of the financing that the Argentine government agreed to finance the works contemplated in the First Five-Year Plan; the dependencies, officials and other actors involved.
Regarding the construction of nuclear power plants, a topic of relevance in the request for information, the state of construction of nuclear power plants was requested, what have been the social and environmental guidelines of the institutions involved in the project, which were the preselected and selected places to carry out the construction, the studies that were carried out to select the place of construction of the plants and, if there has been an environmental impact assessment (EIA) as if there were instances of citizen participation.
Although the request was answered late (July), the questions asked to the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance were not effectively answered. Just to mention some questions of the response to the request, the EIA documents were not provided, much less the studies carried out to select Lima, (province of Buenos Aires) as the place for the construction of the nuclear power plant. In general, the answers to the questions asked were brief, and most, if not all, did not provide the data requested by Fundeps.
In terms of access to information at the national level, progress has been made, as citizens can request information through the web. However, much work remains to be done in the field of open government, since the answers to the requests for information elude the root of the question being asked. Not much information is available and, neither, when requesting the responsible entities, the information that is required is obtained.
More Information
Author
Gonzalo Roza
Contact
gon.roza@fundeps.org
Pride is political. A review of the 11th March of dissident pride
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
From emotional content to what advertising doesn’t show
The 11th March of the Dissenting Pride, the most massive to date, sought to show that, under the glitter, colors and music, there is a history of struggles and denunciations that are far from being what some speeches show us as a (maybe desirable) reality.
The violence of genders that affect the LGBTTTIQ + community is almost impossible to imagine for those who live and conceive of reality from the cisheteronorma. Camila Sosa Villada, renowned playwright, actress, writer and trans activist, tells how her childhood was one of the saddest stages of her life:
These violence have its highest point in hate crimes by sexual orientation, identity and / or gender expression that, by 2018, reached 147, and 68 by the first half of 2019, in Argentina. Most of these crimes affect younger people (between 30 and 39 years old), which coincides with the average life expectancy of trans people who have a minimum of 35.5 and a maximum of 41.25 years , while for cis people in Latin America it is 75 years.
The day and the street as a territory of dispute: the claims
Again, as for 11 years, pride took to the streets. Like the carnivals that enable “out” the repressed, denied, the invisible by monstrous and dissident. They do it in broad daylight, showing everything.
Here, evidencing that the private is political and public, the motto of the March is raised: “We are driven by urgency to dissent, we win the streets until pride expires,” and the following claims were raised:
Labor rights for sex workers.
Pride and fight
This year’s march was the most summoning since its inception, 11 years ago. And it was lived as a great party, with the axis set to express ourselves freely in the streets and in the light of day, as we are. But it is very difficult to be happy in a context not only of lack of recognition of rights, but of systematic violence and harassment. Without going any further, the recent attack by Monsignor Aguer towards the identities, orientations and expressions of sexual diversity, which he describes as perverse, unnatural and impure, realizes how much we need to continue fighting.
Pride is not just glitter. It goes hand in hand with the courage of those who, through their own existence, resist and fight.
… and it is that courage that was seen in this march.
Authors
Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, Mayca Balaguer y Mila Francovich
Contact
Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org
Alta Gracia: they denounce spraying near homes
2Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
On the occasion of repeated fumigation episodes at a short distance from their homes, residents of the Tajamar Reserve District of the city of Alta Gracia, contacted Fundeps through our website “Agrochemical Emergency”. Concerned about the situation, after accessing information about the routes of action, they decided to file a criminal complaint with the Judicial Unit of the same city.
Thus, on October 28 they denounced that in repeated opportunities, at night hours and at a very short distance from homes, they were able to observe the presence of machines performing fumigation work. They also said that these fields are located a few hundred meters from their homes and that they have corn plantations. According to the complainants, there would be 60 families that would be affected by the spraying.
Based on the aforementioned complaint, a summary action was initiated, which was originally labeled as “Crime against Public Security.” The facts were communicated to the Prosecutor of Instruction of multiple competence of the city of Alta Gracia, in order to initiate the corresponding criminal investigation.
It should be remembered that this type of behavior – illegal spraying – is subject to sanction from Art. 55 and 56 of the hazardous waste law 24.051, which represses those using hazardous waste – please agrochemicals – poison, adulterate with imprisonment or contaminate in a manner dangerous to health, soil, water, atmosphere or the environment in general.
Author
Augusto Lopez
Contact
Juan Bautista Lopez, juanbautistalopez@fundeps.org
Public Private Participation in Argentina
This document provides a summary overview of what Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are, how they work in Argentina, what are the main projects with this type of contract and what is the balance that can be done on PPPs.
Gender in the classroom and in academic discussions
Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
During the month of October, we participated in two meetings with professionals, teachers and students of the FCC, where we discussed communication and advertising from a gender perspective.
The first one was held on October 17, within the framework of the Annual Cycle of Encounters and Debates, conducted by the Chair of Television Programming Policies of the Faculty of Communication Sciences. There we present the results of our research “Media organizations and gender”. The Cycle was based on an initiative created by the teaching staff integrated by Ulises Oliva and Sofía Moroz, with the interest of bringing the problems that cross the various spaces linked to communication from a critical perspective into the classroom.
The day was held in a classroom full of participatory students and teachers and aware of the need to promote up-to-date training and attentive to the social, political and cultural transformations and demands of the moment.
Those who participated in the space, did not skimp on gestures of amazement at the figures of gender inequalities in the journalism industry. The surprise revealed not only the importance of research on communication and gender, but also the need for its dissemination among those who are (and will be) part of this industry.
We understand that this meeting means a great step towards incorporating the gender perspective in the curricular contents. Something that probably is not yet reflected in the formal programs of the subjects, but that, little by little, begins to be seen as part of the real curriculums.
The second space of which we participated was the Institute of Institutional Communication that opened the doors to the debate on advertising messages in the meeting on “Communication, advertising and gender perspective“, held on October 28.
In this instance, we present some of the lines of research addressed in the “Advertising Sector and Gender” report, emphasizing our contribution to the analysis of the advertising industry: the gender composition of advertising agencies, both labor structures, and their policies of genre.
We were sharing the space with Manuel Bomheker, who presented some methodological tools so that those who are dedicated to communication can incorporate the gender perspective in their productions. Also present was Elisa Robledo, who contributed to the critical analysis of advertising pieces, showing the evolution of advertising messages and suggesting new routes for more inclusive and diverse advertising, from a gender perspective.
This time, the discussion took place between communication and advertising professionals, who day by day rehearse strategies to produce more democratic contents that enable the construction of meanings from the diversity of identities.
Through these activities, the University acquires a leading role in the transformation of communication since it enables the deconstruction of discourses and senses from the critical approach paid by feminisms. Therefore, we celebrate the generation of these spaces for discussion and capacity building for those who are dedicated and dedicated to the production of media and advertising content.
Contact
Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org
Fifth session of the UN on the binding treaty of Companies and Human Rights.
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
From October 14 to 18, the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the revised draft of the binding treaty of transnational corporations regarding human rights (HR) was held in Geneva.
Of the sessions, not only the representatives of the Member States, but also civil society organizations (CSOs) and social movements participated. During the sessions, the Brazilian delegation, along with other delegations, raised the need for negotiations to be direct between States and without civil society; This was rejected not only by CSOs, but also by delegations from other States who highlighted the important role that CSOs have played during these 4 years of negotiations with their contributions to the binding treaty. The need for organizations to participate in the process to ensure that human rights in communities affected by transnational corporations are respected and remedied was also highlighted.
As a point in favor, the progress of the process in comparison with the first draft of the treaty (draft zero) was highlighted. However, many questions remain to be addressed since the new legal instrument would not be guaranteeing justice for communities affected by transnational corporations and, in addition, there are terms that continue to be too ambiguous and will lend themselves to the free interpretation of transnational corporations in disrepair. of the protection of human rights.
At the end of the week of negotiations in the framework of the fifth session, the sixth session was approved with a new version of the revised treaty for the year 2020. It is relevant to emphasize the need for the treaty to contemplate the victims and those affected by the Human rights violations caused by transnational corporations.
More information
Contact
Gonzalo Roza, gon.roza@fundeps.org
The role of the AIIB in the New Route of the Green Headquarters
The article proposes an approach to financing the Silk Road and the Silk Road Initiative, trying to analyze the extent to which the recently created Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) plays as a “financial engine” of the Initiative, It represents (or not) an opportunity for the objective of greater environmental and social sustainability in the infrastructure projects carried out within the framework of the “New Green Silk Road”.
Organizations and specialists call a “Social Anti-Corruption Agreement”
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
A diverse group of specialists and civil society organizations developed a “Social Anti-Corruption Agreement”, a document in which they identify a set of public policy proposals that Argentina should implement to ensure state capacities in prevention, detection and sanction of the corruption.
The document is available at www.acuerdoanticorrupcion.org y se encuentra abierto a adhesiones desde el miércoles 16 de octubre del 2019.
The Agreement sets the stage for a public debate focused on the impact of corruption on inequality, human rights and the quality of democracy. The reforms that are promoted are aimed at the different powers of the State.
The group that drives this initiative is made up of Roberto Carlés, Manuel Garrido, Ricardo Gil Lavedra, Natalia Volosin, ACIJ, Acción Colectiva, CIPCE, Directorio Legislativo, Poder Ciudadano, Cambio Democrático, CLADH, Democracia en Red, Nuestra Mendoza y Salta Transparente.
The document contains a total of 74 proposals, which are part of 16 thematic axes, presented in the following 6 sections: “A new national integrity system”; “Investigation and sanction of public and private corruption”; “Prevention of corruption in typically critical situations”; “Transparency policies”; “Institutional strengthening”; and “Citizen Participation.”
Among the thematic axes that are proposed are the reform in the field of public ethics, a new system of purchases and contracting of the State, procedural improvements for the prosecution of corruption, transparency policies in the financing of the policy, improvements in the mechanisms and control bodies, transparency in markets and financial flows, as well as the opening of instances of citizen participation in the fight against corruption.
Argentine institutions suffer from structural deficiencies, the product of which corruption affects the full validity of human rights, mainly in the most vulnerable sectors. This phenomenon, in which both the State and the private sector occupy a central role, impacts the quality and availability of public goods and services and undermines confidence in the institutions of democracy.
In order for these public policy proposals to be effective, the authorities must promote their implementation through the full participation of citizens, in a transparent manner and through a constant process of accountability. For this, it is essential to establish indicators that allow to know the evolution of these policies and their effective impact in the fight against corruption.
Accordingly, the Anti-Corruption Social Agreement is a call to all the actors of Argentine social life, and particularly to the parties, political referents and authorities of all the powers of the State, to adhere to this document and use it as a trigger for new debates, in order to generate the structural and long-term consensus that we need to reach for the construction of a country with less corruption and, in particular, more just and equal.
From Fundeps we gave our support, add your membership.
Contact:
Nina Sibilla, ninasibilla@fundeps.org
Argentina continues to bet on nuclear plants with Chinese financing
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
The strengthening of the Sino-Argentine relationship was observed with the signing of the First Five-Year Plan (2017-2021) between the two actors, which includes 16 projects to be carried out in the country with Chinese financing. One of the projects that generates economic, but above all environmental, questions is the construction of two nuclear power plants, Atucha III and IV.
Around nuclear power plants there are opinions for and against. There are defenders of this type of energy due to low emissions, however, there is an increasing number of opponents of nuclear energy due to its impacts on the environment, the risk it means and how expensive it is in relation to wind and solar energy .
Our country has three nuclear reactors, the first, Atucha I, was built in 1974; the second plant is that of Embalse that began operating in 1984 and the third plant was Atucha II, which began operating in the national system as of 2014. Nuclear-type energy represents 6% of the country’s energy. Energy Matrix.
The agreement for the construction of two nuclear power plants dates from the government of Cristina Kirchner, who agreed to build with China in 2015. When Macri took over as president, the effectiveness of this type of energy was questioned, however it was ratified the agreement with China on the construction of nuclear power plants (Atucha III and IV). Despite this, due to the economic crisis that the country is going through, the government had to choose to build a single plant so that the size of the loan is not so large and the country can face it.
Thus, the Atucha III nuclear power plant will be built, which will add 745 megawatts to the network and will be located in the town of Lima, Province of Buenos Aires. The contract for the construction of this plant includes a loan from China for $ 10 billion, which covers 85% of construction costs; the rest will be invested by Argentina.
Initially, when the agreement was signed, the governments of both countries expressed the importance of signing the contracts before September 2017, and, consequently, begin the construction of one of the plants that same year and the second in 2019. However, none of these events happened.
This Five-Year Plan aims to increase complementarity, cooperation and benefits in the infrastructure sector, contributing to the development of bilateral economic relations and the nations of both countries.
Chinese financing has grown markedly in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Argentina has not been the exception to this growth. Relations between the two countries have evolved in such a way that China is important as a bilateral lender, where the largest amount of loans has been allocated to infrastructure and energy projects.
From Fundeps a request for information was made at the beginning of the year to the National government for the First Five-Year Plan between China and Argentina, emphasizing the construction of nuclear power plants. The main questions that were consulted were about the modalities and characteristics of the financing that the Argentine government agreed to finance the works contemplated in the First Five-Year Plan; the dependencies, officials and other actors involved.
Regarding the construction of nuclear power plants, a topic of relevance in the request for information, the state of construction of nuclear power plants was requested, what have been the social and environmental guidelines of the institutions involved in the project, which were the preselected and selected places to carry out the construction, the studies that were carried out to select the place of construction of the plants and, if there has been an environmental impact assessment (EIA) as if there were instances of citizen participation.
Although the request was answered late (July), the questions asked to the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance were not effectively answered. Just to mention some questions of the response to the request, the EIA documents were not provided, much less the studies carried out to select Lima, (province of Buenos Aires) as the place for the construction of the nuclear power plant. In general, the answers to the questions asked were brief, and most, if not all, did not provide the data requested by Fundeps.
In terms of access to information at the national level, progress has been made, as citizens can request information through the web. However, much work remains to be done in the field of open government, since the answers to the requests for information elude the root of the question being asked. Not much information is available and, neither, when requesting the responsible entities, the information that is required is obtained.
More Information
Author
Gonzalo Roza
Contact
gon.roza@fundeps.org
Córdoba approves the complete ban on advertising of tobacco products
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”
Until the enactment of tobacco law No. 10,661, in the province of Córdoba, the prohibitions on advertising established by national law 26.6887 governed by adhesion of provincial law No. 10.026. National law prohibits the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products directly or indirectly and through any means of dissemination or communication; leaving the advertisements at points of sale, the publications of companies in the sector and direct communications safe, with the prior consent and verification of the age of majority of the recipients.
However, through the new local regulations, progress is made in a higher standard of protection of the right to health than the one established in the national norm, completely prohibiting advertising, promotion and sponsorship and including the display of the product as part of that prohibition. Specifically, the law prohibits:
“The advertising, promotion, sponsorship and exhibition of products made with tobacco, its derivatives and accessories for smoking, in dispensers and any other kind of shelving located in the premises where such products are sold, and the sponsorship, sponsorship and use of direct or indirect incentives that encourage the purchase or that offer promotional discounts, delivery of gifts and prizes in money or species for the acquisition or consumption of the products and elements mentioned in this Law ”.
As for electronic devices, the standard prohibits “throughout the scope of the Province of Córdoba the distribution and marketing of products intended for smoking, as well as electronic devices with tobacco or any other substance that emits smoke, gases or vapors using the electronic cigarette, vapers and all other devices of a similar nature, to all persons under eighteen years of age ”.
From Fundeps, more than two years ago, we presented a bill with this initiative, in line with the recommendation of the World Health Organization. We rely on surveys that we carry out together with the Tobacco Smoke Free Alliance (ALIAR) that show that, in recent years, the points of sale include striking, colorful and visible advertising from outside these spaces. These strategies are more frequent at points of sale near schools. In this context, it is not surprising that more than half of the people who smoke start their consumption between 12 and 15 years.
We welcome this breakthrough which means a breakthrough, now we have to work for the proper implementation and supervision of these regulations. Our work as a civil society will continue to accompany this process and continue to demand that the highest levels of protection of the right to health be guaranteed.
More information
Contact
Agustina Mozzoni, agustinamozzoni@fundeps.org
We participate in the First Feminist Economy Day
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
During the First Feminist Economy Conference, in which different themes related to feminist perspectives of the economy and the main issues of women in the current system were presented, we present the work “Care and (equal) opportunities for women in media companies and advertising agencies. ”The presentation analyzed the impact of care tasks on women workers in these sectors in Buenos Aires and Córdoba.
The work was based on research “Media organizations and gender: Equal opportunities for women and LGBTQ + people in companies, unions and universities” and “Advertising sector and gender: Advertising agencies, associations, unions and educational institutions analyzed with a feminist perspective ”That we carry out together with the Civil Association Communication for Equality with the support of the Heinrich Boll Foundation. One of the relevant points of the research focuses on the analysis of the distribution of care tasks.
According to official data, 88.9% of women participate in unpaid household chores, to which they dedicate 6.4 hours a day, while 57.9% of men declare having done them for a total of 3.4 hours . These figures show the rigid sexual division of labor that affects the professional development of women compared to their male peers. This reality is reproduced in all work areas and advertising agencies and media organizations, objects of our research, are no exception.
This prevailing inequality is, in turn, the product of the absence of public and / or business policies to mitigate the impact. According to the data investigated, in the media companies of Córdoba, the number of women hired under a fixed term, part-time or who are monotributistas, in relation to the total number of women is 10% higher than men, and the percentage of women who enter the media through internships is 57.14% more than men. This data includes the general picture that affects women (and diverse and dissident identities) in terms of their precariousness and job instability.
Surprisingly, the advertising industry shows a high percentage of hiring in dependency ratio (90%) and full time. Contracts with freelance mode or under the monotax regime, as well as part-time ones, are recorded in a low proportion. However, the home work format is identified on a small scale and is never formalized. In this sense, it is important to highlight how the implementation of this type of work is linked to care tasks. Well, although they are proposed as positive forms of labor flexibility, they result in precarious ways that mainly affect women, since it allows them to “reconcile” this work with the domestic one.
In view of this unfavorable panorama, the care policies in force in both industries reproduce the imbalances that exist at a general level in their allocation and distribution, especially affecting the autonomy of women, reducing their opportunities for professional development, becoming a fundamental factor in the perpetuation of gender gaps. This is because they reproduce the sexual division of labor and cover only women workers in a dependency relationship. This becomes problematic if we remember that it is women who have a higher rate of labor informality.
Both in media companies and in advertising agencies, the measures taken in relation to care are limited to following the provisions of the law, such as the granting of licenses, especially to women mothers during the early childhood of their children . However, we notice poor compliance with policies such as lactaries and nurseries. There are policies developed by companies that compensate for non-compliance with regulations with specific and informal reconciliation practices with different levels of flexibility. Some of them, we could consider them as exceeding the law, such as specific licenses, possibility of working from home or flexibility in the time of entry and / or departure, extension of the license without pay or the progressive reinstatement with enjoyment Of salary. In this context it is worth mentioning that, although these initiatives exist, some of them, such as home office, are scarce and respond to specific requests of each worker, with the majority being women who request them. After having participated in the historic first Feminist Economy Day in Córdoba, we celebrate the realization of these meetings where it is possible to rethink, discuss and deconstruct, from feminist currents, economic inequality, inequality of opportunities, discrimination and sexual division of job.
Authors
Ivana Sánchez and Luz Baretta
Contact
Cecilia Bustos Moreschi
The electronic cigarette, a harmful trend in social networks
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
On October 2, we filed complaints with the Secretary of Government of Health of the Nation and ANMAT, requesting the elimination of music videos that advertise and promote the use of electronic cigarettes and that are hosted on the YouTube platform. Additionally, we ask that the links found in the descriptions of the videos and that redirect to the website to acquire them be removed.
Electronic cigarettes constitute a real threat to public health throughout the world and their consumption is constantly increasing even in those countries where tobacco consumption had been eradicated. The eCig generally works with a battery coil that heats a liquid solution composed of nicotine, essential tobacco oils, flavoring and flavoring substances and other chemical substances, which are inhaled by the user. These levels of nicotine concentration in the solutions can vary according to the product but the negative impact on health is the same.
The industry spends millions of dollars annually to market its products through various advertising, promotion and sponsorship actions. For some time now and with the increase in the use of the internet and social networks, an important focus of marketing campaigns has been the use of young influencers, who through various types of publications have the possibility of influencing opinion and behavior of thousands of people.
This has been the strategy employed by MigVapor LLC, which for some time now uses different artists from the music industry to promote their products, through the appearance of several models of electronic cigarettes being used by the artists, the Visible brand name and in the descriptions of the videos, a redirect link to the website where they can be purchased and in some cases, including, including promotional discounts.
We have found this advertising in the following music videos, available for viewing on the YouTube platform of Argentina:
The advertising contained in the music videos, with images that seduce young people and with strong intentions to influence the consumption of tobacco, its derivatives and associated products, with the referral to a specific link to acquire the product, located in the description of the video, undermines the fundamental right to health guaranteed by constitutional norms and international treaties with a constitutional hierarchy and violates the resolution of ANMAT 3226/11 and the law 26.687 on the regulation of advertising, promotion and consumption of tobacco products , in addition to violating the right of consumers regarding prevention information that is unclear or non-existent regarding the consequences and impact on health due to the use of eCig.
It is necessary to design new public policies aimed at strengthening compliance with current regulations and actions that meet the new challenges generated by advances in technology and constant innovations for the dissemination and promotion of this type of products and to raise awareness to the population about the risks of their consumption.
More information
Author
Ana Carla Barrera Vitali
Contact
Agustina Mozzoni agustinamozzoni@fundeps.org
What is the Green Climate Fund and how does it work?
The purpose of this document is to describe the operation of the Green Climate Fund, where its financial resources, its projects, operational policies come from and how its accountability mechanism works.