Despite having the National Tobacco Control Law, Argentina faces challenges in addressing the tobacco epidemic in a solid and comprehensive manner. Although the Law is a valuable tool, it is not enough today to deal with the new strategies of the tobacco industry. In this context, the provinces have the opportunity to promote initiatives to complement it, improving health protection standards and tobacco control policies at the local level.

“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”.

Thirteen years have passed since the National Tobacco Control Law was passed, and although it has been an important starting point, in our country 22% of the adult population and 20% of adolescents still smoke, causing almost 43 thousand deaths a year. In addition, the tobacco epidemic costs the health system more than $1.5 billion pesos annually to treat related diseases, and what the State earns from tobacco taxes is not enough to cover even a fifth of this amount.

The National Law establishes the prohibition of smoking in closed spaces, establishes the obligation of health warnings on cigarette packages and determines certain restrictions on advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products.

However, it is insufficient mainly because:

1. does not expressly include emerging products within its scope, such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products;
2. provides limited protection for smoke-free environments and
3. establishes exceptions to the prohibitions on advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

This implies gaps and grey areas in important areas, which enable the tobacco industry to continue deploying all its marketing strategies, with the aim of normalizing addiction and attracting more consumers, especially children and young people. The most commonly used strategies have to do with advertising and displaying products at points of sale, promotion at mass events and on social networks, and the launching of new products.

It should be noted that, despite not being included as emerging products in the National Law, electronic cigarettes were incorporated into its regulations with Decree 602/2013, after having been totally prohibited by provision 3226/2011 of the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology (ANMAT). Later, Resolution 565/2023 also prohibited the import, distribution, marketing, advertising or any form of promotion of heated tobacco products. However, this has not managed to prevent the marketing and increasing consumption of these products, especially among adolescents and young people.

In this context, it is urgent to update, strengthen and expand the existing tobacco control regulations. The National Law must be reformed to achieve greater scope and completely prohibit the industry’s new marketing strategies. However, it is not only the National State that has the responsibility of protecting the health of the population. Provincial States also have a crucial role in the design of public policies that protect health, and can implement effective and comprehensive measures to combat smoking.

In different parts of the country, there are several initiatives promoted by the provinces to complement the National Tobacco Control Law, even advancing in what this law left out and in the grey areas that the tobacco industries have taken advantage of.

These advances occur mainly in three crucial areas:

1. Incorporating emerging products into laws
2. Total ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship, including display at points of sale.
3. Expanding protection for smoke-free environments.

The inclusion of emerging products in subnational tobacco control regulations is a strategic step to, on the one hand, consider and strengthen in the provinces the protection standards that arise from the national legal framework, in particular provision 3226/11 and Resolution 565/2023. And, on the other, to ensure that the battery of measures provided for traditional cigarettes is also applied to emerging products, especially marketing restrictions and protection of smoke-free environments.

The total ban on advertising that includes the display of products at points of sale is a fundamental measure, since the National Tobacco Control Law expressly authorizes tobacco companies to carry out promotional and advertising actions in these places. Due to their high attendance, they are strategic for exposing people to images and messages that position the habit of smoking as something familiar and attractive. Taking advantage of these legal exceptions, industries have redirected their multi-million dollar investments in marketing – which increase year after year – towards these spaces.

Finally, extending the protection of smoke-free environments means reducing exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke as much as possible, since it is also a risk factor in the development of chronic non-communicable diseases. In this context, extending this protection to all closed public spaces, including work, cultural and sports spaces, transport stations, public and private health and educational institutions, is essential. Also, extending protection to play and recreation areas for children, aerobic stations and other areas for practicing sports in public squares, parks and promenades, becomes key to protecting the health of the population, specifically children, adolescents and young people.

The provinces in action

Over the past 12 years, there has been progress in the approval of subnational regulations that are worth highlighting. La Pampa, Tierra del Fuego and Córdoba managed to approve more comprehensive tobacco control regulations, while provinces such as Entre Ríos and Mendoza, while improving their protection standards, did so only in relation to a specific area of ​​regulation.

La Pampa

La Pampa was a pioneer in expanding the provisions of the National Tobacco Control Law on the prohibition of advertising. Thus, in 2012, it passed Law No. 2,701, which prohibits:

• All types of direct and indirect promotion and advertising of tobacco products, regardless of the means of dissemination.
• To the industry, sponsor events and participate in them with advertising clothing.
• Consuming tobacco products in any enclosed space, whether public or private, and also in any area of ​​health care and educational establishments.

In turn, in 2021, Law No. 3392 included within its scope all electronic devices with or without nicotine administration, and those developed in the future. In this way, the definition of “tobacco consumption” also covers these emerging products. In addition, the display of all products at points of sale was prohibited.

Tierra del Fuego

In 2017, Tierra del Fuego amended its Provincial Tobacco Control Law through Law 1,203. This law completely prohibits advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products, including the display of products in places of sale. The law also specifically covers electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products, applying the entire regulatory framework for traditional cigarettes to them.

Córdoba

In 2019, Córdoba approved Law 10,661, which expands Law No. 9113 of the Permanent Provincial Program for the Prevention and Control of Tobacco Use. This regulation contemplates:

• A complete ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products, including display at points of sale.
• Restrictions on electronic cigarettes and similar devices are now being brought into line. Their use in closed spaces and sale to minors under 18 years of age are also prohibited.

Entre Ríos

This province took legislative measures to combat smoking by adhering to the National Law in 2021 and thus repealing Provincial Law 9,862 on Tobacco Control. In this way, the protection of smoke-free environments was improved, while 9,862 contemplated exceptions and allowed smoking in gambling halls.
In turn, this regulation expanded its scope to include not only products made wholly or partially from tobacco, but also electronic devices with or without nicotine administration.

Mendoza

In May 2024, Mendoza incorporated Article 1 bis to Law No. 8382 on adherence to the National Tobacco Control Law, which establishes a ban on smoking in the rooms, balconies and terraces of casinos, expanding the scope of smoke-free environments.

We need better laws and more oversight

In recent years, many provinces have introduced bills to restrict tobacco advertising, expand smoke-free environments, and regulate emerging products. These efforts reflect a continuing commitment to improving the health and quality of life of citizens.

In this context, civil society values ​​the laws passed, as well as the various projects presented, and encourages that these advances at the subnational level be taken from a comprehensive perspective. In this sense, we consider it essential that a single legal instrument can advance with improvements in at least the three aspects mentioned, to achieve a synergy between all the proposed measures, which facilitates their implementation and, above all, contributes to a more effective approach to the tobacco epidemic.

We also understand that issuing regulations is not the only solution if we want to achieve an effective approach to this problem in the country. Adequate oversight and sanctions for non-compliance with the laws are essential for tobacco control policies to have a real impact.

The industry constantly exceeds the prohibitive rules on display at points of sale. It also violates the advertising ban by using shelves and illuminated signs visible from outside the premises, which easily attract people’s attention.

Smoke-free environments, on the other hand, are not always respected, especially in bars and dance clubs. Also, emerging products are often used in these closed spaces, demonstrating the lack of awareness about their dangers. Given this situation, we need to ensure the proper implementation of existing regulations, improving the mechanisms of oversight by the State and facilitating the avenues for citizen complaints.

As can be seen from the examples mentioned, the fight against smoking is not only about complying with the national legal framework, but there are options to go further by taking proactive and comprehensive measures. In this way, we encourage the involvement of all social and political actors so that more and more provinces commit to improving their tobacco control policies, to protect the health and quality of life of their entire population.

Provinces have the power, but also the responsibility, to promote and implement better strategies to combat smoking.

 

Check out the infographic on what provinces can do to stop the spread of smoking here.

 

More Information

• It is urgent to protect children and youth from the interference of the tobacco industry!
• An industry that does not give in

Author

Clara Díaz Yofre 

Contact

Maga Merlo Vijarra, magamerlov@fundeps.org

On World No Tobacco Day, we again call for the development and implementation of public health policies to be free of interference from tobacco companies. It is urgent that the Argentine State prioritize the well-being and health of its population, and especially those who are the focus of the marketing strategies of this industry, that is, children and youth.

“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”.

Tobacco and nicotine products are lethal. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 8 million people die each year due to the consumption of these products and 1.3 million people die from just being exposed to second-hand smoke. For its part, Argentina’s epidemiological context is not far behind. According to the latest World Youth Tobacco Survey (2018), our country has one of the highest prevalence rates of tobacco addiction in the region: 20.2% of adolescents smoke. As if that were not enough, the age of initiation into consumption is already between 12 and 15 years.

Although it is well known that tobacco kills up to half of those who consume it, States are permeable (and sometimes even complicit) to the wide range of interference strategies deployed by tobacco companies. In general terms, these strategies seek to hinder the processes of advancing more protective norms of the right to health, undermine existing regulatory frameworks, take advantage of certain legal loopholes, as well as the ineffectiveness of State control mechanisms and, Finally, -the greatest purpose- to increase their profits and generate the necessary conditions to guarantee the sustainability of their businesses.

In Argentina, the interference of the tobacco industry is present, mainly, through the permanent and sustained lobbying of authorities of the National State and the provinces, the sabotage of legislative processes, the misrepresentation of scientific evidence along with the construction of confusing narratives that They seek to position their products as having reduced risk and the generation of economic threats in the face of the development of policies that seek to regulate their activity.

Without going any further, the push and pull that is taking place within the framework of the debate over the Bases bill in the National Congress which, among other things, implies a reform in the tax structure on tobacco products, are a clear example of the way in which this interference materializes. Both the exchanges between legislators and the media coverage have focused on the economic damages that one or another tobacco company would suffer if the reform were to advance, without taking center stage the negative impact that public health would suffer with a tax modification of these characteristics. -which enables the presence of very cheap cigarettes on the market, hindering the reduction of consumption- and, least of all, the great scandal that represents the fact that public power intervenes (or rather, plays a decisive role) in decision-making. any tobacco industry.

Although this has been the case of interference that, in recent days, has acquired greater notoriety, it is also possible to find other cases that reveal that progress towards better regulatory frameworks is, historically, a process fraught with obstacles. In this sense, the numerous draft regulations stand out that, after the sanction of the National Tobacco Control Law in 2011, were presented in the National Congress with the purpose of strengthening the response of the Argentine State to marketing tactics. of the tobacco industry. Despite the different presentations by various political parties and the important efforts of civil society to promote them, none of them achieved legislative treatment, losing their parliamentary status.

Along these lines, the large number of failed attempts to get the Argentine State to ratify the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) deserves special mention. A survey of the databases of the Chamber of Deputies and Senators of the Nation showed that, between 2003 and 2022, 33 bills were submitted – 15 in the Senate and 18 in the Deputies –, postulating accession to the Framework Agreement and without None of them managed to reach the plenary session. This instrument and its ratification by the National State are necessary and urgent as it would allow for a comprehensive framework for the implementation of policies aimed at reducing supply, demand and health, social and environmental damage caused by products. tobacco and nicotine. In addition, it would provide effective tools to protect public health policies against the commercial interests of tobacco companies, as well as individuals or other organizations that work to promote the interests of this industry. Even though the positive and strategic implications of being part of the Framework Convention are more than evident, our country is the only one in South America and one of the few in the world that is not yet part of it.

That said, it is worth asking: what are the consequences of allowing the deployment and interference of these practices within the States and, particularly, the Argentine State? Who is really harmed?

Although our country has a regulatory framework that in preventive matters has adopted certain restrictions on marketing, the protection of smoke-free environments and the prohibition of emerging products (such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products), the truth is is that these regulations have become outdated in the face of an industry that is constantly renewing itself and that spends millions of dollars on amplifying and diversifying its marketing strategies. Added to this is the almost non-existence of oversight mechanisms by the State, which prevents the identification of violations of existing regulations, the application of sanctions to offenders and, ultimately, a serious weakening of the progress that – after many efforts – the Argentine population managed to achieve tobacco control policies.

This situation is especially critical for the protection of children and youth, who, because they are in a stage of training and development, are highly vulnerable to the manipulative practices of the tobacco industry. This deepens if regulatory frameworks and state responses are insufficient to combat them.

Industry strategies are diverse. The launch of innovative and sophisticated products, the construction of narratives that position them as the “alternative” to quit smoking, the organization or presence at massive events or parties, and the use of social networks together with the hiring of influencers for their promotion have a single purpose: to naturalize – especially among young people – the consumption of tobacco and nicotine products, create a new generation of consumers and maintain a captive audience among those who already suffer from this addiction.

There is no doubt that tobacco industry interference undermines efforts to reduce the tobacco epidemic in our country. For this reason, we reiterate that the ratification of the FCTC by the Argentine State would represent a fundamental step to reverse this situation, as well as a firm commitment to the health and quality of life of its youngest population.

Protecting public health policies from the stalking of corporate interests in this industry is the most challenging aspect of tobacco control and, at the same time, the most urgent and necessary. The Argentine population needs the commitment of all social actors and political forces so that their rights are prioritized. It is no longer possible to continue waiting.

Authors

Clara Diaz Yofre Maga

Merlo Vijarra

Contact

Maga Merlo, magamerlov@fundeps.org