Uruguay vs. Philip Morris

While I was in Uruguay last year, I posted about the sickly, shocking, and unsightly images plastered on the side of cigarette cartons by government mandate. The disturbing photos were required to fill at least 80% of the package.


Now it appears Philip Morris has filed a case against Uruguay's public health measures. I'm not surprised. Images of dying babies certainly don't help cigarette sales.

Furthermore, Eyes on Trade suggests "the implication of the BIT [Swiss-Uruguay Bilateral Investment Treaty] was not more jobs created in Uruguay, but a platform for a long existing entity to challenge Uruguay's efforts to reduce smoking deaths - and maybe, just maybe, put a chill on anti-tobacco legislation in other developing countries - now a primary market for Multinational Big Tobacco."

Personally, I'm for trade. Against Big Tobacco. End of story.

Want a Smoke?

New Images "decorate" cigarette cartons. This article in El Pais, gives a glimpse at the new labels cigarette companies are required to print on their cigarette cartons. See the labels below, but be warned that they are very graphic.


Since arriving in Uruguay I've been abhorred by the images of babies smoking, corroded lungs, and other nasty graphics already plastered on the side of cigarette boxes (I don't smoke but I have friends that do). Now, the images are to get worse. More graphic. More terrifying. And surpisingly these photos have to cover at least 80% of the carton.



Shocking, right? Wouldn't seeing these make you think twice about lighting up next time? I don't know.

I've talked with friends about how they can continue to smoke while such terrible things are printed on the side of their cigarette packs, but they have all said, that they are aware of the health risks, but it's not enough to change their behavior. One friend said she covers the picture of the baby with her hand. Nobody needs to see that.