Tobacco industry strategies to prevent a ban on the display of tobacco products and changes to health warning labels on the packaging in Brazil

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Through packaging and marketing, the tobacco industry (TI) is able to increase the appeal of its products and reduce the effectiveness of health warning labels (HWLs). Based on scientific evidence and the principles of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), ANVISA, the Brazilian surveillance and regulatory agency, conducted a process to implement new regulations at the point-of-sale (POS), including a display ban, and new parameters to HWLs. In order to prevent the regulation from entering into force, the TI strategically used several approaches. The objective of this study was to analyze the approaches used by the TI to prevent the implementation of a tobacco display ban and new requirements to HWLs.

METHODS

In order to identify and describe TI’s approaches, we reviewed several sources of documentation, including published articles, reports, legislation, TI documents, and media stories.

RESULTS

Well-known, reported approaches were used by the TI in order to prevent the implementation of new regulations. These approaches included political interference, litigation, and funding studies to question tobacco control measures as previously reported in Brazil and other countries.

CONCLUSIONS

Using established approaches, the TI successfully stopped the implementation of a tobacco display ban and new parameters to HWLs in Brazil.