“How can we allow the tobacco industry to fill its coffers while we, the people, have to empty our pockets to fend for and suffer all the harms the tobacco industry has caused? It is high time to shift the financial burden from people and communities to the tobacco industry for all the harms caused by its businesses,” said Shobha Shukla while opening the launch of the historic Global Week of Action to Make Big Tobacco Pay.
“No matter where we live or what we look like, everyone deserves to lead a healthy life. But the tobacco industry sells dangerous and deadly products at huge profits. Meanwhile, we all pay—with our lives, our taxes, and our environment,” said Daniel Dorado, Tobacco Campaign Director at Corporate Accountability and organiser of the Make Big Tobacco Pay coalition, and a recipient of this year’s prestigious World Health Organization (WHO) World No Tobacco Day Award.
Many people know that tobacco use kills approximately 8 million people worldwide each year and is a risk factor for many life-altering diseases, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and TB. Every disease and untimely death caused by tobacco and nicotine products could have been prevented. Even one tobacco-related death is one too many.
But few people realise that the tobacco industry also costs society more than USD 1.4 trillion every year to treat these preventable diseases and clean up the industry’s toxic pollution. Cigarette butts, which are made of plastic, are the most littered item in the world. E-cigarette waste continues to grow, and both products leach toxic chemicals into our water and soil.
Meanwhile, tobacco corporations generate nearly USD 1 trillion in annual revenue by addicting people to products they know are dangerous and deadly. That is more than Google, Meta, and Apple combined.
“If we only clean up ‘downstream,’ the industry gets the profits while communities bear the pollution, clean-up costs, and health harms. This is not an accident; it is a business model—one that privatises the profits and socialises the harm,” said Willow Najjar Anderson, Senior Staff Attorney at the Public Health Law Center.
“Tobacco corporations cheat us financially—whether we use their products or not. The industry can only be profitable because it has foisted the costs of its business onto people and governments,” said Jaime Arcila, Senior Researcher at Corporate Accountability.
“Fortunately, we have a powerful tool to make Big Tobacco pay for its harms: the global tobacco treaty,” he added.
A total of 183 nations worldwide have ratified the legally binding World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). Signatories are committed to holding the tobacco industry legally and financially liable for its harms (Article 19) and preventing industry interference in health policymaking (Article 5.3).
Advocates emphasised that Article 19 provides multiple pathways to establish liability beyond large-scale litigation, as many countries lack judicial systems that are adequately equipped to hold transnational corporations accountable.
“We have made a lot of progress on WHO FCTC Article 19 on liability at the last two global tobacco treaty meetings (COPs), and this Global Week of Action is so important in maintaining momentum ahead of the next one,” said Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy, Managing Attorney at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).
“The Brazilian government is trying to implement FCTC Article 19 through a lawsuit against the two largest cigarette manufacturers in the country and the world, along with their national partners. This action was proposed in 2019 by the Attorney General’s Office and aims to reimburse the public health system for the costs of treating 27 smoking-related diseases. It is a very important lawsuit not only for Brazil but for the world, as the final decision will have a positive or negative impact on similar efforts in other countries,” said Mariana Pinho, Tobacco Control Coordinator at ACT Promoção da Saúde (ACT Health Promotion), Brazil.
“We need to make Big Tobacco pay through any and all means necessary—litigation, regulation, sanctions, and every other available mechanism to build healthier communities where people come first,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability & Public Participation Africa (CAPPA).
During the Week of Action, advocates will call on governments to advance liability measures at both national and international levels. The week began with an online launch on June 1, followed by in-person and virtual actions in Mexico, Brazil, the United States, the Philippines, Nigeria, and Ghana. Partner organisations are also circulating a petition to Make Big Tobacco Pay, which has already gathered nearly 40,000 signatures worldwide.
“Finding the tobacco industry at fault means very little if the penalties amount to peanuts compared with the scale of harm caused by its businesses. Our goal should always be clear: we want the tobacco industry to pay the full costs of its products, both to health and the environment. We should not stop at exposing the industry’s wrongdoing; we must ensure compensation and remediation,” said Debby Sy of the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC).
“There are many ways to hold the tobacco industry accountable. We have been working in countries to explore environmental law, which is an innovative approach with significant potential, especially in countries where judicial systems are not particularly strong, to make Big Tobacco pay for its actions,” said Patricia Sosa, Regional Advocacy Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Corporate Accountability also announced the creation of the Yul Dorado Make Big Tobacco Pay Award to recognise visionary leadership in advancing health justice and tobacco industry accountability. Beginning next year, the award will honour outstanding efforts by governments, civil society organisations, and advocates helping to advance the global movement to make Big Tobacco pay for the harms it causes.
#MakeBigTobaccoPay
It is time for accountability and for the tobacco industry—Big Tobacco—to pay for all the harms it has caused to human lives and our planet.
