Judge Halts Corporate Communications Decree

A court in Uruguay has issued an injunction preventing the implementation of a decree that would have allowed tobacco companies to print information on cigarette sticks and to include inserts in tobacco packs.

Public health campaigners had criticized the decree as undermining Uruguay’s plain tobacco packaging law.

After President Lacalle Pou issued the decree, health campaigners filed a constitutional lawsuit to reverse it. The judge ruled that the decree jeopardized children’s rights and infringed on Uruguay’s international obligations to health and human rights laws.

Anti-smoking activists welcomed the ruling. “We applaud the tireless advocates in Uruguay who fought this measure in court and won,” wrote Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in a statement.

“While the Lacalle Pou administration has shown an alarming willingness to cave to the interests of Big Tobacco, the public health community in Uruguay remains a steadfast guardian of the country’s renowned tobacco control laws.

“Uruguay’s actions should serve as a reminder to advocates and governments around the world to be ever vigilant of Big Tobacco companies as they seek to undo decades of progress in driving down rates of tobacco use.”