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Tag: Uruguay

  • Study: 60% Tax Hike Would Lower Smoking, Raise Revenue in Uruguay 

    Study: 60% Tax Hike Would Lower Smoking, Raise Revenue in Uruguay 

    In Montevideo, Uruguay, a Universidad de la República (Udelaar) study projected that a 60% increase in cigarette taxes from 2025 to 2028 would reduce smoking by 19% (49,000 people) and yet increase tax revenue by 24%. The research, led by Patricia Triunfo and Zuleika Ferre, analyzed data from 1997 to 2022, confirming that Uruguay’s anti-smoking policies since 2010 have significantly lowered consumption.

    The study highlights a price elasticity of -0.47, indicating tax hikes effectively reduce demand. Smoking accounts for 15% of adult deaths in Uruguay, 16.7% of health expenditure, and 50% of smokers die prematurely.

     “Evaluating public policies is a challenge because of how they are implemented, sometimes in simultaneous layers,” said Triunfo. “The big drama is to demonstrate causality between policies and reduction of smoking.”

    The study used aggregate data on legal cigarette sales, combined with variables such as prices, income, and regulations. Their work included collaborations with Jeffrey Harris of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and funding from the Bloomberg Foundation.

  • Judge Halts Corporate Communications Decree

    Judge Halts Corporate Communications Decree

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    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.”

  • Outrage About Inserts

    Outrage About Inserts

    Photo: Valeri Vatel

    Anti-tobacco activists are outraged about a recent government decree in Uruguay that allows cigarette manufacturers to print information on cigarette sticks and include inserts in tobacco packs.

    In 2019, Uruguay became the first country in Latin America to require plain packaging of tobacco products. Pioneered in Australia, plain packaging requires that tobacco packs have a uniform color and texture and prohibits any branding, logos or other promotional elements inside or attached to tobacco products.

    The measure is meant to reduce the attractiveness and appeal of tobacco products and increase the noticeability of health warnings.

    According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), the recent government decision allows tobacco companies to market their products in ways the plain packaging legislation was designed to prevent.

    “The government has put the interests of the tobacco industry ahead of the health of all Uruguayans,” wrote CTFK President Matthew Myers in a statement, adding that it is not the first time that President Lacalle Pou’s administration “capitulated” to the tobacco industry.

    Prior to the administration’s decision on plain packaging, the government reversed a decree that had banned the sale of tobacco-heating products like IQOS and Glo.