Uruguay’s government will not back down on standardized tobacco packaging, according to a Xinhua Newswire story by Mu Xuequan quoting President Tabare Vazquez.
Vazquez’s remarks came on Thursday after a judicial decision suspended a presidential decree mandating such packaging.
“No tobacco company should think that this government is going to backtrack,” Vazquez told reporters after British American Tobacco filed a successful motion to block the decree, arguing that it was ‘impossible’ to bring in the packaging in the six-month period granted by the decree.
“Public health interests are above commercial interests,” said the president, adding: “the government is going to continue to categorically defend the health of the population”.
While the government “respects” the resolution, it has filed a motion of its own to continue its anti-smoking policies, said Vazquez, who is a trained oncologist.
A bill mandating standardized packaging has stalled in Congress.
The story said that since Uruguay had stepped up its anti-smoking drive during Vazquez’s first term as president (2005-2010), the country’s smoking incidence had fallen from 35 percent to 21 percent.
Last year, the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes dismissed a lawsuit brought against Uruguay by Philip Morris, which alleged that the country’s anti-smoking policies were harming revenue.
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