How You Can Help Hold Big Tobacco Accountable
Nearly 20 years ago, a U.S. Federal District judge found that the major cigarette manufacturers violated civil racketeering laws for deliberately defrauding the public.
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World No Tobacco Day and ACS CAN Report
May 27, 2016
Report from American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Underscores Urgent Need for Congress to Put Kids before Tobacco Industry by Approving Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
* Embargoed report available upon request*
Denver, CO– May 27, 2016 – Increased funding for tobacco education, prevention, and cessation programs, coupled with enactment of the Colorado Clean indoor Air Act a decade ago in Colorado helped improve the Centennial State’s reputation as a health leader, but a new report released by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) to coincide with World No Tobacco Day (May 31) makes the case that Congress must approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement and put kids’ health before tobacco industry profits. Tobacco will kill one billion people globally this century unless countries take action.
In recent years, tobacco companies have used trade and investment agreements to sue governments when they have tried, for example, to reduce packaging attractiveness or increase health warnings to reduce the marketing appeal to youth. These lawsuits – and the threat of future lawsuits – are intended to intimidate countries from adopting or implementing effective tobacco control policies that can help save lives.
“Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States and around the world,” said ACS CAN Colorado Government Relations Director R.J. Ours. “By approving the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, Congress has the unprecedented opportunity to help save lives by averting avoidable death from tobacco use rather than promoting the interests of the tobacco industry.”
The TPP contains a provision that prevents tobacco companies from using the agreement to challenge tobacco control measures and will put the United States and other participating countries in a better position to save lives by protecting children and adults from the dangers of tobacco.
Protecting Children and Reducing the Global Tobacco Burden: Trading Tobacco Company Protection for Public Health features new stats and info graphics detailing what’s at stake if the tobacco industry is allowed to continue intimidating countries trying to pass tobacco control policies.
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.
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