Witness History
Witness History
Uruguay v the tobacco giant
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March 4, 2024
10 minutes
Available for over a year
Uruguay was one of the first countries in the world to introduce anti-smoking laws.
But in 2010, the tobacco giant Philip Morris took the country to court claiming the measures devalued its investments.
The case pitted the right of a country to introduce health policies against the commercial freedoms of a cigarette company.
Uruguay’s former Public Health Minister María Julia Muñoz tells Grace Livingstone about the significance of the ban and its fallout.
(Photo: An anti-tobacco installation in Montevideo, Uruguay. Credit: Pablo La Rosa/Reuters)