Take Action!
We can make Big Tobacco pay for the costs of its deadly products. But we are going up against powerful and wealthy corporations. It’s going to take all of us taking action to make an impact.
Add your name to the more than 30,000 signatures! Sign the petition below calling on governments to make Big Tobacco pay for its abuses.
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If you are part of an organization or an expert on public health or liability, add your name to our open letter.
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Why are we paying -- with our taxes, our health, our lives, and our planet -- to sustain one of the world’s most deadly industries? Why are our governments being forced to pay billions of dollars to address the impacts of the tobacco epidemic, diverting resources that could be used on essential services such as education, food security, and housing? Why are people -- particularly Black communities, people of color, youth, and communities in the Global South who are most targeted by the tobacco industry -- being forced to pay for the harms corporations cause for the sake of making their Global North shareholders wealthy?
The short answer is: the political and economic power of Big Tobacco.
Tobacco products kill 8 million people every year, while almost 150,000 youth are addicted each year. This is staggering and heartbreaking. Every year, 8 million parents, siblings, friends, loved ones are lost to an entirely preventable epidemic. And every year, the tobacco industry addicts a whole new generation, many of whom will go on to get sick or die in the coming decades.
This has a severe economic impact as well: US$1.85 trillion, including healthcare costs as well as loss of productivity. This is equivalent to 1.8% of the world’s annual gross domestic product. Almost 40% of these costs occur in the Global South. And it’s not just health care costs. There are environmental impacts and costs, too. For example, around 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are discarded every year, making them the most littered item on Earth, and annual tobacco production emits and uses more than 80 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. People and governments are forced to pay the costs of the tobacco industry’s pollution.
We cannot let this deadly industry destroy lives and harm the planet in service of its profits. And we cannot let this industry continue its decades-long attempts to deceive the public -- most recently with its bogus claims of “harm-reduction” and a “smoke-free future” even as it continues marketing cigarettes to youth. It’s time to find the courage to make the tobacco industry pay for the harms it causes. In truth, we can't afford NOT to.
That’s why we’re calling on governments to make Big Tobacco pay for its abuses. Add your name!
