Rendez-vous 149
December 27 2002
This rendez-vous took place during the 2002 national tobacco control conference in San Francisco. I want to thank the press service of the conference and the San Francisco Tobacco Free project that made it possible.
Guillermo isCoordinator of the Educational programs for the League against Cancer in Colombia Bogota, Colombia
Thank you Guillermo for accepting our rendez-vous. May I ask you to introduce yourself?
Guillermo Martinez Gallon: I have been involved in tobacco control for 7 years. I am in charge of teaching the volunteers and the young people about tobacco issues and cancer prevention. We develop education campaigns and materials for the schools. They are implemented by our volunteers in 44 cities and small towns.
Q1. What is the tobacco market like in Colombia?
Guillermo Martinez Gallon: the national corporation holds 55% of the market and the foreign companies (mostly BAT and Philip Morris) hold 45%. There is a lot of advertising and it is getting bigger with more promotions. The prices are very low: A pack of Marlboro costs 1$ and a pack of the local brands costs 39 cents.
Q2. Are there regulations to control tobacco marketing?
Guillermo Martinez Gallon: A law was passed in 1986 prohibiting the sales of cigarettes to minors but it is not enforced. Most of the cigarettes are sold by children! Direct advertising is not permitted on TV from 6 AM to 11 PM but this does not concern indirect advertising and there is plenty of it, promoting events, etc… with colors and logos very similar to the cigarette brands. There is a small health warning on the packs (10% of the surface) with a lame text; smoking is harmful to your health. Indirect ads are everywhere on cars, buses…
Q3. How high are the taxes? Is there no incentive to raise them since the prices are so low?
Guillermo Martinez Gallon: Taxes represent 55% of the price but there is no support in congress or in the government to raise the tax. What happened in Brazil has not been reported in Colombia and did not have any influence.
Q4. What about the media?
Guillermo Martinez Gallon: the only time the media mention tobacco issues is for World No Tobacco Day on May 31st. Kids are starting to smoke at a younger age (11), girls now smoke more than boys but the media are not interested. We have very little money for media campaigns and the same goes for the Health Department.
Q5. What are your plans for the future?
Guillermo Martinez Gallon: We are going to try to build a stronger coalition. We hope to receive more support from abroad, especially from the US to fight against Big Tobacco, against the multinationals and their globalization strategy.
Thank you Guillermo for taking the time to be with us today.
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