Swiss voters to decide on protecting young people from tobacco advertising

Swiss voters on Sunday (February 13) will decide on a referendum to protect young people from tobacco advertising, in an initiative that aims to toughen up the rules on promoting cigarettes in a country where 25 percent of the population are tobacco users.

A former oncologist, Gilbert Zulian, who leads the initiative “Children Without Tobacco” said the proposed ban does not impinge on consumers’ freedom to use the product but is only against its advertising.

 

“What other product in Switzerland directly kills more than 10% of the population each year. It’s close to 10,000 deaths directly linked to tobacco use,” Zulian said.

Patrick Eperon of ‘Center Patronal’, a firm that advises companies, said the measure “infantilises adults” and could “open a hole in our judicial rules” to allow for the advertising of other products such as alcohol and meat to be banned.

He added that the tobacco industry also generates billions of revenues including taxes each year.

Several tobacco companies have their headquarters in Switzerland, such as Japan Tobacco International, Philip Morris, or British American Tobacco.
According to the Swiss federal government, tobacco use kills 9,500 people each year.