Who pays the price for Big Tobacco’s abuses?

The people pay with our lives—and our taxes.

This week, we say enough is enough.

It’s time to Make Big Tobacco Pay.

What is the Make Big Tobacco Pay week of action?

From June 1 – June 5, people around the world are coming together to urge their governments to make Big Tobacco pay. Because no matter where we live or what we look like, everyone deserves to lead a healthy life—and none of us should have to pay the costs of a deadly industry.

Where are actions happening?

  • The week of action kicks off on June 1 with a global virtual press briefing – open to journalists, government representatives, and the public. (Register here.)

  • In-country actions throughout the week include press events, meetings with health officials, public engagement events, and social media campaigns.

  • Participating countries include: Brazil, Ghana, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, and the United States.

What are we calling on decision-makers to do?

We are urging national and local government officials to, in brief:

  • Advance measures in-country to make Big Tobacco pay for its harms.

  • Advance liability measures at the international level through the global tobacco treaty’s biennial Conferences of the Parties.

  • Providing funding for the global tobacco treaty’s coordinating body to develop technical guidance and cooperation mechanisms for governments advancing liability.

For the detailed list, including the various measures governments can take in-country, please see the full petition text.

Why liability? Why now?

  • Big Tobacco has profited tremendously — in large part because it has foisted the costs its business creates onto people and governments.

  • Those costs are now almost USD$1.4 trillion annually, including individuals’ health care costs as well as taxpayer and government spending on tobacco-related health care and clean-up of its toxic pollution.

  • That’s why the global tobacco treaty (WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, or FCTC) explicitly encourages governments to hold Big Tobacco liable to recoup the costs of its harms.

  • Liability can help recover health care costs and environmental damages caused by Big Tobacco’s products, unlock resources for lifesaving tobacco protections, and halt present and future abuses by the industry.

  • Momentum is growing: From Brazil to Nigeria to the U.S. city of Baltimore, governments are taking legal action to make Big Tobacco pay.

  • And at the most recent meetings of the global tobacco treaty, countries unanimously agreed to take further steps to advance liability.

  • The time is ripe to make the corporations that have profited at the expense of our health, our lives, and our planet to pay for their products’ harms.

How can I learn more?