The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Chile has one of the highest smoking rates in the Americas. Taxes on cigarettes are responsible for some 5% of the nation's tax revenues.

After signing the FCTC, Chilean authorities dragged their feet in ratifying it. But once they did, under public pressure, the Health Ministry presented legislation to ban advertising, restrict cigarette sales and limit smoking in public places.

Chiletabacos, the local BAT affiliate, battled the proposals in the media and before Congress. The tobacco industry enlisted retailers and restaurant owners and reaped support from recipients of its well-placed philanthropy in arts and culture.

Chiletabacos promotes itself as a model business in Chile, despite facing costly infractions for its monopolistic practices. With a board of directors from the top strata of Chilean business elites, the company has achieved a public image that disassociates its “socially responsible” manufacture marketing and sale of a legal product from the dangers of the product itself.

The predominant role that information and public opinion played in achieving new legislation surprised many of those who accompanied the process. With no financial resources to invest and no anti-smoking movement to back them up, a small band of public health specialists, consumer protection activists and reporters marshaled information about the tobacco industry from local and global sources, NGO websites, blogs and international networking to swing public opinion behind tobacco control and effectively lobby Congress. As a result, Chile enacted strict tobacco control legislation in March 2006.