It’s the tobacco pot against the earthen pot. The fight of a small association of about thirty people against the industrialists of the sector, who brew billions of euros. In France, the National Committee against Smoking (CNCT) has been fighting since 1868 “against the plague” tobacco, in his words. Led by enthusiasts, it is a very small structure, which franceinfo pushed the door.
The CNCT offices are located in Paris, on the fourth floor of an industrial building. In the entrance hall, you have to look hard to find them because the association avoids advertising. Indeed, its premises have already been robbed. Everything fits into four offices: two are allocated to the Alliance against Tobacco, which brings together some twenty associations including the CNCT, one for Non-smokers’ Rights (DNF), an association founded in 1973, and the last for the CNCT.
“There is not really any excitement”, recognize Amélie Eschenbrenner, spokesperson for the National Anti-Smoking Committee. Telework, necessary in times of Covid-19, is one of the explanations, but not the only one. “It may seem surprising with the actions we can take and the results we have had: we expect a whole organized machinery. We are organized but there are not very many of us on a daily basis.”
Within the CNCT, there are mainly doctors. It is also a pulmonologist who has chaired the association for twenty years. “We don’t count the hours! And it’s not about two hours a day…”, slips Professor Yves Martinet. “I have accompanied hundreds of patients with lung cancer. Reducing tobacco consumption is really a goal in my personal life.”
Around him, there are mainly doctors but also a marketing specialist, an economist, a lawyer… This is also one of the strengths of the National Committee for the Fight against Smoking: a team from all the horizons… including outside France. “We are a small team but we work a lot with our colleagues at European and international level”, welcomes Emmanuelle Béguinot, director of the CNCT. “When provisions are adopted in a country, there is a sort of domino effect which then operates. For example, Australia was the first country to adopt neutral packets, just before France. We therefore much relied on our Australian colleagues for the implementation of the device.”
In the viewfinder of the National Committee against Smoking, the new playgrounds of tobacco multinationals. Since cigarette sales are declining, they are shifting to e-cigarettes and heated tobacco. “The arrival of these new heated tobacco products is indeed a real additional threat to public health”, confirms Loïc Josseran, president of the Alliance Against Tobacco. “It is a product that gets rid of some disadvantages of tobacco – in particular visual or odorous – to keep all its harmfulness and addiction.”
Manufacturers therefore target young people, identified as potential future tobacco consumers, by promoting their products on social networks. However, this advertising is prohibited by the Évin law and the Public Health Code. The CNCT therefore embarks on the legal battle with… a single lawyer. He has just won three victories: against Philip Morris, Japan Tobacco and British American Tobacco. Each time it was illegal advertising.
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However, the convictions are symbolic and the penalties relatively low – a fine of 75,000 euros – in relation to the revenues of the tobacco industry. “Industrialists don’t care a bit about criminal convictions. They have already integrated this criminal risk as part of their strategies”, laments master Hugo Lévy. “A conviction from a criminal court in France is quite a small thing. British American Tobacco, for example, is a multi-recidivist in tobacco advertising.”
Under these conditions, the lawyer’s role is more often to “limit the deployment of this offensive advertising”, in his own words. Maître Lévy also claims to feel a little alone during the hearings, saying that most often he does not have the support of the prosecution. He assures that, for the public prosecutor, it is a matter that only concerns the National Committee against Smoking and the industrialists concerned.