Multinational companies have confused the production of cigarettes with the production of biscuits and chocolate/targeting the health of the Iranian society by multinationals

Company news; Mohammad Sheikhan, the CEO of Iran Tobacco Company, attended the health and treatment committee of the Islamic Council this afternoon, criticizing the production and sale of cigarettes in the country by two multinational foreign companies, JTI and BAT, with an English, American and Japanese nature, and said: Today here We gathered together to make decisions that will ensure the national interests of the country and the health of the society.

He added: We hope that the implementation of these ideas will be useful for youth employment, health and community health.

The CEO of Iran Tobacco Company emphasized: By targeting the tax and its fair regulation, the government can earn 50 thousand billion and these resources can be spent on the development of youth employment, health, sports and social responsibility in deprived areas.

While carrying some cigarettes of foreign multinational companies and some smuggled cigarettes and showing them to the members of the commission, Sheikhan asked 12 questions about the operation of these 2 foreign multinational companies, which are as follows;

1. The wealth produced by the cigarette industry by two foreign companies of British, American and Japanese nature goes into the pockets of those who do not allow a part of this income to be spent at the disposal of the government for the development of youth employment, health, sports and social responsibility?

2. Why shouldn’t the two foreign companies operating inside Iran, which entered Iran in the form of a “fraud plan” in 2081 by the government of that time under the pretext of controlling smuggling, and were also given special support in the previous government, like those operating in other countries of the world, be taxed above 75% pay?

3. How long will we have to witness the triangular alliance of colonial cigarette manufacturing companies that seek to increase smoking inside the country and weaken the public health of the society, and despite imposing a cost of 65 thousand billion tomans on the health system, they do not pay any fees to improve the health of the society? .

4. How despite the legal prohibition of cigarette advertising, (according to Article 3 of the Comprehensive Law on National Tobacco Control and Combat) foreign companies have widely advertised their products at the community level, retail stores (advertising stands in supermarkets) and virtual space and These advertisements, by using the variety of products and the wide price range, have targeted all sections of the society, regardless of social, health and cultural issues, as their profit target.

5. Why, despite the presence of multinational companies inside, some of their products still enter Iran through the smuggling channel?! And what are the reasons for not taking legal action with these multinational companies?

6. Why has the area under tobacco cultivation decreased from 20,000 hectares to 2,000 hectares, and who harmed the farmers’ livelihood and economy, and whose pockets have benefited from the import of tobacco?!

7. Why, despite the fact that in all advanced countries, the cigarette tax for foreign companies is more than 100% of the cigarette rate, in our country, it is enough to receive added value from these companies, and this wrong procedure should be corrected in favor of national production and domestic employment. Can’t it?!

8. Why did foreign companies abandon their contracts in the oil, petrochemical, automotive and energy industries after the unilateral US sanctions and left Iran; However, in the field of tobacco industry, not only did they not stop their activities, but they also developed their investments in Iran in such a way that in the first half of 2018 and at the height of the cruel sanctions that even included medicine and medical equipment, more than 50% Has foreign investment been related to the tobacco industry?

9. Why the excessive increase in the issuance of industrial agency licenses to real companies and personalities and the permission to register various new cigarette trademarks in the past eight years by the then government in the tobacco industry headquarters of the Ministry of Peace, which is in clear contradiction with the overall policies to reduce smoking, should be reformed Hasn’t it happened?

10. Why in the previous government, the president personally opened the primary tobacco line of the American-Japanese company and allocated government currency to this company in the most critical currency situation of the country?!

11. Why is the tobacco industry in Iran defined in the headlines of the Ministry of Silence under the food industry, and do we know what harms and threats the placing of this industry under the food industry will bring to the country and national interests?

12. We should not let Iran become a breeding ground for multinational colonial companies that have confused the production of cigarettes with the production of biscuits and chocolates and caused an excessive increase in smoking and lowering the smoking age.

end of Message/