Brazil Bans Electronic Cigarettes
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009It looks like Brazilian authorities have concluded that the World Health Organization (WHO) is right about this product and its promotion. The National Sanitary Vigilance Agency (ANVISA) just announced a ban on the trade within, and import into, Brazil of electronic smoking devices, sometimes called e-cigarettes, e-ciggy and e-cigar, among other monikers. The ban particularly […]
Taking the Campaign on Advertising to Kids to the Streets of Santiago
Sunday, March 15th, 2009EPC “Awards” Manipulative Food Advertising to Children
Thursday, March 12th, 2009As part of its efforts to get Mexican authorities to regulate the advertising of food and beverages to children, and to hold industry accountable to its commitments under its recently adopted national code of self-regulation on the issue, the consumer group The Power of the Consumer (EPC) recently released what it calls “awards” recognizing “the […]
Argentina Deepens Restrictions on Alcohol
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009President Cristina Fernandez issued an implementing decree for the 12-year old Alcohol Act, deepening restrictions on alcohol beverage advertising and consumption and obliging social security services to treat the social consequences of its consumption. The signing ceremony was attended by the Ministers expected to implement the rules: Health, Graciela Ocaña; Labor, Carlos Tomada; Justice, Anibal […]
Public Ministry Opens Inquiry into Marketing of Breakfast Cereals
Thursday, February 12th, 2009Based on filings submitted by the Alana Institute, the consumer group PROTESTE and the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), the Public Ministry (PM) of the State of São Paulo has opened an investigation into the marketing practices of Nestle and Kellogs regarding their breakfast cereals. Alana and PROTESTE tested 18 breakfast cereals of three […]
WHO Takes Aim at Alcohol
Saturday, January 24th, 2009The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Executive Board (EB), meeting in Geneva this week, gave the WHO Secretariat the green light to prepare a global strategy on alcohol consumption. The EB is, as the name implies, WHO’s executive arm, giving direction to the Organization between its annual governing body meetings, the World Health Assembly (WHA) held […]
MERCOSUR Adopts Guidelines on Promotion, Advertising & Marketing of Pharmaceuticals
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008I’ve said here many times that Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations tend to take seriously the recommendations, guidelines and other soft norms of the World Health Organization (WHO) on any issue involving public health and/or the environment, and I’ve tried to provide a few examples where WHO work has translated into national laws and […]
“Cereal Offenses” in LAC
Sunday, December 28th, 2008If you have kids and read the labels of foods you shop for or buy, you probably know well the struggle to avoid buying breakfast cereals that are not loaded with sugar and/or sodium (salt). Sometimes even when you avoid the obvious culprits (after all, if the name is “frosted,” most of us can guess!), […]
New Brazilian Rules on Pharmaceutical Marketing
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008Brazil’s Health Minister, José Gomes Temporão, and the head of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), Dirceu Raposo, recently announced new rules on pharmaceutical marketing in that country to replace less ambitious ones adopted in 2000. The new rules aim at substantially changing how medicines are promoted in Latin America’s largest pharma market, and may […]
Chile contempla terminar incentivos económicos en venta de medicamentos con receta
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008Desde el Senado de Chile: Proponen terminar con los incentivos económicos en venta de medicamentos con receta Moción en tal sentido fue presentada por los senadores Soledad Alvear y Mariano Ruiz-Esquide quienes persigue que la gente no compre medicamentos que no necesita o que pueden dañar la salud por ser mal empleados Los senadores Soledad […]