It is often said that the world has become a global village; but, in fact, we are now living in a corporate world - a place manipulated by multinational corporations for their petty interests. Take the case of the South American country, Uruguay, which has been brought to a World Bank court as a guilty party. The Uruguayan government has been sued by a multinational tobacco company for having harsh anti-smoking laws which are clearly impacting its business. It has accused the Uruguayan government of violating intellectual property rights by not permitting enough space on cigarette packs for the display of its trademarks. In fact, the corporation is upset by the graphic labeling on the packs showing photos of decaying teeth, black lungs, premature babies and other gruesome scenes. Such photos now cover 80 percent of cigarette packaging in Uruguay. Since 2009, when the government increased the size of photos depicting negative aspects of smoking, there has been a consistent decrease in the number of smokers all across the country. Studies also show that now fewer pregnant women smoke. The cigarette corporation is also upset by the Uruguayan government's orders to sell the cigarettes by the brand name only, not allowing it to use deceptive titles such as “light” and “gold”. It has been proven that so-called “light” and “gold” brands are as injurious to health as normal brands. Although the company is suing the government for just $25 million, it is understood that this is just a token penalty. The company wants to set a precedent to pursue pending cases in large markets, such as Australia, France and other European countries. This is quite a scary scenario; a single company with a product which kills beyond any doubt, may succeed in defeating the laws made to protect the general public. It is often claimed that World Bank courts generally side with corporations, but this is an entirely different case which could result in devastating consequences for public health legislation. It is a case of a big corporation against the general public. Let's wait to see who wins - the killers or the victims.
