Costa Rica’s implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: Overcoming decades of industry dominance
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the passage of Costa Rica's 2012 tobacco control law. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Review of legislation, newspaper articles, and key informant interviews. RESULTS: Tobacco control advocates, in close collaboration with international health groups, recruited national, regional and international experts to testify in the Legislative Assembly, implemented grassroots advocacy campaigns, and generated media coverage to enact strong legislation in March 2012 consistent with the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, despite tobacco industry lobbying efforts that for decades blocked effective tobacco control legislation. CONCLUSION: Costa Rica's experience illustrates how with resources, good strategic planning, aggressive tactics and perseverance tobacco control advocates can overcome tobacco industry opposition in the Legislative Assembly and Executive Branch. This determined approach has positioned Costa Rica to become a regional leader in tobacco control.
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Existing studies on how tobacco control policy is passed at the national level focus more on tactics used by opponents rather than proponents.
“Moreover, existing studies on how tobacco control policy is passed at the national level are focused more on tactics used by opponents (eg, lobbying, litigation, protests and other tactics to delay or subvert policy passage) rather than proponents,25–32 with few exceptions.33–36”
From Seven-year tobacco tax plan in Ukraine: a case study of the actors, tactics and factors motivating policy passage (2022) · cites this paper as [33]
The Results section on the passage of Law 9028 describes opponents’ lobbying and efforts to delay or weaken national tobacco-control legislation. But the Results also devote substantial attention to advocates’ campaigns, and this paper does not assess whether existing studies generally focus more on opponents than proponents. Our copy provides no page numbers for these passages. (LLM, conf=0.79)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn countries such as Uruguay, where sufficient legal support domestically did not exist, a transnational tobacco control network comprised of domestic and international health groups, philanthropy donors and legal scholars helped fill this void and assisted the government to legally defend its tobacco packaging and labelling regulations.
“In countries such as Uruguay, where sufficient legal support domestically did not exist, a transnational tobacco control network (Crosbie, Sebrie, & Glantz, 2011; Crosbie, Sosa, & Glantz, 2016; Uang, Crosbie, & Glantz, 2017), comprised of domestic and international health groups, philanthropy donors and legal scholars, helped fill this void and assisted the government to legally defend its tobacco”
From Advancing progressive health policy to reduce NCDs amidst international commercial opposition: Tobacco standardised packaging in Australia (2018) · cites this paper as Crosbie, Sosa, & Glantz, 2016
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe transnational tobacco control network supported the creation of the WHO FCTC and assisted governments in implementing it, which has accelerated the adoption of tobacco control regulations, including pictorial health warning labels on cigarette packages.
“This network supported the creation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)15 and assisted governments in implementing it,16–19 which has accelerated the adoption of tobacco control regulations,20–23 including pictorial health warning labels (HWLs) on cigarette packages.24”
From Defending strong tobacco packaging and labelling regulations in Uruguay: transnational tobacco control network versus Philip Morris International (2018) · cites this paper as [18]
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Cites
Hiilamo, H., & Glantz, S. A. (2015) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.11.054 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Self-citationCrosbie, E., Sosa, P., & Glantz, S. A. (2017) · Tobacco Control · doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2015-052701 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
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Research works printed but not linked: 8
- [8]Crosbie E Sebrie EM Glantz SA Tobacco industry success in Costa Rica: the importance of FCTC Salud Publica Mex 2012 54 1 28 38 22286826 PMC3296364
- [10]Malone RE Balbach E Tobacco industry documents: treasure trove or quagmire? Tob Control 2000 9 334 338 10982579 PMC1748361
- [14]Lee S Ling PM Glantz SA The vector of the tobacco epidemic: tobacco industry practices in low and middle-income countries Cancer Causes & Control 2012 23 1 117 129 22370696 PMC3332051
- [31]Crosbie E Sebrie EM Glantz SA Strong advocacy led to successful implementation of smokefree Mexico City Tob Control 2011 20 1 64 72 21059606 PMC3089444
- [32]Glantz SA Effect of smokefree bar law on bar revenues in California Tob Control 2000 9 1 111 112 10798865 PMC1748291
- [33]Joossens L Raw M How can cigarette smuggling be reduced? Bmj 2000 321 7266 947 950 11030690 PMC1118741
- [34]Maina WK Kitonyo R Ogwell AE Using findings from a public opinion poll to build political support for tobacco control policy in Kenya Tob Control 2013 22 6 423 426 22628169
- [35]Ibrahim JK Glantz SA Tobacco industry litigation strategies to oppose tobacco control media campaigns Tob Control 2006 15 1 50 58 16436406 PMC2563618
Cited by
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Crosbie, E., Sosa, P., & Glantz, S. A. (2018) · Tobacco control · doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2017-053690 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Self-citationCrosbie, E., Sosa, P., & Glantz, S. A. (2017) · Tobacco Control · doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2015-052701 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Self-citationCrosbie, E., Thomson, G., Freeman, B., & Bialous, S. (2018) · Global Public Health · doi:10.1080/17441692.2018.1443485 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Self-citationWeiger, C., Hoe, C., & Cohen, J. E. (2022) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049833 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
- Authors
- Crosbie, E., Sosa, P., & Glantz, S. A.
- Affiliations
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- Venue
- Salud Pública de México
- Publisher
- Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica
- Published
- 2016-03
- Volume
- 58
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 62-70
- ISSN
- 0036-3634 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4758506
- OpenAlex
- W2282755289
- Cited by
- 28
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 7.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- Salud Pública de México (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Redalyc (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Cancer Institute (R01CA087472, CA 87472)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Public Health Policies and Education
- Keywords
- tobacco control legislation, Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, tobacco industry lobbying, advocacy campaigns, legislative process, media coverage, Costa Rica, tobacco control
- MeSH terms
- Costa Rica, Health Policy, Humans, Lobbying, Public Health, Smoking, Nicotiana, Tobacco Smoke Pollution, Tobacco Use Disorder, Smoking Cessation, Tobacco Industry, Tobacco Products
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