Mexico’s Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell proposed an outright ban on tobacco advertising during a Senate forum on smoking addiction, reports Mexico News Daily.

“Something that hurts us a lot is advertising because it perverts the government’s responsible actions … That is why it is important to completely close the door to advertising, promotion and sponsorship,” he was quoted as saying.
López-Gatell added that guarding against conflicts of interest in political circles was part of the solution. “It is not only undesirable, but also illegal in the strict sense, that the tobacco industry can approach public officials of any of the powers of the union to have a dialogue or proposal, let alone to lobby their products. That lobbying in many cases is surreptitious, hidden and with various intermediaries,” he said.