Brazil is suing British American Tobacco Plc (BAT) and Philip Morris International (PMI), in a landmark case with the aim of recovering the public health treatment costs of tobacco-related diseases over the last five years, Reuters reported.

The suit aims to cover the cost of treating patients for 26 diseases related to smoking tobacco or exposure to cigarette smoke, the Brazilian solicitor general’s office (AGU) said in a statement. According to the AGU statement, BAT and PMI produce about 90 per cent of the cigarettes sold in Brazil through their subsidiaries.
According to a statement from Bloomberg Philanthropies, tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in Brazil. Tobacco kills over 156,000 each year from related diseases and costs the healthcare system around BRL 57 billion (EUR 12.6 billion), the report said. The value of the costs the government is trying to cover will be calculated if it wins the case. “Since the profit from this business is sent abroad, it is fair that these multinational companies pay for this responsibility they have left to Brazilian society,” prosecutor Davi Bressler was quoted as saying.
The lawsuit was described as historic by groups that advocate for reducing tobacco consumption: “The suit is the first of its kind for Brazil and a significant step toward holding the two major tobacco companies who do business in Brazil and their parent companies responsible for the enormous financial and health burdens caused by tobacco use,” the Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids was quoted as saying.