President Jose Mujica described Uruguay Monday as a "laboratory of confrontation" with Big Tobacco.
Philip Morris International Inc., the world's second-biggest cigarette company after the state-controlled China National Tobacco Corp., is pursuing a claim before World Bank arbitrators alleging that Uruguay is violating its trade agreement with Switzerland by requiring that anti-smoking warnings cover 80 percent of cigarette packages.
Mujica said the trade violation claim seeks to "complicate the life and sovereignty of a small nation that has the boldness to defend itself and try to defend the health of its people."
He said Uruguay will maintain its anti-smoking laws despite the pressure.
The president spoke at the opening of a summit representing 170 countries that have signed a global tobacco control treaty established in 2003. The summit's goal is to analyze and support policies that reduce smoking globally. The meeting is sponsored by the World Health Organization, which says tobacco kills five million people a year around the world.
Tobacco lobbyists set up a tent outside the hotel in protest, saying organizers had denied their request to participate as observers.
"The objective is to show the terrible impact the approval of these articles will have on millions of small and mid-size growers around the world," the International Association of Tobacco Producers said in a statement.
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