Morocco Probes Swiss Tobacco Firms Over Alleged Toxic Cigarette Sales

Thus, there is talk of investigations that would have been recently launched by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Industry to determine the exact components of the cigarettes marketed in Morocco, reports the newspaper Assabah. Nothing official for the moment, but according to sources cited by the newspaper, samples of these cigarettes have already been submitted to laboratories for analysis to determine the exact quantities of toxic substances.

The reaction of the Moroccan authorities, if confirmed, comes after investigations conducted by journalist Marie Maurisse who investigated tobacco manufacturers for a year and whose conclusions are alarming for Moroccan smokers. Thus, she claims that the cigarettes intended for Africa, including Morocco, are not only stronger but also contain twice as much nicotine and tar as those intended for the European market.

Cigarette manufacturers do not challenge the results of the journalist’s investigation but claim that they are only adapting to the tastes of Africans, except that reality has shown that a higher presence of nicotine has the primary objective of making them more dependent on tobacco.