Paris, 19 August 2025 – The Comité national contre le tabagisme (CNCT) and the Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) deplore the failure of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5.2), which ended in Geneva without agreement on an ambitious text. At a time when urgent and binding measures are required to address both environmental and health crises, discussions were paralysed by the influence of powerful economic interests, foremost among them the petrochemical and plastics industries. This deadlock is even more alarming as plastic pollution constitutes one of the most serious threats to biodiversity, soil and water quality, and public health.