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Anti-tobacco treaty labelled toothless
By JULIE PAYNE Officials from 146 countries agreed Friday to push for legislation to ban smoking in public places and to enforce the laws once passed, World Health Organization officials said. The officials also said they would negotiate a global treaty ending tobacco smuggling, WHO said. The officials, who ended a weeklong meeting Friday in the Thai capital, are parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control first agreed on in 2005. Public health officials agreed to establish guidelines directing their governments to pass anti-smoking laws for public spaces. But the guidelines themselves are not legally binding on the countries, and no deadline was set for anti-smoking laws to be passed. The tobacco smuggling agreement will try to use international laws to stop billions of cigarettes from disappearing onto the black market each year, officials said. "The power of the Framework Convention process was borne out this week," said Douglas Bettcher, head of the WHO Tobacco Free Initiative. "Why we were here is to ensure that we will make a public health impact on the 21st century." Worldwide there were about 5.4 million tobacco-related deaths in 2006, and the number will rise to 10 million a year by 2020, according to WHO. Ireland was the first country to go smoke-free, banning smoking in indoor public places nationwide in 2004. Uruguay followed suit in 2006. England became smoke-free beginning July 1. China has the world's heaviest smokers, with the country accounting for 30 percent of the international market for cigarette sales. The United States, Russia, Japan and Indonesia are the next-biggest markets. Read
Activists urge Asean ban indoor smoking July 2007 (dpa) - Anti-tobacco lobbyists called Wednesday on the governments of Southeast Asia - home to 10 per cent of the world's 1.25 billion cigarette smokers - to ban smoking in all indoor workplaces. The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance used an international conference in Bangkok of members to the UN Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to urge governments of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to ban smoking in the workplace. "In this group of 10 countries, 1 million people die from smoking-related diseases every year," alliance coordinator Bungon Ritthiphakdee told the conference, referring to Asean members Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Nations attending the Bangkok conference on Tuesday unanimously endorsed a global health standard urging governments to adopt laws requiring smoke-free workplaces and public places. The proposal was expected to be officially approved by the full conference before it concludes Friday. Once adopted, member governments would be urged to pass laws banning smoking in the workplace. The conference is also mulling new treaties that would tighten rules on the illicit trade in tobacco products and ban intra-regional advertisements of cigarettes. Read
 Reason Magazine on Lancet Evaluation of WHO
A Little Like a Dying Clown, With a Streak of Rin Tin TinRadley Balko | May 15, 2007 The World Health Organization is one of the more overtly Nanny Statist, alarmist groups in the public health debate. Yet because the group is part of the UN, it carries a sort of ingrained integrity with journalists and regular readers. I've debated several public health activists over the last few years who tried to shout me down with WHO declarations on alcohol abuse, drug use, secondhand smoke and—most laughably—obesity, which the WHO recently declared "an epidemic engulfing the entire world," and called for "preventative" calorie-cutting legislation despite the fact that about a fifth of humanity still risks death by starvation. There's really no level of individual risk the WHO doesn't find ripe for new legislation. Now comes a blistering new study in the Lancet concluding that just about everything the WHO does is...crap. The hilarious lede from the Associated Press : When developing "evidence-based" guidelines, the World Health Organization routinely forgets one key ingredient: evidence. That is the verdict from a study published in The Lancet online Tuesday. The medical journal's criticism of WHO could shock many in the global health community, as one of WHO's main jobs is to produce guidelines on everything from fighting the spread of bird flu and malaria control to enacting anti-tobacco legislation. "This is a pretty seismic event," Lancet editor Dr. Richard Horton, who was not involved in the research for the article. "It undermines the very purpose of WHO." Even better: The article found that many WHO bureaucrats agree with the study's conclusions. At risk of coming off the typical smug libertarian, here, I find this absolutely delightful. And that lede is going into my debate file. Brian Doherty eviscerated the WHO back in January 2002. ReadRead
Read: Indonesia: Can't afford to sign tobacco treaty.
Read the whole study online!
http://www.kunnskapssenteret.no/filer/WHOGuidelinesReportFinal.pdfWHO guidelines often lack evidence, study finds May 8, 2007 Maria Cheng LONDON -- When developing "evidence-based" guidelines, the World Health Organization routinely forgets one key ingredient: evidence. That's the verdict from a study published in The Lancet online today. The medical journal's criticism of WHO could shock many in the global health community, as one of WHO's main jobs is to produce guidelines on everything from fighting the spread of bird flu and malaria control to enacting anti-tobacco legislation. "This is a pretty seismic event," Lancet editor Dr. Richard Horton, who was not involved in the research for the article. "It undermines the very purpose of WHO." The study was conducted by Dr. Andrew Oxman and Dr. Atle Fretheim, of the Norweigian Knowledge Centre for Health Services, and Dr. John Lavis at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont They interviewed senior WHO officials and analyzed various guidelines to determine how they were produced. What they found was a distinctly non-transparent process. "It's difficult to judge how much confidence you can have in WHO guidelines if you're not told how they were developed," Oxman said. "In that case, you're left with blind trust." WHO issues about 200 sets of recommendations every year, acting as a public health arbiter to the global community by sifting through competing scientific theories and studies to put forth the best policies. WHO's Director of Research Policy Dr. Tikki Pang said that some of his WHO colleagues were shocked by The Lancet's study, but he acknowledged the criticism had merit, and explained that time pressures and a lack of both information and money sometimes compromised WHO work. "We know our credibility is at stake," Pang said, "and we are now going to get our act together." WHO officials also noted that, in many cases, evidence simply did not exist. Data from developing countries are patchy at best, and in an outbreak, information changes as the crisis unfolds. To address the problem, they said, WHO is trying to develop new ways to collect information in poor regions, and has proposed establishing a committee to oversee the issuance of all health guidelines. The Lancet study -- conducted in 2003-04 through analyzing WHO guidelines and questioning WHO officials -- also found that the officials themselves were concerned about the agency's methods. One unnamed WHO director was quoted in the study as saying: "I would have liked to have had more evidence to base recommendations on." Read
United Nations UN Panel Moves To Ban Smoking, Sale Of Tobacco Products 7-27-06 GENEVA (AP)--A U.N. council passed a resolution Thursday recommending that the General Assembly take a firmer stance against smoking at the global body's premises. The Economic and Social Council adopted the resolution without a vote, saying the General Assembly should "consider the implementation of a complete ban on smoking at all United Nations indoor premises, at headquarters as well as at regional and country offices throughout the United Nations system." The resolution by the 54-nation body, which is known as ECOSOC, also called for a "complete ban on sales of tobacco products at all United Nations premises." Read
Political science has it's drawbacksJuly 24, 2006 James Repace made a statement to the IARC panel, the committee were concerned with the low numbers in their decision to class ETS as a carcinogen. He stated if a truly unexposed control group could be found the numbers would be much more significant. The list of case control research they considered and a meta analysis mentioned were in fact in large part flawed. Read
Saudi Arabia Ratifies Global Convention on Tobacco Control
19/05/2005
Saudi Arabia has ratified the world's first tobacco control treaty, which came into effect in February this year, becoming the 65th country to ratify the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
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Anti-tobacco activists accuse firms of undermining efforts
11 Feb 2006
CBC News
Ahead of this week's World Health Organization anti-smoking meetings, activists have accused tobacco lobbyists of undermining the efforts of governments to curb the use of tobacco products.
So far, 122 countries representing more than 70 per cent of the world's population have ratified WHO's tobacco control treaty.
Many of these countries already have changed their legislation to reflect tougher policies against smoking.
A representative of the U.S.-based advocacy group Corporate Accountability International, Katherine Mulvey, says countries such as India and Thailand have introduced effective, comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.
"At the same time, all over the world, there are attempts to interfere in the treaty's implementation," she says.
A Nigerian activist says tobacco lobbyists have tried to undermine the treaty's provisions in his country by bribing politicians and journalists.
Akinbode Oluwafemi of the Nigerian organization Environmental Rights Action says despite this, Nigeria ratified the treaty at the end of October.
The Geneva-based World Health Organization estimates that every year five million people die prematurely from tobacco-related illnesses.
China, one of the countries signing the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, announced in the past week that it will not allow any new cigarette factories.
The country has 350 million smokers, or more than one-quarter of the world's total.
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More Than 110 Countries Meet as Parties to Global Tobacco Treaty
February 6, 2006
NGOs Urge Governments to Prevent Tobacco Industry Interference and Enforce Other Key Provisions
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Corporate Accountability International: Global Tobacco Treaty Promoted as Model for Curbing Corporate Abuses at World Social Forum in Venezuela
Wednesday January 25, 2006
Pressure Builds for Venezuela to Complete Ratification of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
At this year's polycentric World Social Forum in Venezuela, corporate accountability campaigners are promoting the global tobacco treaty as a model for regulating irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions. Formally known as the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first global health and corporate accountability treaty will save millions of lives and change the way the tobacco industry operates around the world. Corporate Accountability International and the Zero Tobacco Network will host workshops and participate in panels, where participants will learn more about the treaty and its precedents for reining in other abusive industries, and take action to pressure Venezuela to complete its treaty ratification.
"Venezuela has been a powerful voice in challenging the negative impacts of globalization on people in the Global South," explains Corporate Accountability International Latin America Coordinator Yul Francisco Dorado. "Venezuela must complete ratification of the global tobacco treaty and continue to champion international regulations for transnational corporations."
117 countries have ratified the global tobacco treaty, encompassing over 70% of the world's population. The global tobacco treaty has proven to be one of the most quickly embraced treaties in the history of the United Nations. Venezuela is among the shrinking minority of countries that have not ratified the treaty.
"Tobacco claims nearly 5 million lives every year," says Paula Johns of the Zero Tobacco Network. "Philip Morris/Altria and British American Tobacco have been aggressively trying to expand their markets in many Latin American countries, with terrible consequences for both the health and economic well- being of our people. It is critical that Venezuela ratify swiftly, so that we can move toward a healthier, safer future for our children. That is a strong message coming out of the World Social Forum."
The global tobacco treaty represents the first time the WHO has used its mandate to make international law; the first international law to regulate an entire industry; the first international health agreement to recognize countries' right to prioritize health over trade and commercial interests; and the first accord to protect public health policies from tobacco industry interference.
"The World Social Forum is predicated on the belief that another world is possible. The global tobacco treaty is a major victory for public health, changing the practices of a powerful industry that profits at the expense of people's health," says Natasha Herrera from the WHO Pan American Health Organization, who is scheduled to speak at Corporate Accountability International's workshop.
The global tobacco treaty bans tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (such as Philip Morris/Altria's Marlboro Man) and protects public health policy from tobacco industry interference. The treaty sets precedents for international regulation of other industries that threaten health, the environment and human rights, such as pharmaceuticals, oil, food, and water industries.
Building on its success with the global tobacco treaty, Corporate Accountability International will join with NGOs from around the world later this spring, to challenge corporations that threaten the human right to water, during counter-activities at the World Water Forum in Mexico City in March.
Corporate Accountability International, formerly Infact, is a membership organization that protects people by waging and winning campaigns challenging irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world. Through bold campaigns and a commitment to win, Corporate Accountability International and its members have scored major victories that protect people and save lives. For over 25 years, we've forced corporations -- like Nestle, General Electric and Philip Morris/Altria -- to stop abusive actions. For more information visit http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/.
Contacts:
Yul Francisco Dorado/Corporate Accountability International in Venezuela: hotel: (58 212) 266 98 44, cell: 0 41 6 620 5617
Bryan Hirsch/Corporate Accountability International in Boston, MA, USA: +1 (617) 695-2525
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Cigarette, anyone?
November 5, 2005
It's banned in Bhutan, off the menu in Italy. But breathe easy, says Oliver Bennett, the serious smoker still enjoys a host of options
A FEW years ago in Syria I was enjoying supper with my tour group in a Damascus restaurant when cheers went up from a nearby table. We turned to look. A child of about 2 was being ceremoniously given his first nargile — a hubble-bubble pipe — and his doting father was beaming with paternal pride.
It was a scene that would have caused pandemonium in the US or the UK, and illustrates the gulf in global smoking mores. Here, as we await Patricia Hewitt’s Health Bill — first a partial ban from which private clubs and pubs sans grub will be excluded, then (probably) a total ban in enclosed public places — the smoker is becoming increasingly marginalised. In some other parts of the world, however, the smoker is king.
Smoking strongholds are falling all the time. Italy, long thought of as a great smoking nation, has banned smoking in public places, including restaurants, clubs and bars, as have Norway and Ireland.
Nor is the anti-smoking movement solely in the West. This year, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan became the first country to wholly ban smoking and Tanzania has passed laws against public smoking. So are smokers feeling so besieged that they are making holiday decisions according to whether they can indulge or not? If people decide on where to holiday according to where the booze is cheap, plentiful and tolerated by the authorities, isn’t there an argument the same will go for fags? With 20 cigarettes costing more than £5 in the UK, isn’t it a major plus to the holiday if you can smoke a pack for £1?
Simon Clark, of Forest, the pro-smoking organisation, thinks that freedom to smoke will become a deciding factor of holiday choices. “There are still a lot of smokers, and they represent a big consumer group,” he says. “And the issue of smoking and travel comes up frequently. We had a call from a woman in America who was going to go to Ireland, but wanted to know the extent of the ban. When I told her, she said: ‘OK, I’m off to Bulgaria’.”
While smoking does not yet seem to be a “dealbreaker”, an ABTA spokesman has heard of companies proposing specialist smokers’ tours. “But nothing more than rumour,” he says. “We do still hear about air-rage incidents due to people not being allowed to smoke, though. They run at about one a month.” Gordon Mott, executive editor of Cigar Aficionado magazine, says: “I am sure that as restrictions become greater, people will start to make travel decisions around them. But I haven’t seen much evidence yet.”
Smokers still have a lot of smoker-friendly holiday options, even close to home. “Spain and Portugal are still places where smoking is part of the culture,” Clark says. As is Eastern Europe.
“My wife is from Slovakia and the war against smoking hasn’t reached there yet,” says Sean Gabb, a smoking rights activist. “And there’s obviously Russia, which is a remarkably free country.” Most of Africa, India, China, Japan: all are still smokers’ worlds, although the weed in these places is mostly for male consumption.
So, where should tobacco fans go? Well, Cuba, for starters. “All the people I know who go to Cuba are deeply interested in the cigar industry,” says Simon Chase, of Hunters & Frankau, cigar importers. “One visitor said, ‘it would be like going to Ireland and not drinking’.”
Chase believes that there may be a small tourism market emerging of refugees from smoke-unfriendly countries. “Estonia offers cigar jaunts that appear to be popular,” he says, adding that there is also a small cigar tourism market in Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, where, as in Cuba, there is also a colourful ancillary market in cigar-rolling demonstrations, factory visits and souvenirs. At this year’s World Travel Market — the tourism industry trade fair to be held this month in London — the Dominican Republic stand will give out cigars alongside chocolate and other produce.
Some countries, such as Honduras, have even tried specialist cigar excursions. “It wasn’t the Honduras Government but the private sector,” emphasises a spokesman for the Honduran embassy. “The Government would not promote something harmful to health.”
Even so, you can see the appeal for a bunch of cigar buddies: hole up in a hotel, drink fiery rum, and smoke. And as one function of a holiday is to deliver something that you can’t get at home, the small smoking tourism sector may well grow.
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Millennium Development Holes
September 26, 2005
By John Luik
... Finally, whereas the MDG first goal is to eradicate hunger, the UN and WHO, appear to believe that the real problem is not too little but too much food since they have decided to devote increasing attention and resources to the so-called "obesity epidemic". Instead of devoting its resources to global hunger and despite the dramatic lack of evidence that obesity reduces lifespan, WHO proposes to focus on pushing for a global food treaty modeled on the recent WHO tobacco treaty that would restrict food marketing, raise taxes on so-called unhealthy foods and require a series of warning labels to distinguish 'good' from 'bad' foods. This in a world where the essential micro-nutrients like iron, zinc, iodine and vitamin A -- all integral to MDG goals 1, 4, and 6 -- are missing from about half the world's diet. ...
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Tobacco treaty unratified in U.S.
Pact signed in 2004, but never sent to Senate
By Marc Kaufman
July 5, 2005
More than 13 months ago, the United States signed an international tobacco treaty designed to tighten control of cigarette advertising and consumption worldwide, and President Bush said he wanted the Senate to ratify it.
But the treaty -- already in effect in 70 nations from Britain to India to Mexico -- today remains unratified and little discussed in the United States.
It was May 2004 when then-Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson signed the treaty for the United States and said, "I'm hopeful we can get this treaty to pass on a bipartisan basis -- this year." It then disappeared into the State Department and so far has not reappeared.
"The treaty is still under interagency review," State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez said, adding that it is unclear when the review will be completed. "No decision has been made."
The treaty, negotiated in Geneva over three years, calls for reducing tobacco consumption through various measures, including substantially increasing the size of safety warnings on packaging, strictly limiting cigarette advertising, and moving toward smoke-free workplaces and public areas. It also works to reduce cigarette smuggling -- a priority for tobacco companies.
The Bush administration has been slow to act on six other treaties that it has signed but not sent to the Senate for ratification, but inaction on the tobacco treaty poses unique problems.
Only a spectator?
Long the world leader in tobacco control, the United States now runs the risk of being a spectator when ratified treaty members meet early next year to establish a permanent operating structure and to set priorities for action. If the United States is not a voting treaty member, public health officials say, American views on issues including cigarette advertising, smuggling and secondhand smoke will inevitably be less persuasive.
The organizational meeting will be convened by the World Health Organization and will begin to implement the principles and directives of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. All 168 signatories will be able to attend, but only nations that have ratified the treaty will be able to vote. To qualify as a voting member, the United States would have to ratify the treaty by late October or early November, WHO officials said.
"Those who have not ratified can participate as observers, but they'll have no vote and it's unclear how much of a voice," said Heather Selin, tobacco control adviser for WHO's Americas office in Washington. "This will be an important meeting and will get the treaty machinery to start rolling."
Public health advocates report that even without the United States, the invigorated tobacco-control movement has been surprisingly effective in motivating governments to implement potentially lifesaving initiatives.
The use of tobacco by smoking or chewing is the second-leading cause of preventable death worldwide -- after high blood pressure -- and kills almost 5 million people a year, WHO estimates.
The Bush administration has not publicly voiced concerns about the treaty, but neither has it shown any enthusiasm since it was signed.
Objections by tobacco companies
Some congressional officials say the administration doubts the treaty can win the two-thirds Senate majority needed for ratification, in large part because the two largest U.S. tobacco companies have objected to some of its provisions. Others say the administration is unwilling to displease the tobacco industry, which has long been a generous source of campaign funding.
Seth Moskowitz, a spokesman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., said his company has not taken a formal position on ratification, but it objects to treaty provisions that, it says, would restrict cigarette advertising and centralize and expand government authority over other aspects of the industry. "Some of the restrictions are things that could prevent us from competing effectively for the business of adult smokers," Moskowitz said.
Dawn Schneider, a spokeswoman for Altria Group, the parent of Philip Morris USA, said her company also has some concerns about the treaty -- especially possible restrictions on the sale of cigarettes in duty-free stores and an advertising ban in nations with constitutions that allow it.
But Schneider said Altria, unlike R.J. Reynolds, favors having the Food and Drug Administration regulate tobacco products and is using its influence in Congress to get a bill passed. "We believe the best and most effective way to implement [the goals of the treaty] is through FDA legislation," Schneider said.
It remains unclear how much support the treaty has in the Senate. Some senators, such as Richard Burr (R-N.C.), have been outspoken opponents. "Tobacco is an important agricultural product in our state, and anything that threatens the viability of tobacco farmers, he's opposed to it," said spokesman Douglas Heye.
But others have begun lobbying the administration to move the treaty forward.
‘Long delay’
"This long delay has been very discouraging to many senators," said Allison Dobson, spokeswoman for Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who is drafting a letter to Bush calling for a prompt ratification vote. "Harkin believes the votes are there to ratify, but we're very concerned that the administration will end up siding with big tobacco again and not with public health," Dobson said.
Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the administration is forfeiting the United States' long-standing leadership on tobacco-control issues and faces the prospect of having other nations make decisions that will have a significant impact on U.S. consumers and companies.
"Unlike some of the environmental treaties, nobody can point to any provision of this treaty that would infringe on American autonomy or otherwise adversely affect other American rights. The question then is 'Why haven't we even sent the treaty up for ratification?' " he asked. "The only answer I can come up with is this: that the administration is listening to our least progressive tobacco companies who oppose the treaty. At one point, the administration considered the treaty worth signing. What happened?"
Anti-tobacco treaty labelled toothless
February 28, 2005
A global anti-tobacco treaty came into force yesterday, but a leading expert said it needed strengthening fast if it was to be effective in curbing a killer that claims five million lives a year.
Doctor Derek Yach, the World Health Organisation's (WHO) former anti-tobacco chief who oversaw the drafting of the treaty, hailed the accord, known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, as a first step.
However, he said the treaty lacked what are known in United Nations jargon as "protocols" - additional agreements that toughen specific areas of a looser accord.
"The Framework without protocols is toothless," said Yach.
"Yet even preliminary work on these is over a year from even being discussed, let alone planned for."
Yach, now professor of global public health at Yale University, was deeply involved in four years of often bitter negotiations brokered by the United Nations health agency.
The talks led to the treaty being finalised in May 2003.
The accord aims to reduce substantially the number of deaths from tobacco-related illnesses - such as cancer and heart disease - which WHO estimates kill one smoker every 6.5 seconds.
There are an estimated 1.2 billion smokers in the world. WHO surveys show that smoking rates among 13- to 15-year-olds are about 20 per cent, and health officials fear a disease time bomb as the world's population grows.
By 2010, the annual death toll is expected to double to 10 million - with 70 per cent of the victims in developing countries least able to pay for treating smoking-related illnesses.
The treaty - usually known to insiders as the FCTC - requires countries that ratify it to restrict tobacco advertising and sponsorship, put tougher health warnings on cigarettes and limit the use of language like "low-tar" and "light".
They also are meant to enact price and tax hikes, create controls on secondhand smoke and sales of cigarettes to youngsters, as well as clamp down on smuggling.
But governments, particularly those with few existing anti-tobacco policies, need clear guidelines on what exactly they should do, said Yach.
"Evidence suggests that the only way to have a rapid impact on deaths from tobacco is to step up cessation efforts and combine them with smoke free policies," he said.
"However, the language of the FCTC is relatively weak on these issues."
With the new rules in place, studies suggest the demand for cigarettes would only fall one per cent to two per cent a year, WHO officials have said.
"No targets were ever discussed for the FCTC, so we do not have a sense of what constitutes success," Yach said.
"Is a two per cent decline good news, or should we aim for six to eight per cent?"
"The degree of urgency for reducing consumption remains low, certainly compared to a program like 'three by five' with a clear goal," he said, referring to a WHO plan to get HIV/AIDS drugs to three million people in poor countries by the end of 2005.
Poor countries also will need substantial financial help to get the treaty's provisions in place, Yach said.
With the tobacco accord in force, ratifying countries are supposed to enact the reforms. There are no penalties if they fail to do so, but their record would be examined at future UN anti-tobacco conferences, the first of which is scheduled for February 2006.
"Now that this global treaty has become international law, it is no longer business as usual for 'Big Tobacco'," said Akinbode Oluwafemi of Environmental Rights Action, a Nigerian-based group that was part of a global coalition supporting the treaty.
Tobacco companies reportedly lobbied against the treaty during the negotiations, yet have since said they have no objection to the pact - despite their discontent over being excluded from the formal treaty talks.
"Tobacco is harmful to health and as a responsible tobacco group, we have long recognised the right of national governments to regulate it," said Emily Brand, a spokeswoman for British American Tobacco Ltd.
"We will continue to offer balance by putting our views forward, openly and constructively, and by supporting sound and fair tobacco regulation that can reduce the public health impact of tobacco consumption, can tackle underage smoking, and can also ensure that adult consumers are allowed to continue making informed choices about a legal product."
Anti-smoking activists warn that companies may try to limit reforms enacted by those countries that have ratified the treaty. They dismiss anti-smoking programs run in many countries by tobacco firms, saying they do little or nothing to tackle real health problems.
Of the 168 countries that signed the accord, only 57 have so far ratified it - among them European nations, as well as India and Japan. Those who have not yet ratified include other key countries, notably China and the United States. Read
MANILA, Philippines, Feb. 24 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The world's first tobacco control treaty, the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), becomes binding international law on Sunday, 27 February 2005. One of the most rapidly embraced UN treaties of all time, the WHO FCTC is aimed at improving global health by reducing tobacco consumption, currently the cause of premature death for nearly 5 million people every year. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com ) ''The devastation caused by the tobacco pandemic dwarfs SARS and the recent tsunami. Every year, five million people die from tobacco-related diseases. In the Western Pacific Region alone, 3000 people die each day from tobacco use," stated Dr Shigeru Omi, Director of WHO's Western Pacific Region. "Now we have the global tools to fight a global problem. It's time for all countries to join the battle."
The WHO FCTC is intended to control what has become the second biggest killer of our time. Tobacco consumption is the single leading preventable cause of death. It will prematurely end the lives of 10 million people a year by 2020 if current trends are not reversed. Tobacco is the only legal product that causes the death of one half of its regular users. This means that of the current 1.3 billion smokers worldwide, 650 million people will die prematurely due to tobacco.
Convention provisions set international standards on tobacco price and tax increases, tobacco advertising and sponsorship, labelling, illicit trade and second-hand smoke.
The WHO FCTC was unanimously adopted by the Fifty-sixth World Health Assembly in May 2003, following almost three years of negotiations. During the year that followed, while it was open for signature, 167 countries and the European Community signed, and 23 countries became contracting parties.
On 30 November 2004, the 40th country ratified the convention, triggering a 90-day countdown for its entry into force. As of 23 February 2005, a total of 57 countries had ratified the convention.
In the Western Pacific Region, 13 countries have ratified the convention. They are Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cook Islands, Fiji, Japan, the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Singapore, Solomon Islands and Viet Nam. Fiji was the first Western Pacific country to ratify, on 3 October 2003.
Notes to editors:
The 40 contracting parties to the WHO FCTC as of 30 November 2004 were Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Cook Islands, Fiji, France, Ghana, Hungary, Iceland, India, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Peru, Qatar, San Marino, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay.
The treaty continues from now on to be open for ratification, acceptance or approval for those countries that have signed, and is open for accession for those that have not. There is no deadline for countries to become contracting parties. Any state that becomes a contracting party will be bound by the treaty 90 days following the deposit of its instrument of ratification (or equivalent) in the United Nations headquarters in New York.
The body that will govern the WHO FCTC is the Conference of the Parties (COP). The first session of the COP will take place within a year from the date of entry into force, as specified in the convention. The first session has tentatively been scheduled for February 2006. The COP is expected to determine further procedural and technical issues relating to its future development.
For current status and full text of the WHO FCTC, please visit: http://www.who.int/ . For further information, please contact:
Burke Fishburn, Tobacco Free Initiative, WHO WPRO
Tel: +63-2-528-9894 Email: tfi_unit@wpro.who.int
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