AFRO-NETS> World's first-ever anti-smoking treaty

[Claudio Schuftan <aviva@netnam.vn>]

World's first-ever anti-smoking treaty
--------------------------------------


Anti-tobacco treaty agreed - BBC News
Saturday, March 1, 2003
By Imogen Foulkes, BBC correspondent in Berne

In Geneva, delegates to the World Health Organisation have agreed on 
the wording of the world's first-ever anti-smoking treaty. After long 
and often acrimonious negotiations, representatives of more than 170 
countries agreed on the framework convention on tobacco control, 
which will impose restrictions on the advertising and marketing of 
tobacco. The WHO is hailing the agreement as a ground-breaking moment 
for public health.

But a compromise on a complete advertising ban means the treaty is 
not quite as strong as some health organisations would have liked.

It has taken weeks of difficult, often tense negotiations to reach 
this agreement. It was finally hammered out in the middle of the 
night after the deadline for ending the negotiations was extended 
again and again.

The delays arose because some countries with big tobacco industries - 
most notably the United States and Germany - opposed a global ban on 
tobacco advertising, saying it violated their constitutional right to 
free speech.

Here, the treaty has been watered down somewhat. The final wording 
says countries should impose an advertising ban, but in accordance 
with their constitutional principles.

Weakened ban

Despite the compromise, the WHO is regarding the agreement as an im-
portant victory for global public health:
* Warnings, including graphic pictures of diseased lungs, will now 
  take up a third of the space on cigarette packaging.
* There will be restrictions on terms such as mild and low-tar.
* Public health will be given priority in any conflict between health 
  measures and trade agreements.
* Signatory states will devote more funds to national anti-smoking 
  programmes and will tax and price tobacco with a view to reducing 
  consumption.

The WHO estimates that smoking kills five million people a year and 
that 70% of future tobacco-related deaths will come from the develop-
ing world. Poorer countries pushed hard for a strict anti-smoking 
treaty, and their delegates at the WHO will be pleased that much of 
what they asked for remains in the final wording, despite the weak-
ened advertising ban. The treaty is due to be adopted by the WHO's 
annual assembly in May. 

But health activists warn the convention, like all such international 
agreements, is only as strong as the countries which sign it. The 
anti-tobacco words in the treaty must now be translated into anti-
tobacco actions. 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2810195.stm

Video link:

The BBC's Imogen Foullkes: "The WHO is regarding the agreement as an 
important victory for global public health" 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/38896000/rm/_38896263_smoking10_foulkes_vi.ram

--
To send a message to AFRO-NETS, write to: afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@usa.healthnet.org
in the body of the message type: subscribe afro-nets OR unsubscribe afro-nets
To contact a person, send a message to: afro-nets-help@usa.healthnet.org
Information and archives: http://www.afronets.org