HEALTH: Progress on Tobacco Treaty, Despite Powers’ Opposition

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Oct 26 2002 (IPS) - Civil society organisations are urging the signing of a strongly worded international treaty on tobacco control even if it means moving doing so without the powerful countries of Germany, Japan and United States, which are opposed to this type of accord.

“The great majority of countries are very committed to adopting a text by May 2003. They will have to decide if they want a treaty that (these three countries) will sign, or whether they move ahead without them,” said Patti Lynn, spokeswoman for Infact, a U.S.- based group that is critical of big tobacco companies.

The representatives of approximately 120 member nations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) wrapped up two weeks of negotiations Friday aimed at giving form to the text of the first- ever international health treaty.

In general terms, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is to curb “the advertising, promotion and sales and smuggling of tobacco products.”

The WHO estimates that, each year, 4.9 million people die worldwide from causes related to tobacco consumption, primarily through smoking cigarettes. The United Nations health agency argues that if immediate steps are not taken, tobacco victims will number 10 million annually by the year 2030.

In an evaluation of the FCTC negotiations, Infact activist Lynn underscored some positive aspects, noting, “Nearly 100 countries came together and are moving towards a total ban on tobacco advertising.”

However, on another crucial issue — the recognition of public health as a priority over trade and the tobacco industry — “a handful of wealthy countries is standing in the way” of the progress sought by an “overwhelming majority” of nations, she said.

“The countries that have the strongest interest in transnational tobacco corporations, like the United States and Japan, are very opposed to prioritising public health over trade and tobacco,” said the spokeswoman for Infact, one of the NGOs under the umbrella group Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT).

Furthermore, the two countries have expressed concern that this approach would set a precedence for other industries whose activities are harmful to public health, said Lynn.

The officials in charge of the tobacco treaty negotiations, debate chairman Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa, of Brazil, and WHO director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland, offered cautious summaries of the conclusions reached after two weeks of debate.

Seixas Correa noted that the states party to the agreement had “achieved exactly what we had set out to achieve. We are closer than ever before, both in time and substance, to an international agreement.”

“We have narrowed down the gaps and, while divergences still persist on a limited number of issues, they have been fully reflected in the discussions,” said the debate chairman.

Most of the delegations are confident that an agreement will be achieved, he said.

WHO leader Brundtland said she is hopeful that the text will be approved by the health ministers of the 192 member countries of the UN health agency in May, when the World Health Assembly is slated to meet.

Brundtland, whose term as director-general ends in July 2003, stressed that “there is a strong move towards a total ban on advertising, but this does not mean the final text is ready.”

Kathryn Mulvey, executive director of Infact, noted that Ireland had spoken on behalf of 24 European countries to express their support for a total ban on tobacco advertising.

The statement by the Irish delegation exposed a division among European countries, as Germany is opposed to a prohibition of cigarette and tobacco publicity.

Seixas Correa, who is entrusted with preparing a draft text of the FCTC for discussion in February, identified the areas that still need work in order to reconcile the different positions.

As far as advertising, promotion and sponsorship by big tobacco, the delegations are debating the options of “progressive restrictions” or outright “elimination”.

There are only minor differences of opinion about the text on banning all forms of radio and television advertising for tobacco, but great divergences when it comes to forbidding billboards or other publicly visible advertising.

The Brazilian diplomat acknowledged that one of the most complex questions is related to the idea that the tobacco industry should take responsibility for health problems caused by tobacco products and attributable to its own “incorrect” actions.

In the negotiations on this point, known as “liability and compensation”, more than 70 countries have called for resolute decisions, but the United States has argued that the tobacco industry should not be held completely responsible for the harm caused by its products.

Another NATT member, Akinbode Oluwafemi, of Nigeria’s Environmental Rights Action, criticised the visible presence of big tobacco companies at the Geneva meetings, charging that they spend enormous sums to obstruct the negotiations of the Framework Convention.

Oluwafemi urged the government delegates to prevent the sabotage of the first-ever public health treaty and to fight the “strong-arm tactics” of Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco.

Infact’s Lynn applauded the fact that the newly concluded talks had made progress on the issue of illicit trade in tobacco products, which encompasses smuggling, illegal production and falsification — largely of cigarettes.

HEALTH: Progress on Tobacco Treaty, Despite Powers’ Opposition

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Oct 25 2002 (IPS) - Civil society organisations are urging the signing of a strongly worded international treaty on tobacco control even if it means moving doing so without the powerful countries of Germany, Japan and United States, which are opposed to this type of accord.
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