PHA-Exchange> WHO demands anti-smoking support

[Syed Mahbubul Alam Tahin]

WHO demands anti-smoking support

Charities and WHO say hundreds of millions are threatened by tobacco
GENEVA, Switzerland -- Calls have been made for support for a global
pact against smoking to save 500 million lives threatened by
tobacco-related diseases and products.
Health activists have condemned as too week the plan put forward by
World Health Organisation director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland.
But speaking on Monday, she said: "We may think the tobacco industry
would want a bland and unambitious treaty. Even more, it would love a
treaty that never will be ratified by a large number of key
countries."
WHO countries launched negotiations on the Framework Convention on
Tobacco Control -- the first global health treaty -- in October 1999
in a bid to curb deaths from smoking-related diseases.
On Monday the 192 member countries of the United Nations agency began
a final round of treaty negotiations on smoking.
Activists have accused the United States, Japan and Germany, all home
to powerful tobacco industries, of seeking to weaken the WHO text,
particularly in areas such as advertising.
A previous call to phase out sponsorship of sporting events by
tobacco companies, which some countries already ban, has been dropped
from the current plan.
Also omitted is the outlawing of cigarette vending machines.
An estimated five million die each year of tobacco-related diseases,
but health officials warn the toll will double over the next 20 years
because of the long development period for lung cancer and
cardiovascular disease.
Brundtland said: "It is a treaty aimed at saving lives -- hundreds of
millions of lives and in our own lifetime."
The call to support the treaty was made as three international cancer
charities -- the American Cancer Society, Cancer Research UK and the
International Union Against Cancer (UICC) -- joined forces to stamp
out smoking.
Dr. John Seffrin, president of the Geneva-based UICC, told Reuters:
"Tobacco is already the single greatest cause of preventable death in
the world.
"If current trends continue, 500 million people alive today will
eventually die prematurely and needlessly from tobacco related
disease."
The charities will offer grants of $10,000 per year for up to two
years to anti-smoking campaigners in 12 developing countries and
provide advice, technical support and expertise.
David Zacks, chairman of the American Cancer Society, told Reuters:
"Many of these developing nations lack the resources or the
experience to take on the propaganda machine of the tobacco industry.
"In many cases they are even less prepared to deal with the epidemic
of tobacco-related disease that will inevitably come."
The text of the WHO treaty was drawn up by the head of the
negotiating committee, ambassador Luis Felipe Seixas Correa of
Brazil.
It expresses concern at the "devastating worldwide health, social,
economic and environmental consequences of tobacco and exposure to
tobacco smoke."
It also spells out steps to restrict tobacco advertising, fight
cigarette smuggling and deter young people from taking up the habit.
The final draft, which is due to be completed by February 28, will be
presented to the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly in May.
After then it will be up to individual countries to ratify.
URL:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/02/17/geneva.smoking/index.html

Framework Convention Alliance
www.FCTC.org






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