Lat-Am. Health Mins. Urge Steps To Protect Children From Tobacco

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

For Immediate Release: 25 September 1998

     Contact: Daniel Epstein
     epsteind@paho.org
     (202) 974-3459
     Pan American Health Organization 

     Health Ministers Ask Urgent Steps To Protect Children From
     Tobacco 

     Washington, September 25, 1998- Protecting children and adolescents
from tobacco by regulating advertising
     and enforcing laws against cigarette sales to minors is a top priority,
the Ministers of Health of the Americas
     agreed today at the conclusion of the Pan American Sanitary Conference.

     The meeting, where Ministers of Health from all countries of the
Americas set health policy for the continent,
     approved a resolution which recognized the "seriousness of the epidemic
of tobacco use and dependency as a
     priority health problem in the Region, especially among children and
adolescents." The Ministers also asked
     PAHO to study the feasibility of a framework convention on tobacco
control for the Americas. 

     The Ministers, who also re-elected Dr. George Alleyne of Barbados as
Director of the Pan American Health
     Organization for a second four-year term, called on all countries in
the Americas to "take urgent steps to protect
     children and adolescents through the regulation of advertising, to
enforce the laws and ordinances aimed at
     eliminating the sale of tobacco products to minors, and to establish
effective prevention programs." Each
     country, the ministers said, should prepare a plan to prevent and curb
tobacco use, "with educational, legislative,
     regulatory and fiscal components."

     According to PAHO experts 670,000 people in the Americas die every year
from tobacco-attributable deaths,
     and a third of adults in Latin America and the Caribbean smoke - the
same level as Canada, but higher than the
     U.S., where 26% are smokers. The countries with the highest prevalence
of smokers are the Dominican
     Republic and Venezuela, with 40%, and the lowest is Paraguay, where
only 15% of adults smoke.

     Tobacco has significant economic implications for Latin America, said
PAHO's Dr. Enrique Madrigal. "Tobacco
     exports earn almost $1 billion a year for Brazil and $5 billion for the
United States. Five countries of the region
     rank among the world's leading producers of unmanufactured tobacco: the
U.s. (2nd), Brazil, (4th), Canada,
     (14th), Argentina (15th, and Mexico (16th)" Among cigarette exporters,
the U.S. is first in the world, while
     Brazil is 6th, Venezuela 16th, Canada 19th, and Colombia 20th, he said. 

     Dr. Madrigal said the World Bank conservatively estimates that tobacco
is a net drain on the world economy of
     about $200 billion a year, but "the true costs are much higher" because
of underestimation of health costs, losses
     of caretakers in families, losses from fires and deforestation, and
other factors. 

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     For further information contact: Daniel Epstein, tel (202) 974-3459,
fax (202) 974-3143, Office of Public
     Information, PAHO, http://www.paho.org. 

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