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WHO opens new front in tobacco war (fwd)
WHO opens new front in tobacco war
01:59 p.m Oct 20, 1998 Eastern
By Elif Kaban
GENEVA, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The tobacco
industry and the World Health
Organisation headed for a clash on Tuesday
as the U.N. body proposed a global
treaty on tobacco control.
``Tobacco control cannot succeed solely
through the efforts of individual
governments,'' the WHO's chief, Gro Harlem
Brundtland, told a seminar
attended by anti-smoking activists and
health experts.
As she spoke, hundreds of tobacco industry
officials met in another part of
Geneva for a major exhibition that was
closed to the media.
Brundtland urged states to back her
proposal for an international convention to
control tobacco.
``We need an international response to an
international problem,'' the former
Norwegian prime minister said.
Brundtland said the new treaty would
address key areas of tobacco control such
as advertising and sponsorship, package
labelling, international trade and
harmonisation of taxes. She said she
expected it would take several years to
complete.
WHO officials said they were consulting the
World Trade Organisation to make
the initiative compatible with its rules.
``If a considerable number of countries are
ready to sign, it would have a great
global impact,'' Brundtland said.
Brundtland has already called for a global
ban on tobacco advertising. The
European Union decided in May gradually to
bring in a ban on such advertising
WHO says one person is dying every 10
seconds due to smoking-related
diseases. It estimates such deaths will
rise to 20 percent of all deaths in Europe
by 2020 if nothing is done.
As the WHO seminar got underway in Geneva,
tight security surrounded a major
tobacco industry exhibition in another part
of the city that was off-limits to
journalists.
Hundreds of industry officials met behind
closed doors to discuss strategies,
some wearing badges that read ``Thank You
for Smoking.''
Their only comment to the press was to ask
reporters if they needed help to be
escorted out of premises. David Eckles, the
organiser, said: ``This is a very
sensitive industry. The press causes
disturbances.''
``It's disgraceful,'' said Thomas Zeltner,
a senior Swiss health ministry official
attending WHO's seminar. ``The tobacco
industry should not hide itself. It has to
be open and discuss what it's doing with
the public.''
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