Tobacco Treaty (fwd)'Death Clock' Starts Ticking Oct. 25 as WorldNegotiates First

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

'Death Clock' Starts Ticking Oct. 25 as World Negotiates First Tobacco Treaty
Source: U.S. Newswire, Thursday, 10/21/99

To: International and Photo desks, Tobacco Reporter

Contact: Judith Glanz of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids
(mobile) 44-7775-864088 (in Geneva from Oct. 23-29), Web site: http://www.tobaccofreekids.org;
Emma Must of Action on Smoking & Health, (mobile) 0374-209341; or Lucinda Wykle-Rosenberg of INFACT, 41-22-707-0830

GENEVA, Oct. 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- While nations from around the globe
gather to begin talks on the world's first tobacco treaty, a coalition of
public health and consumer rights' organizations will remind them why they
must take swift and decisive action: every eight seconds, someone in the
world dies from tobacco-related disease.

The point will be driven home by starting an oversized "Global Tobacco
Death Clock" that will begin ticking as negotiations open on Monday, Oct.
25 and continue counting out tobacco deaths until an agreement is reached.

The negotiations, convened by the World Health Organization in Geneva,
will be the first attempt by governments to reach a global agreement on
controlling the tobacco epidemic, which currently claims 4 million lives a
year. The talks will address, among other issues, the tobacco industry's
aggressive advertising and promotional efforts in developing countries and
efforts to regulate cigarette ingredients and packaging.

The "Death Clock," measuring more than 6 feet in length, will track the
minute-to-minute death toll from tobacco-caused illness around the globe.
Organizers intend to bring the ticking clock to every negotiating session
to emphasize the continuing human toll of tobacco use.

"This clock will be a concrete reminder to governments of how much is at
stake in these negotiations," said Bill Novelli, president of the
Washington, D.C.-based Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. "Every week, more
than 50,000 people die from tobacco-related illness worldwide. We can and
must put a stop to this."

"These talks provide a unique opportunity for governments to protect
current and future generations from tobacco," said Emma Must, manager of
international campaigns for London-based Action on Smoking and Health
(ASH). "We hope that governments will seize this opportunity to rein in
the tobacco industry and stem the toll of tobacco-caused death and
disease."

"Consumer, labor, human rights, faith-based and tobacco control
organizations from around the world are joining together to advance a
strong treaty that will reverse the global tobacco epidemic and ensure
that the tobacco industry and its allies do not interfere with efforts to
establish global standards regulating their behavior," said Kathryn
Mulvey, executive director of INFACT in Boston.

Photo Opportunity: The Death Clock will be switched on to coincide with
the opening of the talks on Monday, Oct. 25 at 8:30 a.m. inside the main
entrance of the Palais des Nations (UN Headquarters) in Geneva,
Switzerland.

Tobacco is an Enormous Global Problem

-- Globally, approximately 4 million people die from tobacco-related
illness each year. This is the equivalent of twenty-seven 747 airplanes
full of passengers crashing every day. By the year 2030, 10 million people
will be dying each year from tobacco use.1

-- By the year 2020, 70 percent of all deaths from tobacco will occur in
developing countries, up from around 50 percent today.2

-- Approximately 80,000 to 100,000 young people around the world become
addicted to tobacco each day.3

-- Based on current smoking trends, tobacco will soon become the leading
cause of death worldwide, causing more deaths than HIV, tuberculosis,
maternal mortality, automobile accidents, homicide and suicide combined.4

-- At the national level, tobacco use imposes significant economic costs
on countries, with estimates for different countries ranging from 0.7
percent to 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) lost annually.5 WHO
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control In May 1999, the 191 member
countries of WHO unanimously endorsed the start of negotiations for the
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). If successfully
negotiated, the FCTC would be the world's first global agreement devoted
entirely to tobacco control.

Possible issues to be negotiated include: tobacco smuggling; tobacco
marketing; minimum public health standards for tobacco exports, including
packaging, health labeling and ingredient disclosure requirements;
economic and environmental issues related to tobacco cultivation; tax-free
sales of tobacco; and, measures to harmonize national tobacco taxes.

In addition to potential benefits of the Convention itself, the process
leading to passage of the FCTC is likely to: give new impetus to efforts
to strengthen national legislation and action to control the harm caused
by tobacco; raise public awareness of marketing tactics used by
transnational tobacco companies abroad; mobilize national and global
technical and financial support for tobacco control; mobilize
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other members of civil society
in support of stronger tobacco control.

-- Otherwise, please note the following contact numbers:

Judith Glanz 1-202-296-5469 Emma Must, 44-171-739-5902 Lucinda
Wykle-Rosenberg, 1-617-742-4583 1 World Health Organization, World Health
Report 1999 (Geneva: WHO, 1999).

2 World Health Organization, World Health Report 1999 (Geneva: WHO, 1999).

3 World Bank, Curbing the Epidemic: Governments and the Economics of
Tobacco Control (Washington: World Bank, 1999).

4 Howard Barnum, "The Economic Burden of the Global Trade in Tobacco,"
Paper presented at the 9th World Conference on Tobacco and Health, October
1994.

5 Prabhat Jha, Thomas Novotny and Richard Feachem, "The Role of Government
in Global Tobacco Control," in The Economics of Tobacco Control: Towards
an Optimal Policy Mix, Abedian et al. eds. (Cape Town: Applied Fiscal
Research Center, 1998).