Kobe Declaration Calls for a Halt to the Tobacco Menace Among Womenand Children (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Kobe Declaration Calls for a Halt to the Tobacco Menace Among Women and
Children

by ; Source: World Health Organization , Thursday, 11/18/99

  Health experts and anti-tobacco activists have urged the World Health
Organization to fully integrate
  "special needs" of women and girls into a proposed international treaty
on tobacco control. The newly
  concluded Kobe Declaration was adopted by consensus by some 500
delegates who attended the
  four-day international conference on women and tobacco hosted by WHO in
Kobe, Japan from November
  14-18.

  The Declaration demands that the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
(FCTC) "include
  gender-specific concerns and perspectives in each and every aspect" and
states that "gender equality in
  society must be an integral part of tobacco control strategies and
women's leadership is essential to
  success."

  "We have to work together to ensure the success of the framework
convention which will be a powerful
  public health tool," said Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO
Director-General. "It could encourage States
  Parties to take appropriate measures to protect children and adolescents
from exposure to tobacco by
  including obligations related to advertising, sponsorships and
labeling."

  Dr Filomina Steady, Chairperson of the Declaration drafting group and
professor of African Studies and
  Gender Studies at Wellesley College, MA, USA stressed the importance of
drawing attention to the potential
  epidemic of tobacco use in women and girls. "This is the new target
population in the developing world that
  is particularly being recruited in this phenomenon of nicotine
addiction. This declaration will feed into the
  Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to ensure there is a strong
gender-sensitive component and
  that it serves as a mobilizing tool to bring women, NGOs, leaders,
politicians, activists and academics into
  this movement."

  The Convention, targeted for adoption latest by May 2003, will be the
first legally binding international
  instrument aimed at curbing the global spread of tobacco and tobacco
products. Some of the measures
  being considered include a ban on advertising, promotion and packaging
of tobacco products, raising
  tobacco taxes, tightening rules to stop smuggling and special
anti-smoking education programs targeted
  toward young people.

  Dr Douglas Bettcher, Coordinator of the FCTC, acknowledged that more
work needed to be done in
  clarifying and incorporating women's issues into the treaty. "The sorts
of general principles outlined in the
  declaration could provide a guide to drafting aspects of the framework
Convention… I think the
  recommendations and declaration will provide a very firm foundation in
this process."

  The Conference -- officially called the WHO International Conference on
Tobacco and Health,
  Kobe – Making a Difference to Tobacco and Health: Avoiding the Tobacco
Epidemic in
  Women and Youth -- examined ways to counter the tobacco epidemic among
women and youth and
  focused particularly on the alarming rise in smoking among young women
and girls in Asia. For example, a
  new survey by the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare shows that
smoking among women aged
  20-29 more than doubled between 1986 and 1999, from 10.5% to 23.2%. Of
the 1.1 billion smokers in the
  world, 200 million are women. That figure is set to triple in the next
25 years. WHO has estimated that
  women account for 500,000 of the 4 million tobacco-related deaths that
occur every year. If present
  smoking trends continue, WHO has warned that by the year 2025, 10
million people per year will die
  unnecessarily, 70 percent of them in developing countries.

  "The greatest preventive potential for the epidemic in the 21st century
lies in stopping increased smoking
  rates among the women of Asia and Africa in particular and among youth,"
said Dr Derek Yach, Project
  Manager of WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative. "Usually in public health, we
focus where disease and death
  are the highest. In the case of tobacco, we know there's a lag of often
decades between smoking and
  death rates. If we can stop the smoking rates rising, we know with
certainty we'll prevent a massive
  epidemic in the 21st century."

  Conference highlights

  While the Kobe Declaration was the most tangible outcome of the
conference, there were other highlights.
  Concentrating its programme around the major themes of prevalence and
impact of tobacco on women
  throughout the life cycle and the determinants of tobacco use among
women and young girl, the high
  points of the conference came at the beginning and the end.

  The first highlight was the opening address by the WHO Director-General,
Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, who
  depicted the tobacco industry as Public Enemy #1. "The tobacco epidemic
spares no nation and no
  people…four million unnecessary deaths per year, 11,000 every day." In
the tobacco industry's
  "programmed trail of death and destruction,…a cigarette is the only
consumer product which, when used
  as desired, kills its consumer."

  Dr Shigeru Omi, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, expressed
concern over the situation in
  Asia. "The tobacco industry is turning to the Asia-Pacific region to
recruit new cigarette consumers through
  tobacco marketing that characterizes tobacco use as socially acceptable,
fashionable and glamorous," Dr
  Omi said. While only 8.6% of Japanese women smoked in 1986, that figure
had risen to an estimated
  13.4% by 1999. He further mentioned that the prevalence of lung cancer
in the host country, Japan, had
  increased 14-fold over the past 40-years. "Last year, 50,000 Japanese
people died from lung cancer, which
  is now the leading cause of cancer deaths," Dr Omi noted.

  According to Dr Yach, this was WHO's first major international meeting
in Asia since the launch of TFI and
  the first ever on women and tobacco in Japan. On expected outcomes, Dr
Yach highlighted greater unity for
  the women's movement and the public health community to place tobacco
squarely in the center of their
  agenda. He also drew attention to the fact that serious debate has
started now about the government
  support for, and involvement in, tobacco manufacturing, distribution and
sales.

  During the conference, participants were given a thorough analysis of
both the addictive properties of
  tobacco, including the deceptive "light cigarettes" – and the alluring
properties of marketing which try to
  make smoking synonymous with slimness, sophistication and women's
liberation from traditional
  stereotypes. Nancy Kaufman's presentation around "Media, fashion and
promotion" drew animated
  audience response.

  A substantive high point was Dr Rowena van der Merwe's presentation.
Echoing a recent World Bank
  report, Curbing the Epidemic: Governments and the Economics of Tobacco
Control, she
  presented a strong case for the economics of tobacco control, showing
that smoking makes neither good
  sense - nor good cents. According to World Bank figures, in addition to
the cost in lives, tobacco-induced
  disease and subsequent health care costs result in a global net loss of
US$ 200 billion a year - more than
  the GNPs of Malaysia and Singapore combined.

  "Few people now dispute that smoking is damaging to health," she said.
It is also damaging to a country's
  economic well-being. The time is now ripe to "harness economic tools and
logic to ultimately…reduce the
  toll of tobacco." Prevention is the "most effective and cost-effective
policy" and will have the most dramatic
  effect on future trends. However, comprehensive measures to promote
cessation are also needed.

  The solution, Dr van der Merwe suggested, lies in robust taxation.
"Higher taxes are the most potent tool
  available to balance young people's inadequate perception about the
addictive nature of tobacco and their
  myopic behaviour in discounting the future health consequences of their
consumption." She proposed
  raising taxes to 66 - 75% of the price of cigarettes and pumping these
revenues back into such activities as
  tobacco-targeted health care and counter-advertising campaigns. This
proposal was incorporated into the
  Declaration.

  The final press conference, in addition to drawing statements from the
conference leaders, featured
  statements by two very diverse young women tobacco-free advocates.
Annika Dulkmark, Miss Sweden
  1996, reported on the innovative use of beauty pageants as anti-smoking
marketing tools. For example, all
  Miss Sweden contestants must be non-smokers and part of their
responsibilities involves visiting schools
  as role models to educate 10-14 year-olds on the importance of not
smoking. She said that France, Italy,
  Norway, Iceland, the Miss World and the Miss Universe Pageant (which
involves 80 countries worldwide),
  all have either incorporated or are seriously considering including this
tobacco-free advocacy approach.

  Tanya Selvaratnam, board member of Third Wave, a foundation for young
women, and also Sri Lankan
  actress, film producer and Harvard graduate in international legal
history, offered a poignant personal
  account about losing her 54-year old doctor father to lung cancer. "We
owe it to ourselves and to our young
  people to watch over them and make sure they don't stray," she said,
capturing in that phrase the spirit of
  the conference and its forward-looking strategies.

  Looking towards the future

  After reporting on the results of the recent Singapore Consultation on
Youth and Tobacco (28-30
  September), the conference presenters several upcoming events,
including:

         11th World Conference on Tobacco or Health, 6-11 August 2000 in
Chicago, IL, USA.
         (www.wctoh.org).

         Inter-Governmental FCTC working group, Geneva, 27-29 March 2000

         Beijing Plus Five, 5-9 June 2000, New York, NY, USA

         Millennium Assembly, 22-26 May 2000, United Nations Secretariat,
New York.

  For details, please consult TFI's website, www.who.ch/toh

  _____________

  For further information from WHO, journalists can contact Mr Gregory
Hartl, Office of Press and Public Relations, WHO,
  Geneva, telephone: (+41 22) 791 4458, fax: (+41 22) 791 4858. E-mail:
hartlg@who.ch. All WHO Press Releases, Fact
  Sheets and Features can be obtained on Internet on the WHO home page
http://www.who.ch