[Intl-tobacco] Gloves off in WHO tobacco campaign

[Robert Weissman]

Gloves off in WHO tobacco campaign
By Warren Giles and John Thornhill
Published: September 21 2000 
Financial Times

As they reel from the soaring cost of lawsuits in the US, big tobacco
companies are now about to be hit again, this time by tough measures under
consideration by the United Nations and the European Union.

Five big US tobacco companies were in July ordered by a court in Florida
to pay $145bn in punitive damages to 500,000 smokers.

To add to their problems, the EU is now debating a directive that would
force tobacco companies to lower the maximum tar levels in cigarettes and
print bigger health warnings on their packets.

But an even bigger threat to the industry comes from the Geneva-based UN
World Health Organisation. Next month the WHO will open hearings intended
to lead to the establishment of an international convention to combat
tobacco use in the organisation's 191 member states.

Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO's director general, believes that increased
awareness at governmental levels of the long-term economic and health
costs of smoking is swaying the debate in favour of draconian anti-tobacco
measures.

Half a billion people alive today are going to die from tobacco, Mrs
Brundtland said, adding: "It is the only product which when used as
intended, will kill one half of its consumers."

She argued the real tragedy was that many people remained ignorant of the
health dangers, especially in developing countries, where 70 per cent of
the 10m smoking-related deaths forecast annually will occur by 2030. "It
is not correct to say that they know the risks and they make a deliberate
choice," the former Norwegian prime minister said in an interview.

Mrs Brundtland has described smoking as a "communicable disease" -
communicable through advertising. She has called for an outright ban on
global tobacco advertising and sponsorship. The proposed WHO convention
could also call for higher taxes on cigarettes, stricter measures to
combat smuggling, and greater efforts to combat underage smoking.

However, she is resigned to having to leave the final decision - to ban or
simply restrict tobacco advertising and sponsorship - in the hands of the
WHO's member governments: "I think there is going to be a considerable
restrictive paragraph on this", giving individual governments considerable
leeway. The exact form of the convention would be subject to governmental
negotiations, she said.

Two days of hearings on October 12-13 will offer the tobacco industry the
chance to put its case for less stringent measures. While Mrs Brundtland
regards the hearings as offering "an open dialogue" with the tobacco
companies, the discussions are likely to be dominated by the tension that
has grown since a WHO study last month exposed the lengths to which the
industry had gone to undermine the WHO's anti-smoking efforts.

The tobacco industry complains that the hearings allow too little room for
its views, which will be limited to a five-page submission and a
five-minute presentation by each company. The big companies assert the WHO
is keener on confrontation than co-operation.

David Davies, vice-president of Philip Morris Europe, part of the world's
biggest cigarette company, says the tobacco industry acknowledges it makes
risky products but can play an important role in limiting the impact on
public health. It could, for example, share its research findings with
public health officials and help combat under-age smoking.

"Everywhere we do business we believe it is proper and necessary to have
sensible regulation. And we believe there are a number of areas where we
can find common ground with the WHO," he said. "The likelihood of making
significant progress is greater if we work together rather than
separately.

"But we obviously would not support a treaty which leads to a ban on
tobacco products, or a treaty that makes it impossible to provide adult
consumers with affordable cigarettes. We hope it will not be a treaty that
continues to foster acrimony," he said.

Still, Mrs Brundtland remains unconvinced that tobacco companies can help
achieve her goals. To be taken seriously, the industry must reduce the
numbers of young smokers, she said.

Mrs Brundtland also denied that freedom of choice to use a legal product
was a legitimate defence for tobacco marketing. Pointing to a WHO survey
that says one in five 13- to 15-year-olds take up smoking in developing
countries and transition economies, she said: "Most people get addicted
when they are young, long before we can discuss freedom of choice."

While the tobacco industry insists that regulation has to be addressed at
a national level, Mrs Brundtland said that proposed anti-smoking measures
such as increased taxation, smuggling controls and advertising bans, did
not make sense without cross-border co-operation.

"But the framework convention helps every nation see the bigger picture,"
she said.

The convention is scheduled for October 16-21. A framework convention
could then be ready for the first signatories in 2003.