[Intl-tobacco] FCA: Warning on FCTC negotiations

[Robert Weissman]

PRESS RELEASE: FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ALLIANCE

Contact: Nicole Dueffert
202-352-4223 (U.S. Mobile)
	
Statement of Framework Convention Alliance
On the Fifth Negotiating Session of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

GENEVA (October 15, 2002) –  Since the beginning of the Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on October 25, 1999, more than 11.9
million people have died from tobacco-related diseases.  Despite three
years of negotiations and millions of dollars spent, there are
provisions in the draft treaty that could actually work against public
health, benefit the tobacco industry and lead to more deaths from
tobacco.   As representatives of health, medical, environmental and
womens organisations from around the world, we call on the delegates to
first do no harm. Governments must bear in mind that a poorly drafted
FCTC will be used by the tobacco industry as a powerful argument against
stronger domestic legislation. Therefore it is important that the FCTC
promote strong minimum standards that cannot be misconstrued as maximum
or “ideal” standards. Obligations within the Convention should not be
framed in such a way that they could become barriers to the enactment or implementa!
tion of more effective measures.

In particular, provisions in the draft treaty related to tobacco
advertising mirror the approach advocated by the tobacco industry and
therefore should be a warning to delegates that these provisions would
be meaningless and counterproductive.  For example, the draft would
“restrict” advertising “targeted” at “vulnerable” groups. This provision
is ineffective and unenforceable.  The draft text also contains weak
language on smuggling, cigarette labeling and passive smoking.  Even
more ominously, a series of clauses makes the whole tobacco treaty
subordinate to the free trade agenda of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) and places the commercial imperatives of the tobacco market above
human health and welfare.   

However, there are grounds for optimism.  Developing countries, which
are set to bear the brunt of the tobacco epidemic in the coming decades,
have advanced positive progressive positions during meetings leading up
to the negotiations. The overwhelming majority support a total ban on
tobacco advertising, over 50% of the cigarette packaging to be devoted
to warnings and a strong commitment to put human health before trade. 
This round of negotiations should be where the developing country voice
is heard and listened to by the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Critical to the eventual success of the negotiations will be an early
recognition that some countries have positions so negative and
obstructive that they will never sign a meaningful treaty. Any attempt
to accommodate these countries will dilute the text to the point of
being worthless and will do more harm than good.  This treaty will
succeed if it is forged by the progressive majority, and is based on the
established scientific evidence, rather than on the idiosyncratic
positions of countries that have excessively comfortable relations with
the tobacco companies.  



The WHO estimates that there are 1.1 billion smokers in the world today,
a number expected to rise to 1.64 billion by the year 2025.   About four
million people die each year from tobacco use. If current trends
continue, this figure will reach about 10 million per year by the early
2030s, with 70 percent of those deaths occurring in developing
countries. Based on current smoking trends, tobacco will soon become the
leading cause of death worldwide, causing more deaths than HIV, maternal
mortality, automobile accidents, homicide and suicide combined.

The Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) is a diverse alliance of over
180 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from more than 70 countries
that are working jointly and separately to support the development of a
strong Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.  The Alliance includes
individual NGOs and organisations working at the local or national level
as well as existing coalitions/alliances working at national, regional
and international levels.