[Intl-tobacco] Health groups call on US to pull out of FCTC negotiations

[Robert Weissman]

> U.S. Activists Want Washington Out of Tobacco Talks
>
> GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. health activists Tuesday urged Washington to pull
> out of negotiations on a global treaty against smoking, saying that the
> U.S. government seemed bent on weakening the planned pact.
>
> "We, the major U.S. public health groups ... demand that the U.S.
> delegation ... pack their bags and go home," Judith Wilkenfeld, a director
> of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told a news conference. The health
> groups, including the American Cancer Society and the American Heart
> Association, accused the United States of being the "primary obstacle" to
> a strong treaty needed to halt the spiraling death toll from smoking.
>
> In a statement, they said that the remaining 191 member states of the
> World Health Organization (WHO) would have a better chance of agreeing an
> effective treaty if Washington withdrew.
>
> U.S. officials could not immediately be contacted for comment.
>
> WHO states are meeting in Geneva for a final round of negotiations that
> are due to end Friday. The U.N. agency hopes formally to approve the pact
> at its May annual assembly.
>
> It is the first global attempt to wean the world off a habit which the WHO
> says kills nearly five million people a year and whose toll will more than
> double over the next 20 years.
>
> Although much of the 38-article draft treaty, with its call to tackle the
> "devastating" consequences of tobacco consumption, is not in dispute,
> states are still battling over key issues, including a ban on advertising.
>
>
> Developing countries, home to some 70 percent of future victims of
> smoking-related deaths, according to the WHO, are pressing hard for a
> tough text.
>
> But some richer countries, such as Germany and Japan and particularly the
> United States, want to prevent the pact doing too much damage to their
> powerful domestic tobacco companies, health activists said.
>
> They said that Washington was resisting a call for an advertising ban even
> though the draft declares that those countries for whom this could pose
> constitutional problems -- because of issues of free speech -- would be
> exempt.
>
> Washington was also against strong action on so-called "second hand
> smoke," despite the fact that many U.S. states have tough restrictions on
> smoking in public places.
>
> It also opposed including wording giving tobacco control measures
> precedence over free trade laws in any future legal dispute between
> states, the activists said.
>
> "At this crucial stage, the United States is working methodically to
> weaken virtually every aspect of this treaty," Dr. John Seffrin, chief
> executive officer of the American Cancer Society, was quoted as saying in
> the statement.
>
> "The time has come for the U.S. to stand aside and allow the rest of the
> world to complete a treaty strong enough to change the course of the
> tobacco epidemic," he said.


> Health campaigners demand U.S. withdrawal from tobacco talks
> By CLARE NULLIS
> Associated Press Writer
>
> 02/25/2003
> Associated Press Newswires
> Copyright 2003. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
>
> GENEVA (AP) - Accusing President George W. Bush's administration of being
> beholden to cigarette multinationals, a coalition of American medical
> groups demanded that the United States withdraw altogether from
> international anti-tobacco negotiations and stop sabotaging the planned
> treaty.
> Just days away from the scheduled completion of the talks, Thailand, Saudi
> Arabia and other developing countries complained that the U.S. delegation
> was using strong-arm tactics and financial threats to try to force through
> its will.
> "At this critical juncture, the United States government is working
> methodically to weaken virtually every aspect of this treaty," said John
> Seffrin, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society. "We call
> on the U.S. government to observe the first rule of the Hippocratic Oath:
> Do No Harm."
> "The time has come for the United States to stand aside and allow the rest
> of the world to complete a treaty strong enough to change the course of
> the tobacco epidemic," Seffrin said.
> A U.S. delegate rejected the criticism and said his team was negotiating
> in "good faith."
> "We are making a very sincere effort to bring home a treaty which can be
> signed and ratified," said Terry Pechacek, of the Centers for Disease
> Control and Prevention, CDC.
> Government representatives have until Friday to agree on the so-called
> Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
> Since negotiations opened in October 1999, more than 13.3 million people
> have died of cancer, heart disease and other smoking related ailments. The
> World Health Organization, which is sponsoring the talks, expects to
> annual toll to soar to 10 million by 2030 because of a surge in deaths in
> China and other developing countries.
> The vast majority of countries want the treaty to introduce sweeping
> restrictions against tobacco, including a total advertising ban and tough
> labeling controls to introduce graphic images of health problems and to
> stop use of terms such as "mild," and "light." Developing nations also
> want the agreement to state that health should be given priority over
> trade in international law - thus protecting them from potential U.S.
> action in the World Trade Organization if they try to impose restrictions
> on cigarette imports.
> The United States - home to the world's biggest cigarette exporter, Philip
> Morris - has flatly rejected an advertising ban, saying it would violate
> constitutional principles of free speech. In view of this, the current
> draft text would allow countries with constitutional objections to impose
> restrictions, while other nations would introduce a complete ban after
> three years.
> But there is particular anger at perceived U.S. attempts to water down
> many other parts of the treaty - such as on labeling - and insistence on
> the right to use reservations to exempt it from individual provisions it
> doesn't like.
> Thailand's Hatai Chitanondh said that the U.S. delegation had told the
> meeting that it would stop funding anti-tobacco programs and transferring
> know-how if it didn't get its way on exemptions.
> "It's very arrogant," complained Chitanondh. "The United States has the
> technology and sophisticated tobacco control programs and yet they are
> behaving like this toward the rest of the world."
> A member of Saudi Arabia's delegation, who asked not to be identified,
> said his government took offense at a U.S. State Department letter
> stressing that the tobacco treaty should not seek to undermine the WTO's
> free trade provisions.
> U.S. officials in Geneva and Washington did not immediately respond to the
> specific allegations despite repeated telephone calls. At the outset of
> the talks, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said
> the United States was fully committed to a "strong and dynamic" treaty.
> The American health groups disagreed.
> "I am ashamed of the role my government has played in the negotiations,"
> said Alfred Munzer of the American Lung Association.
> "It has clearly sacrificed long-term improvement in global public health
> to serve the interests of an industry whose product is responsible for
> four million deaths annually from cancer, heart disease and emphysema." u