[Intl-tobacco] US reverses itself on FCTC

[Robert Weissman]

> U.S. Backs Pact Curbing Tobacco Use Worldwide; Move Is Surprise Reversal
> Rob Stein and Marc Kaufman
> Washington Post Staff Writers
> 19 May 2003
> The Washington Post
> A01
> The United States, in a surprise reversal, today announced support for an
> unprecedented, far-reaching international treaty designed to combat
> tobacco use around the globe.
> As the head of the U.S. delegation to the World Health Assembly, Tommy G.
> Thompson, secretary of health and human services, said he would formally
> announce the U.S. position when he addresses the assembly here on
> Wednesday.
> "I'm going to support it -- much to the surprise of many around the
> world," Thompson said in a briefing. "I'm not going to make any changes.
> We have no reservations. The delegation here, headed by me, is in support
> of the tobacco treaty."
> The international tobacco treaty is viewed by some as the most important
> international public health effort ever undertaken. It is designed
> generally to make it more difficult for cigarette companies to promote and
> sell their products worldwide, but especially in poor nations where
> cigarette smoking rates remain relatively low.
> Late last month, the United States formally asked all 171 members of the
> World Health Organization body that negotiated the treaty to support its
> already-rejected position that each nation should have the right to opt
> out of any clause in the treaty that it found objectionable or
> unconstitutional. The letters to foreign and health ministers said that
> unless a "reservations" clause was included in the treaty, the ability of
> the United States to sign and ratify it would be undermined.
> But few nations were willing to support the U.S. position, and many
> criticized the effort as an attempt to scuttle the whole treaty. The
> European Union voted last week to support the treaty as written, and today
> the 58 members of the former British Commonwealth did the same.
> "We are thrilled" about the new U.S. position, said Derek Yach, the WHO
> official who led the tobacco negotiation. "The U.S. delegation has told us
> they will not be obstructionist in any way."
> The U.S. position in support of the treaty as written means that it will
> pass easily in the World Health Assembly, but each nation must decide
> whether to ratify it. Thompson said that while President Bush is "quite
> supportive" of the treaty, he did not know whether the president would
> sign it or send it to the Senate for ratification. "I don't make that
> decision," Thompson said. "The president is still reviewing it. It got up
> on his radar screen, his personal radar screen, this past week, and I gave
> him my pitch and he was quite supportive."
> The treaty took more than three years to negotiate and had to withstand
> many challenges from the United States and other countries. As written,
> the treaty calls for a ban on cigarette advertising, except in countries
> where such a ban would be unconstitutional, such as the United States. It
> requires that health warnings on cigarette packages be larger and more
> visible, encourages nations to increase cigarette taxes and endorses the
> scientific conclusion that second-hand smoke is a public health threat.
> The United States has long been a leader in international tobacco control,
> and it funds many worldwide anti-smoking programs. For these reasons, Yach
> of WHO said, it was consistent with past practice for the United States to
> support the treaty. But the United States is also home to some of the
> world's biggest tobacco companies, and tobacco control advocates have said
> U.S. policy was influenced by firms such as the Philip Morris Cos., which
> have been generous donors to Bush and many other Republicans.
> Administration officials have said their concerns about the treaty were
> not related to the wishes of tobacco companies, but rather were driven by
> concern that it might infringe on constitutional protections in the United
> States. Thompson said today that those issues were no longer a barrier to
> U.S. support, but he did not explain why.
> Tobacco control advocates applauded the apparent turnaround. "The U.S.
> opposition to the treaty as adopted isolated it from the rest of the
> world," said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free
> Kids. "If the United States withdraws its opposition to the treaty as
> negotiated, it removes the last obstacle to this treaty becoming a major
> force in reducing the horrors of tobacco throughout the world."
> Myers said he remained concerned about the administration's stand on the
> tobacco treaty and said advocates will be watching "to make sure its
> support isn't conditioned on a narrow interpretation of the meaning of the
> treaty."
> Philip Morris has supported the general idea of the tobacco treaty, but
> has often disagreed with proponents of strict tobacco control about how
> much should be done.
> "We're pleased that the treaty is moving forward," said Mark Berlin,
> legislative counsel for Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris.
> "There's some things we like very much, some we like less. That's the
> legislative process."
> Governments have a year to decide whether to ratify the treaty, but only
> 40 ratifications are needed for the treaty to come into force. Yach said
> 30 delegations have already said they are committed to ratifying the
> treaty, and he estimated the 40 ratifications would be reached in six to
> 12 months.
> Once the treaty is adopted, the nations that support it will begin
> additional international meetings to work out details of how to implement
> it.
> The United States has been especially interested in a planned follow-up
> meeting in New York to address the problem of cigarette smuggling, but
> would have been unable to participate in the talks if it had voted against
> the treaty.
> Tobacco use is a major international killer, and WHO estimated that by
> 2030, 10 million people will be dying annually from cancer, cardiovascular
> disease and other conditions linked to smoking. It is predicted that as
> many as 70 percent of the victims will be in the developing world.
>
> Kaufman reported from Washington.



> U.S. to Support World Tobacco-Control Treaty
> By ALISON LANGLEY
> 19 May 2003
> The New York Times
> Page 2, Column 3
> GENEVA, May 18 -- The United States has dropped its opposition to a global
> tobacco-control treaty and said today that it would vote for the pact at
> the World Health Organization's assembly this week.
> Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, said here
> today that he would support the treaty, which is known as the Framework
> Convention on Tobacco Control.
> ''Much to the surprise of many around the world, I'm going to be
> supporting the tobacco treaty,'' Mr. Thompson told reporters on the eve of
> the health organization's annual assembly of health ministers from its 192
> member nations.
> To win final United States approval, the treaty would have to be signed by
> President Bush and ratified by Congress. Mr. Thompson said that Mr. Bush
> had expressed support for the treaty, but wanted to have it reviewed by
> lawyers.
> Later he added, ''The president is going to make the determination as to
> if and when he signs it.''
> If enacted, the convention would be the first international treaty devoted
> solely to health, according Dr. Derek Yach, executive director of
> noncommunicable diseases at the World Health Organization.
> Among other things, it bans advertising of tobacco products in countries
> where such prohibitions are constitutional, requires that all ingredients
> be listed on packaging, imposes broad legal liability for manufacturers
> and strongly encourages high taxes on tobacco.
> The Bush administration has been on record as opposing the treaty as it
> was written.
> When treaty negotiations concluded on March 1, the ranking member of the
> American delegation, David Hohmann, told a plenary session of negotiators
> that the United States had reservations about a number of clauses and that
> it would explore having the treaty changed.
> At the end of April, the United States sent a letter to health ministries
> around the world asking for a change that would allow countries to opt out
> of any provisions of the treaty with which they disagreed.
> The letter was criticized not only by some members of Congress, but by
> other governments. Only two other countries, the Dominican Republic and
> Germany, publicly expressed reservations about the treaty, and Germany has
> since said it will support the pact.
> Governments in favor of the convention complained that, after four years
> of negotiations, the United States was trying to take the teeth out of the
> treaty.
> Mr. Thompson said today, however, that the United States would not seek
> any changes and that it would vote for the treaty on Wednesday.
> ''I'm not going to make any changes, no reservations,'' he said. ''Our
> delegation here, headed by me, is in support of the tobacco treaty.''
> When asked to explain the shift in the position, Mr. Thompson said,
> ''Someday I will tell you.''
> He described the April letter as an inquiry to some countries that had
> constitutional and statutory problems associated with the treaty.
> The convention on tobacco control is expected to be approved by the World
> Health Organization's health assembly on Wednesday. Once adopted, it will
> be open for signing starting on June 16 and ready for ratification by
> member states.
> Forty countries must ratify it before it takes effect.
> The purpose of the convention is to reduce the global health toll from
> tobacco: the health organization estimates that 4.9 million people die
> each year from tobacco-related illnesses, a figure it forecasts will
> double in the next 20 years.
> Earlier this year, Mr. Thompson put the death toll for the United States
> at about 400,000 a year, primarily from heart disease and lung cancer and
> other lung ailments.