[Intl-tobacco] Judy Wilkenfeld: Exclude Tobacco from FTAA

[Robert Weissman]

Statement of Judith P. Wilkenfeld: U.S. Should Protect Public Health and
Exclude Tobacco From Proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas


For Immediate Release
November 18, 2003

Contact: Nicole Dueffert 202.296.5469

U.S. Should Protect Public Health and Exclude Tobacco From Proposed Free
Trade Area of the Americas

Statement of Judith P. Wilkenfeld, Director, International Programs,
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

Washington, DC - This week, trade negotiators from the United States and
33 other nations will meet in Miami to negotiate the proposed Free Trade
Area of the Americas (FTAA). We strongly urge the U.S. and other
countries to recognize the uniquely harmful nature of tobacco products
and exclude such products from any trade agreement. U.S. policy should
be to do everything we can to reduce tobacco use and its tremendous toll
in health, lives and money around the world, and not to help the tobacco
companies export and sell more of their deadly products overseas.

The FTAA negotiations are occurring amid evidence that the Bush
Administration may be abandoning an executive order issued by President
Clinton that stated, "In the implementation of international trade
policy, executive departments and agencies shall not promote the sale or
export of tobacco or tobacco products, or seek the reduction or removal
of foreign government restrictions on the marketing and advertising of
such products." In June 2001, the Bush Administration successfully
pressured South Korea to reduce a planned 40 percent tariff on imported
cigarettes. The Bush Administration also was successful in preventing a
recently adopted international tobacco control treaty from giving public
health laws precedence over trade agreements with regard to tobacco.

Today, U.S. Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and U.S.
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) are releasing a letter detailing e-mails from
Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco company, urging the Bush
Administration to support the elimination of tariffs on cigarettes in a
free trade agreement with Chile last year. Philip Morris argued that the
elimination of cigarette tariffs in the Chilean agreement would set a
precedent for the FTAA and the current round of World Trade Organization
negotiations. According to the congressional letter, the U.S. Trade
Representative told congressional staff going into the Chilean
negotiations that, due to public health concerns, the Administration
would not support the inclusion of tobacco products in the agreement.
However, the U.S. abandoned its position in the final hours of
negotiations, and the final agreement announced in December 2002
eliminated tobacco tariffs.

The Bush Administration's actions raise the alarming prospect that it
may be reinstating the U.S. government's shameful policy during the
1980s of supporting the tobacco industry in international trade
disputes. During the 1980s, the U.S. used the threat of trade sanctions
to force foreign governments to reduce tariffs on tobacco products and
to repeal or weaken domestic tobacco control laws that the tobacco
industry claimed violated international trade agreements. This policy
undermined tobacco control efforts in countries including South Korea,
Taiwan, Thailand and Japan. One study estimated these countries on
average experienced a nearly 10 percent increase in cigarette
consumption after their markets were opened to foreign cigarettes.

As shown by its recent efforts in South Korea and Chile, the tobacco
industry is still fighting to reduce tariffs on tobacco products around
the world. Reducing tariffs on tobacco products is bad public health
policy because it reduces prices and boosts consumption, especially
among children. The tobacco companies also continue to challenge
domestic tobacco control laws as violations of trade agreements. In a
recent example, Philip Morris threatened to challenge Canada's proposed
ban on misleading cigarette descriptions such as "light" and "mild" as a
violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and an
international agreement on patents and trademarks.

By excluding tobacco products, future trade agreements can make it
impossible for the tobacco industry to continue these harmful practices
and instead protect nations' rights to enact tobacco control laws that
protect the health of their citizens. Trade agreements are supposed to
benefit consumers by spurring competition and reducing prices for
beneficial products such as wheat, computers and auto parts. But tobacco
products are not beneficial, and trade agreements that reduce tobacco
prices and increase tobacco consumption only bring more addiction,
disease and death. Trade agreements should recognize that tobacco
products are uniquely harmful and require special rules similar to those
that already apply to trade in other hazardous products, such as
hazardous wastes, small arms, landmines, narcotic drugs, ozone-depleting
chemicals and persistent organic pollutants.

Globally, tobacco kills almost five million people each year. If current
trends continue, it is projected to kill 10 million people a year by
2020, with 70 percent of those deaths occurring in developing countries.
According to the Pan American Health Organization, tobacco already kills
more than a million people a year in the Americas, including 440,000
deaths in the U.S. alone. U.S. leadership is sorely needed in combating
this epidemic in our own region and around the world. We urge the Bush
Administration to renew the Clinton Administration's executive order
against promoting the sale or export of tobacco products and to support
the exclusion of tobacco products from the Free Trade Area of the
Americas and other trade agreements.