[Intl-tobacco] UN STUDY LINKS TOBACCO USE AND POVERTY

[robert.weissman@essentialinformation.org]

UN STUDY LINKS TOBACCO USE AND POVERTY, WEEK OF JUNE 17-JUNE 23, 2004
by SPECIAL TO THE WILMINGTON JOURNAL
The Wilmington Journal
Originally posted 6/17/2004
UNITED NATIONS (NNPA) - The U.N.=B9s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),
aimed at eradicating extreme poverty and deadly diseases by 2015, are being
undermined by the rise in tobacco consumption, according to a U.N. report
released recently.
=8C=B9Tobacco and poverty create a vicious circle,=B9=B9 says the 18-page s=
tudy
prepared by the U.N. AdHoc Inter-Agency Task Force on Tobacco Control.
=8C=B9Tobacco increases poverty, and tobacco products tend to be more widel=
y
used among the poor.=B9=B9
As a result, says the report, tobacco control has to be recognized =8C=B9as=
 a
key component of efforts to reduce poverty, improve development and progres=
s
towards the MDGs.=B9=B9
The Task Force recommends the =8C=B9deadly nexus=B9=B9 =8B the link between=
 tobacco
smoking and disease, poverty and hunger =8B be recognized in the context of
development assistance programs aimed at the attainment of the U.N.=B9s goa=
ls.
The World Health Organization (WHO), estimates the number of smokers in the
world today at 1.3 million, and predicts that will rise to 1.7 million by
2025.
The eight MDGs, approved by the U.N. General Assembly in September 2000,
constitute an ambitious agenda to improve the human condition significantly
by the year 2015. They include reducing poverty, hunger, disease,
illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.
=8C=B9Tobacco has a profound effect on poverty and malnutrition in low-inco=
me
countries, particularly when expenditures on tobacco products divert scarce
resources that poor families might otherwise have spent on food,=B9=B9 the =
study
says.
The high prevalence of tobacco use among men with low incomes and low
education has serious poverty implications because the risk of developing
dangerous diseases like cancer and dying at an early age is substantially
increased, it adds.
The new study, which will go before a ministerial meeting of the U.N.
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) June 28-July 23, says that over 10.5
million malnourished people in Bangladesh could have an adequate diet if
they spent their money on food instead of tobacco.
In three provinces in Vietnam, smokers spent 3.6 times more on tobacco than
on education, 2.5 times more for tobacco than clothes, and 1.9 times more
for tobacco than for health care.
In India, some street children and homeless people spend more on tobacco
than on food, education and savings.
The study also cites poor, rural households in southwest China that spend
more than 11 percent of their total expenditure on cigarettes, while
students in Niger spent about 40 percent on cigarettes and manual laborers
about 25 percent of their incomes.
Of the estimated 1.3 billion smokers, 84 percent live in developing and
transitional economy countries. Today, about five million deaths annually
are tobacco-related. And habitual tobacco use is projected to cause an
estimated 7.0 million deaths annually in developing countries by 2030, abou=
t
50 percent of them in Asia.
In developing countries, among poor families, the proportion of household
expenditures used to purchase tobacco products can easily represent up to 1=
0
percent of total household expenditures.
=8C=B9This means that these families have less money to spend on basic item=
s
such as food, education and health care,=B9=B9 the study said.
Patti Lynn, campaign director for Infact, a major anti-tobacco lobbying
group, told IPS the link between the MDGs and tobacco smoking is very
relevant, and is more the reason why the international community should
ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which was
unanimously adopted by the 192 member states of the WHO last May.
The convention has been described as the first public health treaty that
includes comprehensive provisions for tobacco control.
Although 122 countries have signed the convention, only 18 have so far
ratified it. The treaty needs 40 ratifications before it can have the force
of international law.
The United States has signed the convention but not ratified it. So have
Japan, China, South Africa and Brazil.
Lynn said most countries that sign treaties eventually ratify them. But the
United States is an exception to the rule.
=8C=B9When you sign a treaty, you are bound by the spirit of the law,=B9=B9=
 she
said. =8C=B9But we are sceptical whether the signing of the treaty by the U=
nited
States was a public relations manoeuvre,=B9=B9 she added because she is not
optimistic Washington will ratify it in the near future.
U.S. reluctance to ratify the convention is primarily due to campaign gifts
from U.S.-based tobacco companies, which constitute a powerful political
lobbying group on Capitol Hil, observers say.
The study, however, does not refer to the industry=B9s intense lobbying
efforts to undermine WHO=B9s anti-tobacco treaty.
Just before the convention was adopted companies launched a major campaign
either to dilute it or to prevent the treaty from being approved. The
convention calls for a worldwide ban on tobacco advertisements and tobacco
sponsorships of sporting events.
The Framework Convention Alliance, a coalition of anti-tobacco
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), is now lobbying to prevent tobacco
sponsorship of Formula 1 racing currently being planned in China and
Bahrain.
=8C=B9Many are concerned that tobacco advertising would be beamed throughou=
t
China and worldwide on television if tobacco advertising is allowed. The
event will take place, but there is a window of opportunity for damage
limitation,=B9=B9 the Alliance said.
Judy Wilkenfeld of the Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids said
the relationship between tobacco and poverty has been well established.
=8C=B9Tobacco smoking not only impoverishes the person who smokes but also =
the
rest of the family,=B9=B9 she said.
Wilkenfeld also pointed out that in many tobacco-growing countries, tobacco
is replacing food crops. In countries where many people live at sustenance
levels, this is having a devastating impact on people=B9s lives, she added.
The U.N. study says tobacco consumption is a major direct contributor to a
rise in non-communicable diseases lie cancer and an associative contributor
to communicable diseases such as tuberculosis.
It adds, =8C=B9Poverty facilitates the spread of diseases and their treatme=
nt
can impose a heavy financial burden on poor households.=B9=B9