[Intl-tobacco] ASEAN urged to consider risks of tobacco liberalisation

[robert weissman]

ABC Radio Australia News
August 20, 2004

ASEAN urged to consider risks of tobacco liberalisation

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged South East Asian nations
to consider the public health risks of liberalisation of tobacco trading
under a free trade deal.

It says the 10 member states of the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) should take into account the established link between
tobacco and poverty in the region when debating the Free Trade Agreement.

ASEAN officials are due to meet in the Malaysian state of Penang next
week to discuss the impact of the agreement on the tobacco trade and health.

The regional director of WHO's Western Pacific Region, Shigeru Omi, has
warned that trade liberalisation will "most likely" increase death and
disease by making tobacco products cheaper and more accessible.

The WHO says ASEAN has promised in the past to ensure that the trade
pact does not undermine national, regional and international measures to
curb tobacco.

ASEAN groups together Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.