[Intl-tobacco] New Paper on Tobacco & Trade Agreements

[robert weissman]

Dear Colleagues:

I wanted to alert you to a new publication on tobacco and trade
published by the
Secretariat of the Pacific Community. The report is entitled "Tobacco &
Alcohol in
the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement: Impact on Population
Health".  It is
available on the internet as an MSWord document at:
http://www.spc.int/health/

(I also have a pdf version -- if anyone wants it please let me know).

>From the introduction:

"This report considers the impact that the removal of import tariffs and
other
barriers to trade in tobacco and alcohol products in the Pacific region
may have on
consumption levels, and the levels of harm caused by tobacco and alcohol
consumption. It also discusses how the specific requirements of the
Pacific Island
Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) and other international trade
agreements that
apply in the Pacific region may affect the Pacific Island
countries=E2=80=99 ability to regulate the tobacco and alcohol industries, =
to try to
discourage consumption and control the supply of those products....This
report
argues that it is not appropriate to liberalise markets in tobacco and
alcohol
because of the harm that is likely to
follow, and because other government interventions are unlikely to keep
pace with
or prevent the increases in consumption that trade liberalisation is
likely to
cause, particularly if governments=E2=80=99 capacity to regulate is limited=
 as
part of the
process of liberalisation."


***************************
Ross Hammond, Consultant
242 Edna Street
San Francisco, CA 94112-1807
USA
Tel.      1-415-452-9322
Fax.      1-415-680-2364
http://www.fctc.org