The most significant provision-also the most bitterly argued-imposes a ban on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship. Several countries had opposed a proposal for total ban in more than 100 countries across Africa and Southeast Asia and 20 European states suggested last October.

    The final document contained a modified ban. It will commit member countries to "undertake a comprehensive ban of all tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship," provided such a ban is allowed by their constitutions-a key concession won by the United States. Countries unable under their constitutions to impose such a ban would seek to restrict tobacco advertising.

    The European Union in December agreed to implement a more hard-hitting ban on tobacco advertising, and tobacco sponsorship of major events such as Formula One racing, beginning 2005.

    Concerning the tobacco industry's responsibility for damage caused to smokers' health, the convention said simply that "issues relating to liability, as determined by each party within its jurisdiction, are an important part of comprehensive tobacco control."

    With this in mind, "the parties shall consider taking legislative action or promoting their existing laws, where necessary, to deal with criminal and civil liability, including compensation where appropriate."

    The WHO, which proposed the idea of the convention in 1999, stressed that some 4.9 million people died last year from tobacco use, and without coordinated international action the number of deaths was projected to rise to 10 million a year by 2020.

    The convention, hoping to limit the "devastating" health consequences of smoking, will be presented at the annual conference of the 192 WHO member states May 19 to 28 in Geneva. It will come into effect once ratified by 40 countries.

    Despite the watered-down provision, Brazilian ambassador Luis Felipe da Seixa Correa, who led the negotiations, WHO chief Gro Harlem Brundtland, and European Union Health Commissioner David Byrne hailed the treaty.

    Correa called it "historic" while Dr. Brundtland deemed it "a milestone in the history of public health." Tobacco "kills in all the countries of the world and most of us know people who have died from it," she said. "Thanks to this accord, millions and millions of lives will be saved."

    Byrne said the agreement would help the world to start reversing the tobacco death toll, "which now claims nearly five million lives every year, and which will double if we fail to act resolutely."

    Said Byrne: "The tide has turned decisively in the battle to empower our citizens to live healthy lives, free from the scourge of tobacco. Despite the best efforts of the addiction industry and its allies, it is heartening to witness an alliance of countries from all corners of the globe, standing up together to put their citizens first."

Global Epidemic

    The treaty's preamble acknowledges that "the spread of the tobacco epidemic is a global problem with serious consequences for public health that calls for the widest possible international cooperation." It expresses concern over increased worldwide consumption and production of cigarettes and other tobacco products, particularly in developing countries, and "the burden this places on families, on the poor, and on national health systems."

    The parties committed themselves to adopting or strengthening legislation to protect people from exposure to tobacco smoke in public places, transport, and in workplaces.

    The convention also recognizes that price and tax measures are an effective way to reduce tobacco usage, especially by young people, and proposes health warnings on cigarette packets and an international drive against smuggling.

    During the negotiations, antitobacco groups hit out at maneuvers by the tobacco industry and pressure from countries including Japan, the United States, and Germany to water down the final text.

    "When adopted and entered into force, this agreement will significantly reduce Philip Morris, BAT, and Japan Tobacco's ability to spread addiction, disease, and death around the world," Kathryn Mulvey of the US nongovernment organization Infact said.

    "In the face of enormous pressure, developing countries have led the way toward meaningful, effective measures. In order to ensure that the world's first public health treaty is adopted and entered into force, we all must remain vigilant to the ongoing dirty tricks of the tobacco industry and its powerful allies," Mulvey said.

    According to research by experts from the WHO and World Bank, tighter controls on tobacco use will not lead to immediate and massive job losses for tobacco industry workers. Any decline in the number of smokers over the next 20 years will be "very gradual," the two co-authors said. The worldwide tobacco industry employs about 100 million people, according to the International Labor Organization. AFP

 

 

 

ROME

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have launched a $40 million trust fund to help the world's least developed countries participate in Codex Alimentarius. Codex Alimentarius sets food standards that protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in food trade.