Tobacco use is responsible for nearly 6 million deaths per year, and is on track to kill one billion people this century. Governments responded in 2004 by adopting the world’s first public health treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The FCTC has been rapidly embraced, and includes 175 countries, including all but one of the TPP negotiating countries. Tobacco plain packaging and graphic warnings, point of sale bans and bans on flavored cigarettes, interventions found in the FCTC and its guidelines, have been subject to several high profile trade disputes initiated by tobacco industry interests in the past 3 years, causing serious concern in the public health community.

According to Mary Assunta, Senior Policy Advisor of the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA): “Although ten of the eleven countries negotiating the TPP are Parties to the international tobacco treaty, most trade negotiators at the 15^th Round of the TPPA in Auckland have little awareness of their obligations under the FCTC nor of the tobacco industry’s tactics to undermine public health. It is almost like they are running on parallel tracks with opposite destinations – one to reduce tobacco and the other to increase trade of tobacco products.”

The FCTC Conference of the Parties was held a few weeks ago in Seoul, and Parties at that meeting voted to exclude the tobacco industry from attending the negotiations relating to the FCTC. Governments at that meeting rejected Interpol’s application for observer status to the COP on the ground that it had received funding from a tobacco company (Philip Morris). This same policy has driven many governments to reject so-called Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) from tobacco companies, and disallow it from interfering in policy development and implementation.

“In contrast to the FCTC policy to exclude the tobacco industry, the TPP seeks the input of the tobacco industry to promote free trade. This is not compatible with FCTC obligations,” according to Chris Bostic Deputy Director of Policy for Action on Smoking and Health, a U.S.-based anti-tobacco group.

Bostic, citing extensive legal research from the Harrison Institute, adds: “Trade negotiators have yet to officially recognise tobacco as a hazardous product. Tobacco is unlike any other consumer product. When used exactly as intended, it kills.”

Now into its 15^th Round, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam have been negotiating the proposed TPP agreement since March 2010. Canada and Mexico recently joined the talks, and other countries are expected to follow.

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]]> http://ash.org/free-trade-agreement-ignores-global-tobacco-epidemic/feed/ 0 http://ash.org/big-tobacco-buys-big-political-influence/ http://ash.org/big-tobacco-buys-big-political-influence/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:36:49 +0000 ash http://ash.org/?p=1692 ... Read the full article >]]> Money is doled out to both sides of the aisle

The tobacco industry has always been a major player in congressional campaigns, but a new online map (ash.org/map) shows just how pervasive tobacco money is in politics. The map, produced by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), allows you to click on your home district and see how much money your Member of Congress and Senators have accepted.

“Given the destruction that tobacco causes in this country, it is outrageous that so many politicians accept tobacco money,” said Dr. Alfred Munzer, Chairman of the Board of ASH and former President of the American Lung Association. Dr. Munzer, a pulmonologist, has campaigned for decades against tobacco use. “Roughly 80% of my patients suffer from tobacco-related diseases. No politician should share in the ill-gotten profits of the tobacco industry or owe favors to big tobacco.”

In the nearly 50 years since the 1964 Surgeon General’s report linking smoking with cancer and other diseases, the prevalence of smoking in the U.S. has plummeted, but tobacco still claims the lives of roughly 500,000 Americans each year. Smoking rates are still extremely high in some areas, and approximately 3,000 children start smoking every day.

Globally, tobacco is considered an epidemic by the World Health Organization. About 100 million people died from tobacco in the 20^th century, a toll higher than both world wars combined. The WHO estimates that without dramatic action, tobacco will claim one billion lives this century.

“The United States has joined with the rest of the world in calling for serious action about tobacco, and part of that is acknowledging that the tobacco industry is the vector of the disease,” said ASH director Laurent Huber. The U.S. signed on to a UN political declaration last year that recognizes the need to tackle the tobacco epidemic and highlights “the fundamental conflict of interest between the tobacco industry and public health,” the reason why big tobacco should stay away from public policy. Huber added, “The public interest and the interests of the tobacco industry are diametrically opposed. It is simply unethical for politicians to take tobacco money.”

In addition to the massive health costs of tobacco use, there are dire economic implications. Tobacco disease costs taxpayers, including nonsmokers, hundreds of billions of dollars a year. One study estimated the cost to society of each pack of cigarettes at $18. Stronger tobacco control measures would go a long way toward reducing the deficit and saving medicare.

The tobacco industry is bi-partisan when it comes to buying political favors. Dozens of Democrats as well as Republicans gladly accept donations from tobacco corporations, and for decades members of both parties have returned the favor by voting for tobacco interests. After years of effort, Congress finally gave FDA limited authority over tobacco in 2009, but only after Philip Morris, the number one tobacco industry donor, said it was OK. Even now the tobacco industry seeks to undermine the effectiveness of FDA regulation.

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“The tobacco industry is seeing a major return on its investment in Oklahoma’s political system,” said Robert McCaffree, MD, Co-Director of the Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center. “There’s a clear correlation between tobacco industry contributions and the suppression or opposition of legislation intended to reduce tobacco use in our state, particularly among legislators accepting campaign contributions from tobacco company PAC’s.”

Since 2006, Oklahoma state legislators now in office have accepted $242,719 in campaign contributions, meals and other gifts from current tobacco lobbyists and tobacco company PAC’s. Separately, over $50,000 has been accepted by various statewide House or Senate election committees. The highest total amount taken since 2006 by any individual representative is $6,298 and by any individual senator is $11,239. Nine representatives and 11 senators have accepted a total of $3,000 or more.

“The more light we can shine on industry efforts to stop meaningful tobacco prevention measures, the less effective those efforts will be,” says Laurent Huber, executive director of Action on Smoking & Health (ASH). A national leader in the fight on tobacco, ASH is focused this election year on political contributions. “Oklahoma’s website is a model we hope to help replicate in all states, said Huber.”

According to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, there are 11 individuals currently registered to lobby the Oklahoma legislature on behalf of tobacco companies or tobacco industry trade associations. The tobacco lobbyists and listings of their clients are shown on the website.

“For decades, we’ve watched tobacco lobbyists manage to kill bills they oppose and pass bills they support,” said Doug Matheny, the website’s author. “Even if it never influenced legislation, money distributed by tobacco lobbyists should be refused as a matter of principle. Accepting money or gifts from representatives of an industry that addicts young people to deadly products is inconsistent with Oklahoma values. Most tobacco lobbyists in Oklahoma take direct orders from companies that federal courts recently found guilty of racketeering.” Matheny is the former director of tobacco prevention at the Oklahoma State Department of Health. He retired in February 2011 after 28 years of service.

“Speaking on behalf of physicians now starting practices in Oklahoma, our legislators need to take a stand for health,” said Chris Sudduth, MD, MPH of Tulsa. Dr. Sudduth is Chair of the Oklahoma State Medical Association Resident and Fellow Section. “These powerful tobacco lobbyists and their money should be rejected. Business as usual must change.”

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Historic Measure Highlights Need for Stronger Action in U.S.

Yesterday, Australia’s highest court found against the tobacco industry and in favor of the government’s right to protect public health by upholding plain packaging for tobacco products. The new package requirements, which will include large graphic health warnings against a drab green background with only the name of the brand without any colors or other indicators, will go into effect on December 1^st.

Australia is the first country to introduce plain packaging, a measure recommended under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world’s first public health treaty. While over 50 countries now require graphic health warnings, Australia’s plan goes a step further. Having banned all other tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, plain packaging removes the last public space for the tobacco industry to market its deadly products. Several other countries, including New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the European Union, are considering plain packaging.

“This is a milestone in our decades-long global effort to end the tobacco epidemic,” said Laurent Huber, Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the nation’s oldest anti-tobacco organization. “With the injunction against FDA-mandated graphic warning labels, the U.S. has fallen far behind in efforts to protect people from addiction and early death from tobacco use.”

A federal court found that new U.S. warning labels, which depicted the harmful effects of smoking, were unconstitutional. The decision is currently under appeal.

Canada had considered plain packaging in the late 1990s, but backed off when the tobacco industry threatened to sue under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trade agreements have increasingly been used by Big Tobacco to block or impede tobacco control measures. Australia’s victory in its high court is not the only legal barrier to be overcome – Philip Morris International has sued under an Australia-Hong Kong bilateral investment treaty, and three countries (Ukraine, Honduras and the Dominican Republic) have filed complaints with the World Trade Organization.

“The international trade legal regime was never envisioned to preclude governments from protecting the health of their people,” said Chris Bostic, Deputy Director of ASH. “The tobacco industry should not be permitted to abuse the international legal system in an effort to intimidate governments.”

In addition to Australia, the tobacco industry has launched trade lawsuits against Uruguay and Norway, among others. Earlier this year, the United States lost a trade dispute with Indonesia over its ban on flavorings, including candy flavorings clearly aimed at children.

We applaud Australia’s courage to stand up to the tobacco industry, their determination to protect the health of their citizens and be a world leader in public health.

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“While smoking rates in the United States are lower than they have been in almost a century, the tobacco industry is wealthier than ever and has moved their marketing efforts into the developing world, cultivating new generations of customers and subjecting millions to addiction, disease and death, says Laurent Huber, executive director of ASH. “The tobacco epidemic is a global problem requiring a global solution.”

The website provides insight into how ASH is taking global action against tobacco, information on the epidemic and ways for members of the public to take action.

In addition to engaging the public to become involved in the global war on tobacco, the website provides detailed information on the organizations key program areas, that include:

• Tobacco Industry Monitoring
• Tobacco Treaty
• Tobacco & Poverty
• Tobacco & Trade
• Tobacco & Human Rights

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The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is a historic effort to end a public health catastrophe. The world’s first public health treaty, and the first treaty negotiated by the World Health Organization, the FCTC aims to “protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.”

The FCTC addresses the tobacco epidemic in a comprehensive manner. Among its obligations:

• Barring the tobacco industry from participating in the development of public health regulations;
• Protecting people from involuntary exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke;
• Requiring industry disclosure of ingredients in tobacco products, and requiring their regulation;
• Requiring large warning labels, and banning misleading qualifiers like “light” and “low”;
• Banning all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship;
• Fighting tobacco product smuggling; and
• Assisting farmers in transitioning to other livelihoods.

“The United States has been sitting on the sidelines of this historic and vital effort for too long, says Laurent Huber, ASH Executive Director. “Unless greater action is taken, 1 billion people will die from tobacco this century—a 10-fold increase over the 20th century toll. And in spite of all of our progress here in the U.S., 2,000 to 3,000 children begin smoking every day and more than a quarter of all deaths are attributable to tobacco.”

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Action on Smoking & Health (ASH) will address global health governance issues impacting the tobacco related epidemic at the National Conference on Tobacco or Health that opens in Kansas City, Wed Aug. 15. The Conference—held every 18 months—brings together researchers, advocates and regulatory officials from all over the United States to share their work and ideas on the next steps in their common fight against tobacco.

ASH will be focusing attendees’ attention on the growing global nature of the tobacco epidemic and how events overseas impact our efforts here at home including:

• How the U.S. is falling behind on tobacco control
• FCTC Implementation
• The NCD Summit and global tobacco control
• Graphic tobacco warning labels around the world compared to U.S. measures
• Industry interference in tobacco policy
• The impact of globalization on the tobacco epidemic

For more information on the National Conference on Tobacco or Health, visit TobaccoControlConference.org.

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The announcement was made during Mr. Bloomberg’s remarks at the 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Singapore where it was hailed by the enthusiastic delegates. The announcement means that funding for the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use will be continued for at least four more years.

The Bloomberg Initiative has supported the implementation of effective tobacco control policies in low and moderate income countries, thereby protecting some of the world’s most vulnerable people from the death and disease caused by tobacco addiction. These policies are specified in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world’s
first public health treaty and include:

• Banning smoking in public places and workplaces;
• Requiring warning labels on all tobacco products;
• Banning tobacco advertising; and
• Adopting tax policies that significantly increase the price of tobacco

Since the Bloomberg Initiative began in 2006, effective tobacco control policies have been implemented in 30 countries,covering 1.3 billion people and saving 3.7 million lives.

About Bloomberg Philanthropies

Bloomberg Philanthropies works primarily to advance five areas globally: the Arts, Education, the Environment, Government Innovation and Public Health. The Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use is focused on reducing the public health impact of tobacco use globally by implementing proven tobacco control policies in low- and middle-income countries where 80% of tobacco-related deaths occur. For more information please visit www.mikebloomberg.com

About ASH

Action on Smoking and Health works to reduce the disease, damage and death caused by tobacco through advocacy, legal action and its network of international partners. For more than 40 years, it has fought for smoking bans, tobacco taxes and other measures proven to reduce tobacco consumption and save lives.

Media Contact:
Laurent Huber, Executive Director, ASH
Phone: +1 202.352.3284
Fax: +1 202.289.7166
media@ash.org