


Author: Mary Assunta, Senior Policy Advisor, Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance; Head of Global Research and Advocacy, GGTC The adoption of the WHO FCTC in 2005 is the most significant action that changed global tobacco control forever. It stopped the tobacco industry in its tracks from applying its “divide

Author: Dr. Eduardo Bianco, Director, Addiction Training Program for Health Professionals 20 Years of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: A Public Health Milestone Twenty years ago, the adoption of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) marked a turning point in global health. As the first global

Author: Chris Bostic, Policy Director, Action on Smoking and Health The FCTC changed the world and my life. I had a strange start to my career in tobacco policy. My very first exposure to that cause and community was not as a local volunteer or through a college internship. It

Author: Dr. Alfred Munzer, Director of Pulmonary Medicine Washington Adventist Hospital, Washington, DC; Former President, American Lung Association and Board Member, Action on Smoking and Health I had a long and successful career as a pulmonologist treating many hundreds of patients with lung disease, but lending my voice to the

Author: Laurent Huber, Executive Director, Action on Smoking and Health; former Director, Framework Convention Alliance It has been 25 years since the WHO FCTC negotiations began and 20 years since its entry into force. In May 1999, the World Health Assembly adopted Resolution WHA 52.18, giving the green light for

Leaving the World Health Organization is Bad for Public Health Media Contact: Megan Manning manningm@ash.org (202) 659-4310 WASHINGTON, DC – January 21, 2025 – Less than a day into his second term, President Trump began the process to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO). During his first

ASH’s work is based on the principle that the actions of the tobacco industry – producing, marketing, and selling addictive products that kill when use as intended – violate human rights, for example the right to health. As such, ASH focuses on 4 key areas of work: (1) Phasing out the

What is the WHO Tobacco Treaty (i.e. the FCTC)? The World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is a treaty that was formally negotiated by all Member States of the United Nations under the auspices of the World Health Organization, a subsidiary body of the United Nations,

Media Contact: Megan Manning ManningM@ash.org (202) 390 – 9513 Global Progress Achieved at WHO Tobacco Treaty Negotiations in Panama Decisions Adopted to Connect Human Rights and the Environment to Tobacco Control with an Eye to Endgame WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 12, 2024 – Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) led

February 10, 2024 – COP10 was particularly special because several cross-cutting issues – human rights, the environment, and the tobacco endgame – were on the agenda. ASH and the Global Alliance for Tobacco Control (then the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) led advocacy for a human rights decision at COP8

February 9, 2024 – Today is the second to last day of the 10th Conference of the Parties, and the Parties still have agenda items left to discuss, but they have also gotten through several of their important agenda items. Yesterday, the government of Ecuador proposed a Decision on the

February 8, 2024 – How the Sausage Gets Made Few of us have ever made actual sausage. But we’ll explain the process anyway, and then compare it to how things get done at FCTC COP. To make sausage, you need some casing, some meat and spices. You grind everything up, and

February 7, 2024 – Today was another packed day for the ASH delegation here in Panama. Several of ASH’s policy priorities have come up on the agenda of the COP. Unfortunately, fruitful debates on these items have been delayed because of country Parties spouting tobacco industry rhetoric. However, that has

February 6, 2024 – A typical day at the Conference of the Parties begins very early and ends very late, and today was no different. At 7:00 AM, ASH begins by meeting with our civil society allies to discuss strategy for the day. Starting at 9:00 AM, we attend meetings

February 5, 2024 – The in-person portion of the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) began today in Panama City. In a very fitting opening message, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said, “We must continue advocating for

Media Contact: Megan Manning manningm@ash.org Introduction In 2005, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) entered into force, becoming a legally binding treaty that has now been joined by more than 180 countries. Parties to the FCTC meet every two years (officially called the Conference of the Parties or

By: Laurent Huber, Executive Director of ASH I have now spent over two decades working on UN treaties and international processes with the aim of ending the negative health, social and economic consequences of tobacco products, and I am often asked: why? Why don’t you just concentrate at the local

Media Contact: Megan Manning ManningM@ash.org (202) 390 – 9513 208 Organizations Unite to Call on UN Committee to Recommend Stronger Tobacco Control Policies The UN Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) is making recommendations on Racism and the Right to Health for its 182 party

Agenda Item 4 of the Second Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC2) Option 2 – Possible core obligation: banning, phasing out and/or reducing the use of problematic and avoidable plastic products I am speaking on

Media Contact: Megan Manning (202) 390 – 9513 PARIS, FRANCE – May 31, 2023 – On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, health and environmental advocates gathered at the UN Plastic Treaty Conference in Paris to call for the elimination of cigarette filters. They drew attention to the fact

Today, May 21, 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption of The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) by the World Health Assembly. The FCTC is the first international treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO, and it entered into force on February 27, 2005. To many,

Oral statement | Action on Smoking and Health | January 31, 2023 Proposed Objective: To protect future generations from the environmental, health and other burdens of plastic pollution. The objective should be simple and avoid qualifiers such as “in accordance with domestic or international law” or “without undue encumbrance on

Summer 2022 – ASH staff was fortunate enough to be accepted to participate in an extensive research course called “Tobacco Industry Monitoring, Research and Accountability” hosted by our partners at the Tobacco Control Research Group (TCRG) through the University of Bath, England. The team at TCRG are experts in investigative

Oral Statement Prepared for the ECOSOC Partnership Forum On behalf of Action on Smoking and Health and 29 signatory organizations, I would like to take a moment to draw attention to the importance of addressing the negative impact tobacco has on COVID-19 outcomes and the 2030 development agenda. Tobacco remains