Long Road Ahead for Global Antismoking Treaty
October 22, 2000 - 0:0
GENEVA Nearly 150 countries want global controls on tobacco but there is still a long way to go to clinch the world's first public health treaty, due in 2003, a senior official said on Friday.
Celso Amorim, Brazilian chairman of a week-long initial round of negotiations here, said delegates had shown a "strong commitment" to a global antismoking treaty.
But he said there was still far to go, while activist groups warned that cigarette manufacturers were trying to "infiltrate" the governmental negotiations, sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO), which ended on Saturday.
The United Nations agency has called for a pact that would ban tobacco advertising and cross-border smuggling, raise taxes, cut output and slap strict controls on underage smoking.
"At face value, they are all committed very strongly. Whether they are sincere, it is difficult to judge," Amorim told a news conference. "It is only at the long process of negotiations that we will be able to verify that.
"We now have maybe a better idea of where the different positions are, and that of course will allow us to start thinking where compromises might lie." The next round of negotiations is expected in April or May.
Some states favored a total ban on advertising, while others, including Brazil, would seek wide restrictions as their constitutions forbade a ban, Amorim said.
Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey and Thailand spoke in favor of a total ban on advertising, Mary Assunta, of the consumers association of Penang, Malaysia, told a separate news conference held by activists.
Amorim, asked about the tobacco industry's influence on the negotiations, replied: "There is a great awareness of this risk. It is up to each government to be vigilant." In a joint statement, a loose alliance of 60 activist groups said that the negotiations were off to "an encouraging start", but called for translating "words into action".
"The nongovernmental organizations will remain vigilant about the industry's efforts to infiltrate and undermine the process," said Kathryn Mulvey, executive director of Infact, based in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States.
Last week, WHO hosted unprecedented public hearings at which the world's two largest cigarette companies, Philip Morris and British American Tobacco admitted that cigarettes were addictive and caused cancer. But they defended their freedom to sell and advertise their products.
(Reuter)
Celso Amorim, Brazilian chairman of a week-long initial round of negotiations here, said delegates had shown a "strong commitment" to a global antismoking treaty.
But he said there was still far to go, while activist groups warned that cigarette manufacturers were trying to "infiltrate" the governmental negotiations, sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO), which ended on Saturday.
The United Nations agency has called for a pact that would ban tobacco advertising and cross-border smuggling, raise taxes, cut output and slap strict controls on underage smoking.
"At face value, they are all committed very strongly. Whether they are sincere, it is difficult to judge," Amorim told a news conference. "It is only at the long process of negotiations that we will be able to verify that.
"We now have maybe a better idea of where the different positions are, and that of course will allow us to start thinking where compromises might lie." The next round of negotiations is expected in April or May.
Some states favored a total ban on advertising, while others, including Brazil, would seek wide restrictions as their constitutions forbade a ban, Amorim said.
Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey and Thailand spoke in favor of a total ban on advertising, Mary Assunta, of the consumers association of Penang, Malaysia, told a separate news conference held by activists.
Amorim, asked about the tobacco industry's influence on the negotiations, replied: "There is a great awareness of this risk. It is up to each government to be vigilant." In a joint statement, a loose alliance of 60 activist groups said that the negotiations were off to "an encouraging start", but called for translating "words into action".
"The nongovernmental organizations will remain vigilant about the industry's efforts to infiltrate and undermine the process," said Kathryn Mulvey, executive director of Infact, based in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States.
Last week, WHO hosted unprecedented public hearings at which the world's two largest cigarette companies, Philip Morris and British American Tobacco admitted that cigarettes were addictive and caused cancer. But they defended their freedom to sell and advertise their products.
(Reuter)