GENEVA, Switzerland, Mar 15, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- The U.N. World Health
Organization in Switzerland has issued a report describing tobacco industry
efforts to interfere with global tobacco control policies.
In November 2008, 160 nations agreed to guidelines under the WHO Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control, which took effect in 2003, to block tobacco
industry interference in global health policies and implementation of the global
tobacco treaty. However, in a report released Saturday, WHO officials said the
tobacco industry has employed economic power, lobbying, marketing and media
manipulation to discredit research and influence governments to promote tobacco
sales.
The report said the industry uses philanthropy to foster a positive public
image, as part of a campaign to interfere with tobacco control.
The WHO FCTC was intended to address what the WHO called the globalization of
the tobacco epidemic, and to reaffirm the right to the highest standard of
health.
"Since it took effect in 2005, implementation of the FCTC has been
systematically obstructed by Big Tobacco," the WHO said in a news release. "The
abuses of corporations like Philip Morris International (PMI), British American
Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco have ranged from attempting to write tobacco
control laws, blocking the passage of smokefree legislation, and using so-called
'corporate social responsibility' to circumvent ad bans."
The WHO said tobacco industry interference is "the number one obstacle to the
treaty's implementation, and ratifying countries now see protections against
this interference as the backbone of the treaty."
The new guidelines call on governments to reject partnerships with the tobacco
industry and avoid investing in the industry or allowing the industry to be
represented on tobacco control bodies.
The WHO noted that "tobacco control is, almost by definition, antithetical to
the economic interests of the tobacco industry."
URL: www.upi.com
Copyright 2009 by United Press International