Posted on 02/25/2005 8:20:03 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(CNSNews.com) -- The world's first tobacco control treaty comes into force on Sunday, as the World Health Organization and 57 countries declare war on the tobacco industry and "the tobacco epidemic."
More than 160 nations signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), and 57 countries -- including France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Mexico -- have ratified it.
The legally binding treaty is "designed to reduce the devastating health and economic impact of tobacco," according to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control website.
In addition to banning advertisements for tobacco products, the treaty encourages countries to increase tobacco taxes and "protect citizens from exposure to tobacco smoke in workplaces, public transport and indoor public places."
Dr. Thomas Glynn, director of Cancer Science and Trends at the American Cancer Society, said the treaty is not so much about banning smoking as it is about educating people on the health risks of tobacco.
The three main goals of the treaty, Glynn said, are to enforce existing laws, including those on exposure to secondhand smoke; enact new legislation and policies to restrict exposure; and to educate people about the dangers of smoking.
The treaty also mandates "providing treatment for tobacco addiction" and "encouraging legal action against the tobacco industry."
The United States signed the treaty on May 10, 2004, but it is not subject to its requirements because President Bush has not sent the treaty to the Senate for ratification.
"It would be a tragedy for the United States not to join the FCTC," American Cancer Society National Volunteer President Stephen F. Sener said in a statement. "Our nation should be leading on this issue, not watching from the sidelines. We should ratify the convention, implement it, and help low-income nations do the same."
Glynn said the U.S. already follows many of the treaty's provisions. "Other than requiring the tobacco manufacturers to increase the size of the warning labels," he said, "there really should be no additional costs, and that's one of the beauties of the U.S. ratifying it -- this is not going to cost us."
Glynn said the treaty may cost cigarette manufacturers because it is expected to reduce the number of smokers.
"Over the long term, if the treaty is effective, their sales will go down, but it's not going to be something that happens overnight; it's not as though farmers here will be put out of work or anything of that sort," he said.
The Framework Convention Alliance, a nongovernmental organization that helped produce the FCTC, called the treaty "groundbreaking." In a release, the group said the treaty is "a major step forward in the worldwide battle against the death and disease caused by tobacco."
"It provides the basic tools for countries to enact comprehensive tobacco control legislation and take on the powerful tobacco industry," the nongovernmental organization said.
Philip Morris International released a statement supporting the FCTC's "comprehensive tobacco regulation." Philip Morris USA is the largest cigarette manufacturer in the United States; it produces Marlboro, Virginia Slims and Parliament brands, among others.
Such regulation, the company said, when it is "applied evenly and enforced effectively for all tobacco products, is needed today instead of a range of isolated fiscal and regulatory measures that have limited impact in the overall goal of reducing harm."
Philip Morris International said it looks forward to continuing to work with governments around the world -- "to encourage a comprehensive regulation where fiscal policy, consumer information, licensing and other measures complement each other in one comprehensive approach."
Countries that ratified the treaty will meet in coming months to discuss repercussions for nations that do not follow the mandates of the agreement or who undermine its regulations.
Copyright © 1998 - 2005 CNSNews.com - Cybercast News Service
If tobacco is outlawed, only outlaws will have tobacco.
PING!
This globalism's for you!
If this was ratified, would it mean that some of the stricter state laws would be replaced ?
NOW! -- how many REALLY THINK the Washington government would outlaw/ban cigarettes and other tobacco products???? Shoot the GOLDEN GOOSE ????
Never happen..Washington is so drunk on tax dollars, they are beyond the junkie stage..except when the junkies feed them tax dollars.
Baloney kills more people every year than tobacco. The leading cause of death in the US is heart disease. Baloney causes heart disease, and also cancer, due to the preservatives in baloney. Those preservatives are known and documented carcinogens, particularly MSG (monosodium glutamate).
Baloney is an unhealthy lifestyle. Don't swallow baloney. Look out Oscar Mayer.
I've also noted that the fattest baloney waddlers are usually the ones complaining about cigarettes. It's usually the smokers who carry the fat ass waddlers down the aisle in their coffin after they've expired from a lifetime lunch of baloney sandwiches with mayo.
So, in conclusion with respect to this article, I would urge my fellow Freepers to be on the watch for baloney.
I am so upset at this news I am almost smoking, guess I just have to fill my pipe with a bowl of Whisky Cavendish courtesy of the Aha Macav Indian reservation.
I just lit one myself, courtesy of an "un-named Indian reservation"
Why can't we outlaw fat people?
Amen! The states can't balance their budgets without the taxes smoker's pay on cigarettes. Can you imagine the state banning tobacco? Where oh where would they get that big money? heh!
More people are killed by gruesome birth control (abortion) and STD's each year than cigarettes and baloney combined.......and yet, the UN promotes birth control by abortion AND the lifestyles that cause STD's.
The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.........and these people want to be in charge of the whole world. Kinda' scary.
KEEERIST, when will "us little people" realize that this has nothing to do with what is best for us.
Follow the money.
Every time the trail of money will lead to a "for the children" and "what is best for humanity" scenario.
If tobacco were to be ready to smoke from the plant and every one who smoked planted a garden, without the "big business" behind it with the cash, smoking would have gone on the wayside to politicians all along!
All together now....."Follow the money"!
Sure they can.
They could (gasp) cause the ending of the universe, drastically lower the temperature in he!!, and CUT THEIR BUDGETS!
LoL!
And with little frustration when it comes to the "wampum" required to purchase them, eh?
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