TOBACCO CONTROL GROUPS RAISE ALARM OVER TOBACCO INDUSTRY’s ATTACKS ON FCTC UNDER GUISE OF PROTECTING FARMERS

Lagos, November 5, 2010 - As Parties to the global tobacco treaty prepare for their biennial meeting in Uruguay, the African Tobacco Control Consortium (ATCC *), a coalition of global and African public health organizations focused on preventing the tobacco epidemic in Africa, is raising the alarm against tobacco multinationals’ tactics to hinder the adoption of effective guidelines on Article 9 & 10 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

In recent months an organization claiming to represent tobacco growers worldwide has been publicly lobbying against items on the agenda of the Fourth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the FCTC (COP 4). The International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA), a public relations vehicle created by the tobacco industry in the 1980s to front its lobbying efforts against international tobacco control initiatives, has been focusing on draft guidelines that recommend countries “restrict or prohibit” flavorings added to tobacco to make it more palatable, especially to young smokers and potential smokers. Similarly, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is calling on its 19 members to oppose what it calls “a ban on non-tobacco ingredients used in producing cigarettes”.

According to the ITGA, the guidelines on flavorings if adopted would effectively ban burley, a type of tobacco popular in "American-style‟ cigarettes. Burley is grown widely in the developing world, –and the ITGA is telling farmers there that the guidelines would have a catastrophic impact on their jobs and livelihoods by resulting in a shortage in the demand for leaves. “What the ITGA fails to mention is that burley cigarettes continue to be sold in countries that are already restricting tobacco flavorings,” said Laurent Huber, Director of the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), a global alliance of more than 350 civil society organizations working for the FCTC. “It is also a fact that the economies of countries dependent on tobacco for foreign exchange, such as Malawi and Zimbabwe, have remained poor and suffering economic woes. Tobacco farming does not alleviate poverty,” he added.

The African Tobacco Control Consortium strongly encourages African Parties to the FCTC to resist any attempt by the tobacco industry to manipulate them. ATCC therefore calls on all African delegates heading to COP 4 to support the adoption of the draft guidelines on Articles 9 and 10 without change.

From 15-20 November, Uruguay will host the Fourth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the FCTC, which now has 171 Parties, representing 89% of the world’s population.

Pass National Tobacco Control Bill now, ERA Urges N/Assembly

On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the coming into force of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has decried the lack-lustre approach of the National Assembly to the speedy passage into law of the National Tobacco Control Bill, saying further delay in the passage of the bill may cost the nation more tobacco related deaths.
The FCTC which has been signed and ratified by over 168 countries including Nigeria came into force in 2005 and is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to draw global action against tobacco-related deaths.
The WHO says tobacco-related deaths stand at 5.4 million people annually and projects this will increase beyond 8 million over the next two decades, with the majority of lives lost in developing countries. It therefore insists that strong worldwide enforcement and implementation of the FCTC could save 200 million lives by the year 2050.
Nigeria which signed the FCTC in 2004 and ratified in 2005 has been recording more deaths relating to tobacco, especially cancer.
“The fifth year of FCTC entering into force calls for sober reflection for us as a nation because in the last five years little progress has been made in domesticating the FCTC. This has not been without a grave impact on the citizenry because within this period we have lost talented musicians, journalists and even doctors, no thanks to nearly no regulation of an industry that markets a lethal product in beautiful wraps, ” said ERA/FoEN Programme Manager, Akinbode Oluwafemi.
Oluwafemi pointed out that “Nigerians are unhappy with the slow response of government to public health protection , especially with the way the tobacco control bill has been neglected after the public hearing held in July 2009. We are further dismayed that there is an alleged clandestine moves by tobacco lobbyists to compromise our law makers with the intent of thwarting the passage of the national tobacco control bill.”
“How else can you explain our law makers’ foot-dragging on the bill nearly one year after the public hearing? This action is anti-people and seriously compromises our democracy. Our lawmakers should stand by the people who have spoken in unison at the public hearing and abide by the principles of the FCTC which has reduced tobacco-related deaths in countries that have implemented the provisions”
In the February 26 anniversary speech, Director General of the WHO, Dr. Margaret Chan, said recent studies estimates that full implementation of just four cost-effective measures set out in the FCTC could prevent 5.5 million deaths within a decade.
Similar sentiments were echoed by tobacco control groups across the world. The Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), a network of tobacco control groups from across the globe said that countries that have implemented the FCTC provisions like ban on tobacco advertisingand sponsorships have gone a long way in reducing deaths.
FCA Director, Laurent Huber, noted however, that “tobacco use remains high in low and middle income countries and is increasing among women and young people...We have had five years of good progress on policy but deaths due to tobacco use continue to rise. Governments need to fund their policy promises to stem the tide of tobacco deaths”
Another group, Corporate Accountability International, warned on the tobacco industry’s track-record of trying to water down on the implementation of the FCTC.
The organisation’s Director, Campaign Challenging Big Tobacco, Gigi Kellett, revealed that “In July 2009, during an international protocol negotiating session, Parties identified and kicked tobacco lobbyists out of the process - a move made possible by Article 5.3., a provision of the FCTC which protects the treaty from tobacco industry interference in any guise. By that action, parties safeguarded the negotiations against the tobacco industry's fundamental and irreconcilable conflict of interest, sending a strong message to the industry.”
The FCTC entered into force in 2005. Parties are expected to domesticate the treaty by implementing national tobacco control coordinating mechanisms, prohibiting the sales of tobacco products to minors, and take measures to protect public health policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.