World No Tobacco Day on Thursday:

Protecting future generations from the deadly menace

by Manjari PEIRIS

Tobacco industry interference’ is the theme selected by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the World No Tobacco Day on Thursday.

The purpose of celebrating the World No Tobacco Day on May 31 every year is to increase public awareness regarding the hazards of tobacco use, inform consumers about the business strategies of the tobacco industry and trade, spread the message about WHO initiatives for anti-tobacco campaigns, promote healthy lifestyles and habits among people as well as to devise ways to protect the future generations from tobacco use.

The campaign this year will focus on the need to expose and counter the tobacco industry's unashamed and increasingly aggressive attempts to undermine the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) because of the serious danger they pose to public health.

Director General of the World Health Organization Dr. Margaret Chan has said: “It is horrific to think that an industry known for its dirty tricks and dirty laundry could be allowed to trump what is clearly in the public’s best interests. Big Tobacco can afford to hire the best lawyers and PR firms that money can buy. Big money can speak louder than any moral, ethical or public health argument and can trample even the most damning scientific evidence. I urge all these countries to stand firm together, do not bow to pressure... we must never allow the tobacco industry to get the upper hand.”

Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death. The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly six million people each year, of which more than 600,000 are those exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless we act, it will kill up to eight million people by 2030, of which more than 80 percent will be from low- and middle-income countries. As more countries move to fully meet their obligations under the WHO FCTC, the tobacco industry's efforts to undermine the treaty are becoming more energetic.

Pictorial health warnings

The industry recently adopted the novel tactic of suing countries which have attempted to use pictorial health warnings on packages of tobacco, under bilateral investment treaties, claiming that the warnings impinge the companies’ attempts to use their legally-registered brands.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control required parties to the treaty to implement the regulation on warnings, to cover at least 50 percent of the pack with pictorial health warnings highlighting the harmful effects of smoking.

Though Sri Lanka is a party to the treaty, and ratified the FCTC in 2003 as the first Asian country, it is now four years behind the prescribed schedule. The Mathata Thitha program of Mahinda Chinthana has taken many commendable steps to curb cigarette smoking in Sri Lanka, viz. a comprehensive advertising ban on tobacco products, cigarette sales to minors and smoking at “enclosed public places”.

We understand that the delay in implementation of the pictorial health warning regulation is due to the setback of the Department of the Legal Draftsman. The Minister of Health specifically highlighted this fact through the media recently. However, it should happen somehow as we need to halt the untimely deaths occurring every year in Sri Lanka due to tobacco use. It is fairly a high figure – 20,000 deaths in a population of 20 million.

We need to know that throughout the world, the industry has been involved in interfering in health policy matters to delay important tobacco control policies by influencing government officials using different strategies. Thus, industry interference in policy matters related to health matters should never be allowed.

Immediate implementation

The public has urged the authorities to look into this important matter of the vast damage caused through cigarette smoking in this country and to probe who is causing this delay for the immediate implementation of the regulations on pictorial health warnings on tobacco products.

Meanwhile, the industry's attempts to undermine the treaty continue on other fronts, particularly with regard to countries’ attempts to ban smoking in enclosed public places and ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

The World No Tobacco Day 2012 will educate policy-makers and the public about the tobacco industry's destructive tactics.

It will also be in keeping with the letter and the spirit of the WHO FCTC. The preamble of the treaty recognises “the need to be alert to any efforts by the tobacco industry to undermine or subvert tobacco control efforts and the need to be informed of activities of the tobacco industry that have a negative impact on tobacco control efforts”.

In addition, Article 5.3 of the treaty states that “in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties should act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law”.

The guidelines to the implementation of Article 5.3 state that Parties are recommended to “raise awareness about… tobacco industry interference with Parties’ tobacco control policies”.

Global tobacco epidemic

On World No Tobacco Day 2012, and throughout the following year, WHO will urge countries to put the fight against tobacco industry interference at the heart of their efforts to control the global tobacco epidemic.

Understanding the tobacco industry's practices is crucial for the success of tobacco control policies. In this context, it's important also to understand that tobacco products are the only legally available products that can kill up to one half of their regular users if consumed as recommended by the manufacturer.

Blackened smoker’s lungs (left) and a set of healthy lungs

There is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry’s interests and public health policy interests. Therefore, Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control of the World Health Organization should protect the formulation and implementation of public health policies for tobacco control from the tobacco industry to the greatest extent possible.

Health advocates and public health officials around the world agree that the tobacco industry should have no influence on public health policies as its business interests directly conflict with the goals of public health. The FCTC enshrines this concept in international law for the first time.

Countries that have signed and ratified the FCTC are required to reflect its principles in their national legislation and policies. The importance of implementing the Article 5.3 of the FCTC cannot be over-emphasised for the fact that the tobacco industry is a potent enemy for those who want to support a smoke-free environment in a country which is of paramount importance to maintain the good health of people.

Guidelines for implementation

Use of the guidelines for implementation of Article 5.3 of the Convention will have an overarching impact on countries’ tobacco control policies and on the implementation of the Convention, because the guidelines recognise that tobacco industry interference, including that from the State-owned tobacco industry, cuts across a number of tobacco control policy areas, as stated in the Preamble of the Convention, articles referring to specific tobacco control policies and the Rules of Procedure of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Pictorial warnings

The purpose of these guidelines is to ensure that efforts to protect tobacco control from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry are comprehensive and effective. Parties should implement measures in all branches of government that may have an interest in, or the capacity to, affect public health policies with respect to tobacco control. The guidelines draw on the best available scientific evidence and the experience of parties in addressing tobacco industry interference.

The guidelines apply to persons, bodies or entities that contribute to, or could contribute to, the formulation, implementation, administration or enforcement of those policies and are applicable to government officials, representatives and employees of any national, state, provincial, municipal, local or other public or semi/quasi-public institution or body within the jurisdiction of a party, and to any person acting on their behalf. Any government branch (executive, legislative and judiciary) responsible for setting and implementing tobacco control policies and for protecting those policies against tobacco industry interests should be accountable.

We should never forget the fact that the tobacco industry produces and promotes a product that has been proven scientifically to be addictive, to cause disease and death and to give rise to a variety of social ills, including increased poverty. Therefore, Parties should protect the formulation and implementation of public health policies for tobacco control from the tobacco industry to the greatest extent possible.