Anti-Tobacco Treaty talks « Thread Started on Oct 19, 2002, 3:58pm »
Quote:
Negotiators from Members States of the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) are set to resume talks aimed at developing global rules to curb the advertising, promotion, sales and smuggling of tobacco products.
The fifth session of the Inter-governmental Negotiating Body, which opens http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/pr78/en/ on Monday, is expected to examine a new text of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) that proposes options culled from of four years of negotiations.
Advocating strong global action, WHO http://www.who.int/en/ Director-General Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland said at the time WHO initiated the FCTC process, tobacco killed 4 million people every year. "Today that figure stands at 4.9 million people per year," she noted. "A strong FCTC will save lives - let us all remember that delays means more deaths, and more children falling prey to tobacco."
Over the past four years, tobacco has become a major threat to developing countries, which many tobacco companies have targeted to compensate for stagnating markets in Europe and North America, according to WHO. In some countries, more than 60 per cent of 13 to 15 year-olds use tobacco and almost a quarter of those young smokers had their first cigarette before the age of ten. Negotiators have also focused on the role of the tobacco industry, especially its attempts to derail the ongoing talks, WHO said, urging Member States to be vigilant about tactics used by the tobacco industry and their surrogates "to raise issues extraneous to the core of the negotiations or propose irrelevant solutions."
Tobacco, already claiming the lives of 4.9 million people each year, will kill 8.4 million annually by 2020 unless drastic measures are taken in response, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said today as it released http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/pr82/en/ the Tobacco Atlas, a comprehensive volume detailing use of the substance and the struggle to control it in countries across the globe.
Half of today's young smokers are expected to die of tobacco-related causes, according to WHO, while 70 per cent of those projected deaths will occur in developing countries. The agency is recommending use of the Atlas as a policy tool for formulating national and international regulations on tobacco control.
"The Tobacco Atlas highlights, in an educational and creative fashion, diverse features of this global epidemic," said WHO Director-General Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland. She added that the document's simple presentation of complex epidemiological and statistical information would allow readers to understand the facts and use them effectively.
Produced in collaboration with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Tobacco Atlas employs colour maps and graphics to illustrates facts about tobacco use, including similarities between countries, the conduct of tobacco companies, gender differences, investments by the industry, the costs of tobacco use, litigation, and illicit trade. The release of the Atlas comes as WHO member States are meeting in Geneva for the fifth round of negotiations on a proposed Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Delegates hope to complete a text of the treaty by May of next year.
So, how many nicotine addicts here? Do you really want to die an agonising death whilst contributing to the profits of a few international companies?
The sooner Tobacco is treated as a dangerous drug like heroin the better, I say!
Joined: Oct 2002 Gender: Male Posts: 54 Location: Wales Karma: 0
Re: Anti-Tobacco Treaty talks « Reply #2 on Oct 20, 2002, 9:07am »
I think that somehow it has to be gotten rid of in the future, however, it will be very difficult.
Personally I'm against smoking and don't like it when people smoke around me. Quite often people who smoke have no consideration whatsoever for the people around them, which is annoying.
No offense to anyone here who might smoke, just my views.
Joined: Oct 2002 Gender: Male Posts: 26 Location: UK Karma: 0
Re: Anti-Tobacco Treaty talks « Reply #3 on Oct 20, 2002, 10:27am »
I'm firmly in the anti-smoking campaighn.
What particularly annoys me is the fact that cigarettes seem to be considered outside the usual litter laws and smokers just dump them on the ground wherever they are. It takes over 20 years for the thing to break down fully! Not to mention being an eyesore.
I think curbing advertising is the first step to take, but people shouldn't expect immediate results because curiosity will still play a large part, given the fact that cigarettes have their own counter at most supermarkets and stores.
Re: Anti-Tobacco Treaty talks « Reply #5 on Oct 24, 2002, 2:30pm »
Quote:
What particularly annoys me is the fact that cigarettes seem to be considered outside the usual litter laws and smokers just dump them on the ground wherever they are.
That is so true! And have you every had ash flicked or smoke blow in your face from someone walking past? It's almost like their drug habit exempts them from decent behaviour!
Mind you - chewing gum dropped on the street is marginally worse, sometimes.
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