By Ishaya Ibrahim
Ahead of the upcoming 10th Conference of the Parties (COP10) on WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), public health activists have warned of tactics deployed by the tobacco industry to undermine the fight.
According to WHO, the tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing over 8 million people annually.
The global health agency says more than 7 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 1.3 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.
To slow down the tide in deaths as a result of tobacco use, the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT), hosted a virtual media briefing “which asks Parties, media and civil society delegates to submit on the global tobacco treaty and its pivotal roles in saving lives.
The media briefing was held on the background of the upcoming FCTC and the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (MOP3), which will take place in Panama from 20-25 November and 27-30 November respectively.
FCTC Legal Officer, Sabina Timco Lacazzi, said the annual deaths of 8 million lives as a result of tobacco use and exposure were avoidable if 183 Parties (countries) representing more than 90% of the world’s population observe the treaty, which entered into force since 2005.
Deputy Campaigns Director, Corporate Accountability (USA), Keltie Vance, highlighted some of the provisions of the treaty. She explained that Article19 which addresses liability, states that Parties will provide one another with assistance in legal proceedings relating to civil and criminal liability against the tobacco industry.
She said implementation of Article 19 can recover health care and environmental costs incurred by governments for tobacco-related harms to people and also create the public climate and political will to pass and enforce the life saving measures enshrined in FCTC.
She said Brazil,South Korea, Canada and the United States have initiated liability against the tobacco industry.
Samuel Ochieng, Executive Director, Consumer Information Network (Kenya), also encouraged strict enforcement of the FCTC agreement, especially Article 9 which demands disclosures on the contents and emissions of tobacco products.
He added that Article10 requires disclosure of tobacco products information to government authorities and the public.
He urged Parties to reject Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and sponsorship, especially in the entertainment sector.
He alerted that the Tobacco industry tries to infiltrate COP by buying tickets, giving other incentives to certain delegations.
He also said the Tobacco Industry has its own media platforms to oppose discussions and policies that it deemed inimical to its profit interest.
One of the comrades from Ghana, Labram Musah, who is the Executive Director, Vision for Alternative Development, pointed out that Nigeria, Zambia and Kenya have been given awards to the tobacco industry, which is a practice that must be discouraged.
Irene Reyes, the Tobacco Industry Denormalization Program Officer in the Philippines, warned that the Tobacco industry has evolved a dangerous ways of reaching the younger generations by lacing cigarettes with diverse range of flavors and trendy designs tailored to them.
Norman Maldonado, CEO of PROESA, Research Center on Health Economics and Social Protection in Colombia, regretted that since Academics have limited funding for research, the Tobacco industry has taken advantage of that gap by promoting its industry-sided research to misrepresent the impact of tobacco on public health.
