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Health and Corporate Accountability Activists Around the World Call on Government Officials to Ratify Global Tobacco Treaty Sixth International Weeks of Resistance to Tobacco Transnationals Demonstrates Global Momentum for Swift Implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Geneva -- As health officials from 192 countries gather for the 57th World Health Assembly, health and corporate accountability activists across the globe are calling on political leaders to ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world's first health and corporate accountability treaty. This week, public interest organizations in more than 40 countries are participating in the sixth International Week of Resistance to Tobacco Transnationals (IWR2004) with public events calling for swift FCTC ratification and implementation. As of today, 113 countries have signed and 13 have ratified the treaty, which enters into force and becomes international law after 40 countries sign and ratify it. Organizations around the world are campaigning to ensure that their government is among the first 40 to ratify. "The FCTC is a major step forward in the movement challenging irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world. This time last year, the countries of the World Health Assembly unanimously adopted this treaty. With millions of lives at stake, people from Bangladesh to Zambia and Pakistan to Peru are demanding the FCTC's swift implementation as we mark its one-year anniversary," says Kathryn Mulvey, Executive Director of the US-based corporate accountability organization Infact, who is attending the WHA in Geneva this week. Since the start of FCTC negotiations, more than 18 million people have died from tobacco-related illnesses. With press conferences, marches, rallies, and nationally televised screenings of Infact's new film Overcoming the Odds: A Story of the First Global Health and Corporate Accountability Treaty, IWR2004 is being organized by the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT). The FCTC, initiated by the World Health Organization, bans tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (such as Philip Morris/Altria's Marlboro Man) and protects public health policy from tobacco industry interference. The treaty sets precedents for international regulation of other industries that threaten health, the environment and human rights. Giant tobacco corporations like Philip Morris/Altria, British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI) have attempted to derail the FCTC process from its outset. Philip Morris/Altria considered a variety of strategies including setting up its own "NGO" to gain access to negotiations. According to the corporation's own internal documents, it received advice from the notorious public relations firm Mongoven, Biscoe and Duchin that "A comprehensive strategy to influence the...UN/WHO policies would be enhanced significantly by establishing an NGO..." Documents also show Philip Morris/Altria profiled regions to determine which countries would support the Convention. "As the political battles over the FCTC take place in capitals across the globe, vigilance to Big Tobacco's dirty tricks is more important than ever. IWR2004 is sending a powerful message to the tobacco industry. People are rejecting its deadly practices, and business as usual is changing quickly with the FCTC," says Akinbode Oluwafemi of Environmental Rights Action, who is organizing several IWR2004 events this week in Nigeria. Last week the US government's signing of the FCTC was met with skepticism. According to Infact, the move appeared to be the latest in a series of public relations maneuvers by the US to cover up its efforts to undermine the treaty. Throughout the FCTC negotiating process, the US government consistently took positions to weaken the treaty at the expense of people's lives in the US and around the world. Infact and other US-based public interest organizations are calling on the US Senate to reverse the country's sad record on international humanitarian agreements and move to ratify the FCTC quickly. ### Infact is a nonpartisan membership organization that protects people by waging and winning campaigns challenging irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world. Through bold campaigns and a commitment to win, for over 25 years Infact has forced corporations-like Nestle, GE and Philip Morris/Altria-to stop irresponsible and dangerous actions. For more information visit www.infact.org. Infact does not endorse, support, oppose, or otherwise advocate the election or defeat of any political candidate or party. The Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) includes 75 NGOs from more than 50 countries working for a strong, enforceable Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
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