JOHN REID BLACKWELL
POINT OF VIEW
Monday, November 7, 2005

As of last week, 100 nations had ratified the first global treaty that seeks to reduce tobacco-related diseases.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, as the treaty is called, sets out strict rules on tobacco advertising and cigarette smoking in countries that adopt the agreement.

The treaty, the first negotiated by the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organization, got enough signatures to go into effect earlier this year, but the battle over its implementation is only beginning.

As countries that have ratified the pact (The United States has not) prepare to meet in February to discuss enforcement, tobacco-control activists have charged the world's largest cigarette companies -- including Philip Morris International, sister company to Richmond-based Philip Morris USA -- with trying to dilute the treaty's tougher provisions by lobbying policymakers in individual nations.

Nations that ratify the accord have five years to adopt a ban or at least major restrictions -- on tobacco advertising and sponsorships and three years to require warning labels that cover half of cigarette packages. The treaty also calls for tougher smoking laws, higher taxes on tobacco products and a crackdown on cigarette smuggling.

All of this is aimed at reducing a death toll from tobacco-related diseases that the World Health Organization has pegged at 5 million a year and rising.

Tobacco companies "have been spreading misinformation about the treaty," said Megan Rising, a campaign organizer for Corporate Accountability International, a Boston-based, nonprofit watchdog group and a frequent critic of the tobacco industry.

In countries such as Nigeria, cigarette companies have fed false information to the media and have told lawmakers they must adopt tobacco-control regulations before they can ratify the treaty, said Rising, who recently returned from a tour of several African nations, where she was organizing support for treaty ratification.

In a report released this month, Corporate Accountability pointed to Guatemala and Ecuador, where Philip Morris sent letters to legislators essentially endorsing the treaty and making recommendations for its implementation, Corporate Accountability said, citing documents obtained from lawmakers there.

The treaty calls for bans on advertising, but the letter encouraged lawmakers to allow advertising, publicity and promotional activities aimed at adults, sponsorship at sporting events attended mostly by adults, and sponsorship of social and cultural events.

Kathryn Mulvey, executive director of Corporate Accountability, called the letter a "Trojan horse," an example of efforts by the tobacco industry to undermine the treaty while publicly endorsing its goals. "What we have seen over the decades is that the tobacco industry has a fundamental conflict of interest with health policy," and thus should not be involved in formulating tobacco-control laws, Mulvey said.

Michael Pfeil, vice president for communications and contributions for Switzerland-based Philip Morris International, said last week he was not aware of the letter cited by Corporate Accountability. He said Philip Morris International has "actively supported regulation of the [tobacco] industry, including regulation of many of the aspects that are covered by the FCTC," such as cigarette ingredient disclosure and constituent testing, limits on public smoking, and efforts to halt the illicit trade in cigarettes.

However, he said the company does not support policies that would encourage lawsuits against the industry.

"Another area that we do not support is a complete and outright ban on our ability to be able to communicate with adult consumers," Pfeil said. He said it is difficult to gauge what impact the treaty might have on the company's sales.

Tuesday is the deadline for nations to ratify the pact if they want to participate in enforcement talks that begin in Switzerland in February. The United States won't be among them. The Bush administration signed the pact in 2004 but has never submitted it to the Senate for ratification. For that reason, it appears the treaty will have little effect on consumers in the United States, at least for now.

"I think the treaty will eventually have a dramatic impact on tobacco marketing and sales throughout the world," said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids. He called the Bush administration's failure to submit the treaty for ratification "an international embarrassment."

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