The US and Global Tobacco Treaty (updated) - Corporate Accountability International - Challenging Abuse, Protecting People - Think Outside the Bottle

The US and Global Tobacco Treaty (updated)

The U.S. Failure to Ratify the Global Tobacco Treaty

The global tobacco treaty opened for signature on June 16, 2003, and took effect as international law on February 27th, 2005. Once a leader in tobacco control, the United States remains on the sidelines, among a shrinking minority of nations that have yet to ratify the treaty.

President Bush signed the global tobacco treaty four years ago, but has not yet submitted it to the Senate for ratification. In 2005, eleven U.S. Senators urged President Bush to send the treaty to the Senate for consideration. One of those Senators was Barack Obama, now the President-Elect of the United States.

click here to view the entire letter

As President-Elect Obama prepares to begin his first term and take on foreign and domestic policy decisions, we must ask: Is our government truly committed to public health? Are our government officials accountable to the U.S. public?

The U.S. government's track record on international humanitarian agreements, including the life-saving global tobacco treaty, suggests an arrogant, "rules apply to others, not us" attitude. Other treaties the United States has signed but not ratified include: the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and the International Treaty to Ban Landmines. Click here to read our exposé Cowboy Diplomacy.

We believe it's time for the United States to join the international community, ratify this groundbreaking treaty, and protect future generations.

Click here to urge President-Elect Obama to move forward on ratifying the Global Tobacco Treaty.

Domestic Legislation

Global Tobacco Treaty

Why should the U.S. ratify the Global Tobacco Treaty?

U.S. ratification would protect current and future generations of Americans from tobacco addiction, disease and death. More than 400,000 Americans die each year from tobacco related illness. The U.S., after signing the global tobacco treaty on May 10, 2004, has waited far too long to ratify it.

What does the global tobacco treaty include?

Through the comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, an end to images like Philip Morris/Altria’s Marlboro Man, which has been lethally effective at hooking new young customers;
Through the provisions on packaging and labeling, new and graphic health warnings covering at least 30% of the front and back faces of cigarette packs—warnings that have been effective in countries like Canada and Brazil;
Media and public awareness campaigns with strong, uncompromising health messages—countering the tobacco industry’s “corporate social responsibility” and so called “youth smoking prevention” efforts; and
Federal taxation policies focused on reducing tobacco consumption, and cooperation with other parties to the treaty to hold the tobacco industry financially liable for the harms it causes.

Why now?

Over 150 countries have ratified the treaty; it is time that our country joins the rest of the world in ratifying the world’s first public health treaty. The U.S. is among a dwindling minority of countries that have not ratified the life-saving treaty.

By ratifying the treaty, the U.S. would become a full participant in its enforcement body, the Conference of the Parties (COP).

Congress has just taken a huge step forward by introducing legislation to provide FDA authority over tobacco, isn’t that enough?

S.625/H.R.1108 is a step in the right direction. Our government must act now to ratify the global tobacco treaty and institute FDA regulation of tobacco products, as a key way to implement its obligations.

The STOP Act H.R. 5689

Corporate Accountability International and our members stand resolutely behind Representative Lloyd Doggett (TX) and more than 100 co-sponsors in supporting H.R. 5689, which contains new and stronger requirements on labeling, tracking and reporting by the tobacco industry.

Once a leader in tobacco control, the United States has fallen out of step with the international community by failing to ratify the global tobacco treaty, formally known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). President Bush signed the treaty in 2004, but has yet to submit it to the Senate for ratification. The U.S. therefore lacks protections against the illicit tobacco trade, a ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and measures to protect health policy from tobacco industry interference—all of which are included in the treaty.

The STOP Act is an essential stop gap until the U.S. joins more than 150 countries that have ratified the global tobacco treaty and are negotiating a protocol specifically designed to combat the illicit tobacco trade.