WHO urges fight against tobacco industry's attacks on governments
31 May 2012
WHO has called on national leaders to be extra vigilant against the increasingly aggressive attacks by the industry which undermine policies that protect people from the harms of tobacco, which kills almost 6 million people every year and is one of the leading preventable causes of illness and death around the world.
''In recent years, multinational tobacco companies have been shamelessly fuelling a series of legal actions against governments that have been at the forefront of the war against tobacco." says WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan. "The industry is now stepping out of the shadows and into court rooms. We must now stand together with these governments that have had the courage to do the right thing to protect their citizens.''
WHO says more countries are moving to fully meet their obligations under the 2003 WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).
WHO said in a ststement, "Governments are working to create 100 per cent smoke-free, enclosed work and public places; to inform the public of tobacco harms through large and strong pictorial warning on tobacco packages; and to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. The tobacco industry however, is hard at work to undermine the treaty, including taking governments to court. In fact, the governments of Australia, Norway and Uruguay are currently battling tobacco industry law suits in their national courts."
Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC urges countries to protect public health policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry. On World No Tobacco Day, WHO is releasing a technical resource paper and global brief based on 2008 guidelines for implementation of this Article of the treaty to help guide countries on ways to combat tobacco industry interference.
''National leaders need to resist these tactics and use the full force of the Convention to protect the hard won gains to safeguard people's health from the scourge of tobacco,'' says Dr Douglas Bettcher, Director of WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative department.
