Framework Convention Alliance Issue 57, Geneva 7 February 2006 Weather outlook: FCA B ULLETIN Chilly, cooler later T O BAC C O P ROD UCT REGULATION — W H O ’ S R E A L LY I N C H A RG E ? Remarkably, for a INSIDE THIS ISSUE: uniquely harmful con- sumer product that kills Règlementation — 2 approximately half of its recommandations users, what goes into and comes out of tobacco Let us speak! 3 products remains virtually unregulated in most con- Focus on FCTC 4 sumer markets. 5 Furthermore, the main Making it happen bodies involved in setting 5 standards for tobacco Costa Rica—ratificar products, such as Interna- cuanto antes tional Organisation for BAT in Honduras, guaranteeing quality the ISO way Talk to us! 6 Standardisation (ISO), are dominated by the tobacco any significant changes to rettes are “ certificated to industry. their products. ISO standard 9001 and 14001 ”, is a good exam- This is completely inap- The industry must not be ple of how the tobacco propriate as the industry involved in establishing industry misuses regula- What’s on today? has a vested interest in standards for product tion to market its prod- providing as little informa- testing. WHO Briefing: tion as possible about the ucts. ISO standards bear dangers of smoking and This ad from Honduras, little or no relationship to Product Regulation will be reluctant to make bragging that BAT’s ciga- human exposure . (cont p2) 1pm, Room 2, CICG Speakers: T H A T C L O C K I S S T I L L TI CK ING . Yesterday statistics took on a human face again —25,726,183 is the WHO TobReg Committee obscene number of people who have died unnecessarily from tobacco Dave Hammond, FCA related diseases since work on the FCTC first began in October 1999. Speaking about the personal loss of his father from a tobacco-related illness, Dr LEE Jong-wook, Director-General of the World Health Or- ganization unveiled the tobacco death clock in the CICG hallway. "This group has already changed history," Dr Lee said. "The Conven- tion is something that we are all committed to. Its provisions are bold. They are based on knowledge of what is effective. We will make it work." NGO advocates also urged delegates to remember the tremendous potential of their work: “Vous avez ce pouvoir entre vos mains aujourd’hui et nous comptons sur vous pour établir des méca- nismes les plus performants pour sa mise en œuvre. Ceux-ci seront essentiels pour aider a une meil- leure qualité de vie sans tabac dans mon pays, dans la region africaine et le plus rapidement possi- ble.” (Véronique Le Clezio, Mauritius) “You now have a treaty in your hands and you can decide to make its implementation meaningful. I urge you to devise the best possible mechanisms that will help reverse the tobacco death toll in my part of the world in the shortest time possible.” (Adeola Akinremi, Nigeria) “Ahora, seňores delegados, el Tratado esta en sus manos — les invito a ustedes a crear el mejor me- www.fctc.org canismo posible para la implementación, que permita a la brevidad reducir la carga de muerte y enfer- medad en todas las regiones del mundo.” (Dr Eduardo Bianco, Uruguay) Page 2 R EGULATION ( CONTINUED ) A BMJ article published last week showed how tunity to put tobacco regulation under the con- tobacco companies meet maximal values set trol of public health bodies, completely inde- by the EC for tar, nicotine and carbon monox- pendent of the tobacco industry. However, this ide mainly by making more ventilation holes is a complex area and the public health com- around the cigarette filter. Whilst these holes munity is not yet agreed on what would consti- reduce machine measurements, they have no tute effective regulatory guidelines, nor is there measurable effect on smokers’ exposure as the regulatory capacity to implement such smokers can easily block the holes with their guidelines in most countries. fingers or lips. The article proved that informa- tion on cigarette packs on nicotine, carbon di- For these reasons it is too soon to adopt guide- oxide and tar yields is misleading, as it does lines at this COP, but given the importance of not reflect the amount of smoke taken in by this area the COP needs to establish a working consumers. ASH UK and other NGOs in Europe group to develop such guidelines, building on are calling on the EU Commission to act with- the work of WHO TobReg and involving only out delay and remove the printed yields from independent public health practitioners. We believe this working group should explore the all tobacco products. feasibility of an international data manage- “The tobacco companies are up to their old ment repository to house and analyse the data tricks,” said FCA Chair Mary Assunta. arising from implementation of any future Arti- “Governments should not rely on ISO numbers cle 9 and Article 10 guidelines. This would help on tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide emis- minimise the additional capacity required by sions as an indicator of the level of hazard Parties and reduce unnecessary duplication of from a particular brand of cigarettes. The ciga- limited resources. Tobacco company quote of rette makers should not be allowed, directly or indirectly, to use lower tar/nicotine numbers as These are key recommendations of the FCA the day: a sales argument because this misleads con- briefing paper on product regulation published sumers into thinking their products are less today. This is available today at WHO’s briefing on product regulation, from the FCA stand or “One of the key CORA and general hazardous and will make them less likely to on the FCA website. Come to the seminar to quit.” business priorities for this and the hear presentations from global experts from next few years is opposing the The elaboration of guidelines under Article 9 of the WHO TobReg committee and recommenda- WHO-Tobacco Free Initiative” the FCTC (Regulation of contents of tobacco tions from the FCA’s Dave Hammond on how to products) is on the agenda for the first COP progress this important work. meeting. The FCTC gives us the first real oppor- BAT internal email, 2000 Deborah Arnott, ASH UK L A RÈGLEMENTATION D E L A COMPOSITION D E S PRODUITS D U T A BAC Un document confidentiel de tés de tabac sous forme de l'étudier de plus près et la compagnie de tabac R.J valeurs numériques qui in- en consultant seulement Reynolds, daté de 1972, dé- duisent en erreur et ne doi- les professionnels de san- clare cyniquement: "Dans un vent pas être utilisés—OMS té indépendants. sens, l'industrie du tabac Comité de Conseil Scientifi- • La méthode ISO est peut être considérée comme que sur la régulation des pro- essentiellement supervi- une section spécialisée et duits du tabac. sée par l'industrie du ta- hautement ritualisée d'une bac et ne représente industrie pharmaceutique. Recommandations: donc pas le forum appro- Les produits du tabac • Il est encore trop tôt prié pour établir les stan- contiennent et dispensent de pour adopter les directi- dards de régulation du la nicotine, une puissante ves de la COP ā ce su- tabac. drogue qui procure des ef- jet. fets physiologiques va- • Les rendements de riés" (http:// • La CDP ne doit adop- nicotine et de goudrons tobaccodocuments.org/ ter aucun protocole spé- ne doivent PAS figurer sur cifique pour tester les landman/501877121- les paquets de cigarettes. émissions de la fumée 7129.html). de tabac ā ce sujet. Les taux de goudrons, de (texte: Factsheet 4 de l’Alliance • Etant donné l'impor- nicotine et de CO sont basés pour la Convention Cadre) tance de cette question, sur une méthode ISO/FTC et la CDP doit établir un figurent sur les paquets de groupe de travail pour cigarette et dans les publici- Page 3 B R IN GI N G T H E T R E AT Y T O L I F E goal of saving millions from this treaty seriously.” tobacco-related death and To assist countries in inter- disease. preting their obligations un- Also to be decided is der the FCTC, the FCA has whether non-governmental released a guide entitled “ A organizations — which have Guide to Domestic Imple- played a critical role in the mentation of the Framework negotiations and promotion Convention on Tobacco Con- of the treaty — will be al- trol .” lowed to participate as active partners in treaty follow-up The publication provides countries with an overview of work. their obligations under the “The outcomes of this meet- FCTC. The guide is online at: ing will be extremely impor- http://fctc.org/iwg_cops/ This first meeting of the Con- tant for the future of the COP1/domesticguide.pdf , ference of Parties will deter- treaty,” said Mary Assunta, and is also on the free CD mine whether countries that FCA Chair. “Weak interpreta- ROM included in FCA briefing have ratified the treaty are tion and poor implementa- packs — collect one at the willing to adequately fund tion of the FCTC will not pro- FCA booth, downstairs in efforts to implement the mote public health or save CICG. treaty . It will also determine lives. In order for the treaty what sort of structures will to be more than just a piece be put into place to ensure of paper, countries need to that the treaty can fulfill its take their obligations under A N I NTERVENTION T H A T S AY S I T A L L ( E XC E PT T H A T I T D I D N ’ T G E T S A I D ) Following is the intervention FCA wanted to make yesterday, under current rules of procedure — sadly, our request to speak was not granted.