WHO Agrees to Anti-Tobacco Convention
Excerpt By Clare Nullis, AP

GENEVA - The World Health Organization gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a landmark anti-tobacco treaty, with speaker after speaker saying it will save millions of lives.

The treaty would ban or restrict cigarette advertising, reduce second-hand smoke, introduce more prominent health warnings and control use of terms like 'low-tar' on cigarette packs.

It also provides for tougher international measures against smuggling and introduces the concept of manufacturer liability.

"What we are doing today will be written in bold letters in world history," said Mauritian Health Minister Ashok Jugnauth. "Generations to come will not only thank us, but a lot of them will owe their lives to us."

A key World Health Assembly committee unanimously adopted the so-called Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in a preliminary vote during the WHO's annual meeting in Geneva.

On Wednesday, it goes to a full session of 192-nation World Health Assembly, the WHO's decision-making body. The vote there is considered a formality.

Developing countries have led the push for the treaty, saying they need protection from tobacco multinationals that have switched their focus from saturated western markets to Asia and Africa.

Health officials say nearly 5 million people die every year from tobacco-related illnesses and the number and is expected to climb to 10 million a year over the next two decades. The WHO estimates that 70 percent of those deaths will be in developing countries.

Nearly 50 health ministers spoke in favor of the agreement — the first ever public health treaty drafted by the WHO. The European Union, Japan and China were among those announcing that they would sign the treaty.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Sunday his delegation would support the accord without changes, a surprising shift in policy.

Washington had previously objected to the treaty because it does not allow countries to opt out of individual clauses. Anti-smoking activists had accused the United States — home to Philip Morris, the world's biggest cigarette exporter — of trying to undermine the treaty.

Thompson stressed the treaty still needs to be signed by President Bush and ratified by Congress. The United States attended Tuesday's meeting, but didn't speak. Thompson was to address Wednesday's session.

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