Marlboro commercial

Despite of more than one year has passed by since Government of Republic of Korea had ratified the FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) on May 16, 2005, the need to contain tobacco-related diseases, morbidity and mortality, has only further intensified.

Tobacco companies have been aggressively promoting their brands and protecting markets, employing lifestyle and glamour imagery and surrogate advertising unabashedly. Tobacco brand placement in films have been under scanner and India's Union Health Minister Dr Ambumani Ramadoss had reaffirmed recently in an interview that "One of the easiest ways to significantly bring down number of children and youth who get initiated to tobacco use in India, without any budgetary allocation for this public health exercise, is to remove depiction of tobacco use in films and TV."

This year again tobacco control activists in different parts of the world are coming together to organize the 8th International Week of Resistance to Transnational Tobacco companies (IWR) including those in Republic of Korea, from September 25-29, 2006. A one-day symbolic fast shall be observed in India on Thursday September 28, 2006 at Jantar Mantar. An International release in 20 countries of the 2nd Global Tobacco Treaty Action Guide, produced by Corporate Accountability International (www.stopcorporateabuse.org) with the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) shall be the hallmark of this year's IWR in 20 nations across the globe.

Like other public interest measures, Governments alone cannot bring in the difference unless people are active stakeholders in implementation. And presently there is a palpable dearth of people who are well-verse what FCTC treaty mandates our governments to do on tobacco control. This information still remains confined to tobacco control professionals and there is a pressing need to transmit this information about public health policies our governments have agreed to adapt at International forums far and wide.

FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) - which happens to be the world's first global public health and corporate accountability treaty that World Health Assembly had adapted in May 2003, was signed by 168 countries and 139 have become Parties by ratifying it, including Republic of Korea. FCTC is a legally binding treaty which was negotiated by the 192 member states of the World Health Organization (WHO). It contains a host of measures designed to reduce the devastating health and economic impacts of tobacco. The final agreement, reached in May 2003 after nearly four years of negotiations, provides the basic tools for countries to enact comprehensive tobacco control legislation. Key provisions in the treaty encourage countries to:

- Enact comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship;

- Obligate the placement of rotating health warnings on tobacco packaging that cover at least 30 percent (but ideally 50 percent or more) of the principal display areas and can include pictures or pictograms;

- Ban the use of misleading and deceptive terms such as "light" and "mild";

- Protect citizens from exposure to tobacco smoke in workplaces, public transport and indoor public places;

- Combat smuggling, including the placing of final destination markings on packs; and

- Increase tobacco taxes

The FCTC also contains numerous other measures designed to promote and protect public health, such as mandating the disclosure of ingredients in tobacco products, providing treatment for tobacco addiction, encouraging legal action against the tobacco industry, and promoting research and the exchange of information among countries.

Tobacco kills almost five million people each year. If current trends continue, it is projected to kill 10 million people a year by 2020, with 70% of those deaths occurring in developing countries. Tobacco also takes an enormous toll in health care costs, lost productivity, and of course the intangible costs of the pain and suffering inflicted upon smokers, passive smokers and their families.

The tobacco epidemic is an international problem. Developing countries are set to bear the brunt of the problem in the future. At present there are about 5 million deaths a year worldwide due to tobacco-related disease, with the balance split approximately between developed and developing countries. By 2030, if present trends continue unchecked, the figure will have increased to 10 million deaths per year, with 70 % of these deaths taking place in developing countries.

The tobacco industry is a global industry. Faced with increased regulation and greater awareness of the health risks of smoking in Europe and North America, the tobacco multinationals are stepping up their activities in developing countries in search of new markets.

A number of aspects of the tobacco problem are particularly trans-boundary in nature and can only be dealt with effectively by international action, including:

- Tobacco industry marketing campaigns executed across a number of different countries simultaneously, including through satellite television;

- Smuggling of cigarettes, often coordinated by the tobacco industry on an international level, involving operations in numerous countries.