{"id":12270,"date":"2016-11-08T17:41:21","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T17:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=12270"},"modified":"2016-11-08T17:41:21","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T17:41:21","slug":"delegates-attending-treaty-negotiations-want-end-to-tobacco-industry-interference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=12270","title":{"rendered":"Delegates Attending Treaty Negotiations Want End To Tobacco Industry Interference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><code><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<p><strong>INDIA<\/strong>\u2014Today eighteen government delegates who represent the governments of more than 57 million people called for the strongest protections yet to guard against tobacco industry interference in public health policy making. The appeal, released in an open letter on the opening day of the World Health Organization\u2019s Seventh Session of the Conference of Parties (COP7) holding in New Delhi, India, sets the stage for a landmark decision to protect international policy from industries with conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=11527&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The call comes as delegates from up to 179 countries and the European Union convene in India to determine the next frontiers in tobacco control. It also builds on the support of more than 100 civil society organizations from India and around the globe for delegates to protect the negotiations from industry interference.<\/p>\n<p>At the negotiations, formally known as the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), governments are poised to advance life-saving tobacco control measures such as plain packaging<a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Tobacco-India-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12272\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Tobacco-India-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"tobacco-india\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Tobacco-India-1-300x200.jpg 300w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Tobacco-India-1-768x512.jpg 768w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Tobacco-India-1-272x182.jpg 272w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Tobacco-India-1.jpg 922w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a> and graphic health warnings. However, to date, the tobacco industry has exploited loopholes in order to infiltrate treaty meetings and block, weaken and delay outcomes that could save millions of lives. In fact, the FCTC Global Progress report has stated that the \u201ctobacco industry continues to be the most important barrier in implementation of the Convention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The tobacco industry is, hands-down, the single-largest threat to public health in the world,\u201d said <strong>Dr. Sheila Ndyanabangi, Principal Medical Officer, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Control\/ Tobacco Control, for the Ugandan Ministry of Health<\/strong>. \u201cAs delegates to the global tobacco treaty, we have an ethical responsibility to prioritize people\u2019s health over the industry\u2019s interests. Today, we recognize that the most urgent task before us is to protect policy making from the corrosive influence of Big Tobacco.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The global tobacco treaty contains a provision that protects policy making processes from the tobacco industry at the international and national levels. The provision was created to address the tobacco industry\u2019s strategies to upend regulations by influencing international and national policymaking bodies, as outlined by millions of internal documents. Despite this legal requirement, however, the tobacco industry has infiltrated negotiations through bribery, securing seats on government delegations, and posing as members of the public.<\/p>\n<p>As the BBC exposed in November 2015, in spite of the treaty\u2019s provision, British American Tobacco paid an official at the Burundi Ministry of Health and an FCTC representative to \u201csupport\u201d the corporation\u2019s interests in international negotiations about tobacco regulations. Tobacco industry interference has been so egregious that delegates have been forced to eject industry representatives from the last two international treaty negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith recent wins against Big Tobacco\u2019s legal bullying in Uruguay and Australia, we stand at a tipping point for public health,\u201d said<strong> John Stewart, deputy director with Corporate Accountability International, an accredited observer to the global tobacco treaty proceedings<\/strong>. \u201cGiven the industry\u2019s widespread lying, cheating, and outright bribery, governments are ready to act. The global tobacco control community is poised to protect decisions about people\u2019s health from narrow corporate interests, and pave the way for a future where Big Tobacco and its bullying are a thing of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Akinbode Oluwafemi, deputy executive director of Environmental Rights Action\/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA\/FoEN)<\/strong> said: \u201cthe time is now to put a final roadblock to Big Tobacco interference in public health policy. We have witnessed meddling in Nigeria, we have witnessed it across Africa and observed it at the global treaty meetings. Article 5.3 of the FCTC has proven to be the single most effective provision of the global treaty to block Big Tobacco interference\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To date, dozens of governments have begun to implement measures in line with Article 5.3 at the national level, and more are expected to follow suit. For instance, Norway has divested more than $2 billion from the tobacco industry. Brazil adopted ethical guidelines for representatives of its tobacco control commission, CONICQ, requiring that it has no ties with the tobacco industry. The European Union has terminated its agreement with Philip Morris International. And the Philippines has restricted public officials from interacting with the tobacco industry to curb its influence.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to today\u2019s call to prevent industry meddling in public health, delegates also indicated plans to advance tools to hold the tobacco industry liable. The advances stem from a broader treaty directive called Article 19 that encourages governments to, among other recommendations, utilize legal systems to recoup the enormous costs of tobacco-related healthcare coverage.<\/p>\n<p>The global tobacco treaty, known formally as the\u00a0World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control\u00a0(FCTC) entered into force in 2005. To date, 179 countries and the European Union have become Parties to the treaty. It contains the world\u2019s most effective tobacco control and corporate accountability measures\u2014estimated to save more than 200 million lives by 2050 if fully implemented.<br \/>\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=11527&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/code><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>INDIA\u2014Today eighteen government delegates who represent the governments of more than 57 million people called for the strongest protections yet to guard against tobacco industry interference in public health policy making. The appeal, released in an open letter on the opening day of the World Health Organization\u2019s Seventh Session of the Conference of Parties (COP7) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[3204,3241,148],"class_list":["post-12270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news","tag-akinbode-oluwafemi","tag-sheila-ndyanabangi","tag-who"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Tobacco-India-1.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-3bU","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12273,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12270\/revisions\/12273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}