Originally published February 15 2006
Anti-tobacco programs to be the subject of WHO Geneva conference
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
For CorpWatch.com, Diego Cevallos discusses the possible outcomes of a meeting that will be held in Geneva by the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
Five centuries ago, the European conquistadors came upon indigenous peoples of the Americas who smoked tobacco for ceremonial purposes, a practice they adopted and which became widespread, but without the ritual aspect.
Today, in tobacco's birthplace, hundreds of thousands of people die from smoking-related causes, and governments are battling companies over regulations.
In Mexico and Brazil, the region's most populous countries and where some 250,000 people die from tobacco-related causes each year, the cigarette industry was accused in 2005 of pressuring, lying and even bribing lawmakers in order to put the brakes on policies that would restrict their business.
According to the non-governmental Corporate Accountability International, based in the northeastern U.S. city of Boston, the tobacco industry is interfering in public health policy in several Latin American countries, and is attempting to block the regulations implemented in compliance with the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
The first meeting of the parties to the FCTC, where financing for anti-tobacco use programmes is to be discussed, is set for Feb. 6-17 in Geneva.
The indigenous rituals that involve smoking tobacco in a pipe are now difficult to find in the Americas, but every minute thousands of people throughout the region light up cigarettes and smoke them.
The health costs of this addiction represent between six and 15 percent of the region's public budgets, in addition to losses arising from work absenteeism, premature deaths, and treatment for related disabilities, says the non-governmental group Consumers International.
According to various sources, the Phillip Morris and British American Tobacco (BAT) companies -- the region's leading cigarette sellers -- have deployed strategies in some countries to prevent ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
The Central American country's national Congress ratified the treaty on Nov. 16 -- after the deadline for the right to vote at next month's Geneva meeting.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml