WHO - Framework Convention celebrates 10 years!

The WHO-Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, a milestone marking a decade of action to curb the global-tobacco epidemic and promote public health. The Convention is the first international treaty negotiated under the WHO’s auspices, and has become one of the fastest endorsed by the United Nations to date, with 180 Parties, covering 90 percent of the world’s population. 

In its 10 years of existence, the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) has succeeded in keeping tobacco control high on the global agenda, while saving lives and improving global health.

By implementing FCTC compliant legislation, many Parties have seen significant declines in their current smoking prevalence. Thus Turkey and Uruguay smoking prevalence declined by 22 percent and 25 percent respectively, in 10 years.

As regards to progress made Article wise, with regard to Article 5, Parties have made significant progress in adopting new tobacco control legislation and action plans, and establishing multi-sectoral bodies to coordinate national tobacco control efforts.

Article 5.2  -  Eighty  percent of the Parties have strengthened their existing or adopted new tobacco control legislation after ratifying the Convention. 

Article 5.3  - An increasing number of Parties are taking steps through laws or by other means to prevent tobacco industry interference, such as preventing the industry from participating in the development of legislation or sponsoring sporting events.

Article 6 - Many Parties have increased taxes to decrease tobacco consumption. The average price of a packet of cigarettes has increased by almost 150 percent in the past five years around the world. More than 40 Parties use tobacco tax earmarking to support public health and tobacco control programmes.

Article 8 - In 2005, only 5 Parties had imposed a complete ban of smoking in all public places, workplaces and public transport. As at 31 December 2014,  48 Parties had adopted legislation towards this end, an almost 10-fold increase 

since 2005.

Many Parties have introduced smoking bans in indoor public places, such as restaurants, cafés and other workplaces. More and more Parties are also banning smoking in outdoor areas, like beaches, bus stops, public parks, playgrounds and markets. To increase the protection of children, some Parties have prohibited smoking in private cars carrying children.

Article 9 -  Some Parties have banned additives in tobacco products, such as menthol, sugar and flavourings, which are all designed to make the taste of tobacco products more attractive. 

Another important development in this area is the establishment of new standards for reduced ignition propensity cigarettes, which have been shown to reduce deaths caused by smoking-related fires.

Article 11 - In 2005, only 6 Parties required large (more than 50 percent) and rotating pictorial health warnings; most countries only had text warnings. At the end of 2014, 43 Parties request warnings with the same characteristics, a more than 7-fold increase since 2005.

Many Parties require large graphic health warnings on all tobacco packaging, some of them after overcoming legal challenges posed by the tobacco industry. Plain packaging of tobacco products (with no branding, colours, imagery, corporate logos or trademarks) is another area to which Parties are paying more attention.

Article 13  - In addition to banning traditional forms of advertising (e.g. print media and billboards), several Parties have banned the display of tobacco products at points of sale. Instead, tobacco products are stored in non-transparent, locked containers.

Article 14 - Quit lines have traditionally been used to assist tobacco users, and operate in almost one quarter of the State Parties. New and innovative approaches to tobacco cessation are proving effective, including cell-phone text messaging, Internet-based behavioural support and Smartphone applications.

Article 16 - The legal age to buy tobacco products has been set or increased in several Parties to 21 or 20 years of age in recent years.

Article 17 and 18 - More and more countries are successfully promoting alternatives to tobacco growing. Replacement crops include bamboo, beans, corn, cane, fruits, safflower and soy.

 “The WHO Framework Convention stands out as the single most powerful preventive instrument available to public health,” says Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization. “We know it works. It averts addiction to a deadly product. It saves lives. Implementation of its provisions brings both an immediate and longer-term reduction in diseases and premature deaths. Increasingly fierce opposition from the tobacco industry is further evidence of how well this treaty works.” 

Dr. Margaret Chan states that there are three main challenges. The first being  ‘tobacco control fatigue’ which need to be overcome by relighting  public and political will to implement tough control measures.  

The second challenge is failing to implement the most effective measures. Though tobacco taxes do the most to reduce demand, the measure is least implemented. 

The Parties to the convention have mentioned that countering tobacco industry measures is the biggest challenge. Since the battle to control tobacco moves into the courts, the industry is using trade and investment agreements to legally challenge government actions. 

Threats of lengthy and costly litigation are being used to intimidate governments that are trying to do the right thing for their people. This is the third challenge.

Tobacco companies are profiling themselves to governments as partners in combating illicit trade in tobacco products.  Tobacco industry is complicit in this trade.  Dr. Chan urged all Parties to ratify the Protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products. She said that only six countries have ratified the Protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products, so far. 

During the past decade, the WHO FCTC has enabled Parties to make many significant achievements in tobacco control, including the following: 

• Eighty percent of countries have strengthened their tobacco control legislation since becoming Parties; 

• The cost of a packet of cigarettes has, on average, increased by 150 percent among Parties; 

• There has been a great increase in the use of graphic health warnings – such warnings cover 75–85 percent of cigarette packages in many countries and plain packaging initiatives are increasing; 

• Many countries have banned smoking in indoor and outdoor public spaces, which has helped to ensure that smoking is no longer seen as socially acceptable; 

• Some Parties have set the explicit goal of becoming “tobacco free” (with less than 5 percent prevalence of tobacco use), including Finland, Ireland and New Zealand, and the Pacific Island countries. Full implementation of the WHO-FCTC would support global commitments to achieving a 25 percent reduction in premature deaths from non-communicable diseases by 2025, including a 30 percent reduction in the prevalence of tobacco use in persons aged 15 years and over. 

The use of new products like electronic nicotine delivery systems, and of existing products, like water pipes, in new settings is gaining in popularity. 

One in every ten cigarettes and many other tobacco products consumed in the world are illegal.

This is another issue that remains high on the WHO-FCTC’s agenda is the illicit tobacco trade, which accounts for one in every 10 cigarettes and many other tobacco products consumed globally. The trade is driven by numerous players, ranging from criminal networks to the tobacco industry. To respond to this challenge, the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products was adopted in November 2012, although it requires 34 more Parties to become international law. The Protocol is a new international treaty open to all Parties to the WHO-FCTC, and aims to tackle smuggling and other kinds of illicit trade, which are a grave danger to public health. The issue has been chosen as the theme for WHO’s World No Tobacco Day campaign in 2015. 

The growth in the use of new products, such as electronic nicotine delivery systems, and of existing products in new settings, such as water pipes, is alarming. Addressing new and emerging tobacco products will be vital to the success of future tobacco control efforts.