WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION PRESS CONFERENCE ON HARMFULNESS OF TOBACCO

While the officials gathered at the ongoing International Conference on Illicit Tobacco Trade came from different backgrounds, they shared the same goal, the Executive Director of the World Health Organization's Cluster on Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health said at a Headquarters press conference yesterday. 

Dr. Derek Yach said the International Conference, meeting in New York from 30 July to 1 August, had brought together the law enforcement and public health communities.  Both those communities had a common objective of reducing the harm caused by tobacco.  Law enforcement personnel were concerned about the fact that some 25 per cent of cigarettes in international trade -- or about 20 billion packs of cigarettes a year -- were smuggled.  Tobacco smuggling resulted in a loss of revenue of some $25 billion to $30 billion a year.  From a public health perspective, tobacco resulted in more than 4 million deaths a year.  Of that number, approximately 1 million were in China and about 700,000 in India. 

Tobacco smuggling robbed governments of revenue and undermined some of its most powerful weapons against tobacco consumption, he said.  In many countries, smuggled cigarettes were less likely to carry warnings and labels, making government responsibilities more difficult to define.  Tobacco consumption also fuelled international crime.

One of the key issues was the complicity of tobacco companies in the problem, Dr. Yach said.  Cigarette smuggling was not just a question of organized crime.  There were presently a number of pending cases before United States courts, which suggested the serious complicity of tobacco companies, with several major cases citing tobacco companies as defendants.  Those included an action brought by the European Union and 10 Member States, who were appealing before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit against a finding that tobacco companies had been engaged in smuggling large amounts of cigarettes on a worldwide basis.  The World Health Organization (WHO) had indicated its support for the appeal.  Along with the United States Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association and the Campaign for Tobacco Free Codes, the WHO had tabled an amicus curiae in support of the Union's case.

"Tobacco control has gone beyond the old stages of sticking up a couple of posters and thinking that will do the trick", he said.  The World Customs Organization, the World Bank and a number of law enforcement officers were complementing what was normally seen as a narrow public health area of responsibility.

The timing of the Conference was important, he added.  It came during the final phase of negotiating the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).  It was the first time that the WHO had used its treaty-making right in an area of public health.  The fact that 145 Member States were represented at the Conference -- and that some 180 were at the Framework negotiating meeting -- showed that there was strong demand for serious action.  The Chairman of the Negotiating Body, Ambassador Seixas Correa of Brazil, had tabled his own "Chair's text" of the

Convention on 16 July.  That text strongly emphasized the issues of smuggling controls, advertising and duty-free sales.

Dr. Yach hoped the outcome of the Conference would be to advance knowledge and understanding of how to control smuggling, an issue that would be critical to the text of the final Framework Convention.

A correspondent suggested it was odd that the Conference was taking in place in a building housing an international organization where smoking was prevalent.  It showed that there was a tremendous amount of work to do, Dr. Yach answered.  The WHO had never hesitated to enter stadiums and arenas and had always convinced the majority of the importance of sensible health measures.   It had, in fact, taken the public health message of tobacco control to where it was least popular.  Regarding the United Nations Building, he said there was an agreement that United Nations officials should be enforcing agreed tobacco-control bans in the Building.  The fact that they were not should be taken up with the chief officials in the Building.

Asked to comment on to the participation of tobacco companies in the Conference, he said the fact that tobacco companies were present at the meeting was important.  In the end, without understanding of certain technical matters, effective controls such as tracking and traceability procedures could not be introduced. 

A correspondent asked about the "actual reason" behind the tobacco companies' participation in the Conference.  That remained to be seen, Dr. Yach said.  A large number of corporations in the spirits and food industries, for example, had come together to determine how they as corporate entities could address the issue of smuggling.  While there would undoubtedly be efforts to lobby against the Convention, there was a strong group of non-governmental organizations that would be able to expose underhand lobbying techniques.

Asked to comment on the practice of increasing the price of cigarettes to curb tobacco use, Dr. Yach said a group of countries with very high tobacco prices, including Sweden, Denmark, France and Finland, had very low levels of smuggling.  When law enforcement officers worked effectively with public health officials, smuggling did not have to occur.  Similarly, some countries with very low prices and taxes had very high levels of smuggling.  That had been the case in Spain, Italy and Pakistan, for example.  The level of law and order in a country was a stronger predictor of smuggling than were prices.  The United Kingdom, for example, had in the last few years increased prices and allocated part of that money to strengthen customs departments.  When governments reduced prices, thinking that this would reduce smuggling, evidence showed that consumption among the young shot up and government revenue declined.

A correspondent asked why tobacco companies would facilitate smuggling.  There were many reasons, said Dr. Yach.  If a company were not licensed in a particular country, one way to get a brand in at an early stage would be to smuggle it in.   The other way was to increase consumption by having a lower priced product on the market.  A third way was to subvert the tougher kind of warnings.  In Canada, warnings on cigarette packages could actually be read.  Early evidence showed that bold and readable warnings had had an impact on consumption.

Asked whether companies involved in trafficking had been publicly named,

Dr. Yach said that, while companies had been named in court cases, no company per se had been found guilty.  Executives of companies had been found guilty in different jurisdictions.  In the European Union case before the Courts now, Philip Morris, British-American Tobacco and R.J. Reynolds were named.

With cigarettes sold legitimately on the Internet at cheaper prices, a correspondent asked why there was any need to smuggle.  Dr. Yach said that the volume of Internet sales at the current stage was not high.  When sales did become high, however, action would be needed.  He hoped the issue of Internet advertising would be covered by the Framework Convention.

Asked whether the fact that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) was hosting the Conference was an example of the United States embracing multilateralism, he replied that one had simply to look at the facts.  The ATF was hosting the Conference.  The Department of Health and Human Services was highly represented at the meeting and strongly supportive of it.  The State Department, as well as other departments, was present at the meeting.  The United States had a broad-based multi-departmental approach working on the Convention with great seriousness.  They were taking the process and engaging it completely.  "We are trying to be productive and to move towards a sensible conclusion", he said.

In response to a question on the health aspect of tobacco smuggling,

Dr. Yach said the technical issues that would be discussed during the Conference were primarily those that required law enforcement officer expertise.  Public health officials had long ago realized that many sectors needed to be engaged in tobacco control.  They wanted customs and law enforcement officials to do what they did best. 

A correspondent asked the Secretary-General's Spokesman to comment on the question of a smoking lounge in the Building.  Fred Eckhard said he had asked the Assistant Secretary-General for Central Support Services, Toshiyuki Niwa, about the lounge.  Mr. Niwa had hoped to have the lounge in place in the first quarter of 2002.  Unanticipated financial obligations and logistical considerations, however, had not made that possible.  Mr. Eckhard said he had suggested other measures to address the issue of smoking, such as posting signs around the Building urging staff to be respectful of their colleagues' health and rights.  Mr. Niwa had liked the idea and would look into it further.

Except for the Spokesman, a correspondent said, no one spoke out about the issue of smoking in the Building.  Had the WHO ever spoken out publicly on the issue?  Dr. Yach said the Director-General of the WHO, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, had spoken publicly about the issue of smoking in all United Nations buildings.  There was no reason United Nations buildings should be different from other buildings.  Controls over passive smoking should be applied in every workplace everywhere.

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