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“
Australia
has been congratulated on its leading role in a worldwide tobacco
control treaty which will take effect on ratifying nations including
Australia from next March. The World
Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)
was ratified by 40 countries in the past 17 months. The key milestone
was finally reached as the 40th country, Peru, ratified the treaty
yesterday (November 30). The
World Health Organization estimates nearly 5 million people die each
year from tobacco use and without the treaty, deaths are predicted to
double to 10 million a year by 2030 - with 70 percent of those deaths
occurring in developing countries. Signatory
nations are committed to meeting minimum global standards on tobacco
price and tax increases, tobacco advertising, sponsorship, labelling,
illicit trade and secondhand smoke.
The FCTC
will now enter into force in 90 days, as stated by the treaty, and the
40 contracting nations will be officially bound by the provisions of
the treaty. The 40
nations as of November 30 are: Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Cook Islands, Fiji, France, Ghana, Hungary,
Iceland, India, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta,
Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, New Zealand, Norway,
Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Peru, Qatar, San Marino, Seychelles,
Singapore, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad
and Tobago and Uruguay. Leading
health groups The Cancer Council Australia, the National Heart
Foundation of Australia and Action on Smoking and Health Australia
today congratulated the Australian government for its leading role in
the treaty’s development. Said ASH Chief Executive Anne Jones: “This is a
very significant landmark in the fight to curb the growing global
tobacco epidemic. “It has
enormous potential to save lives, reduce our spiralling health costs
as well as help neighbouring countries in our Pacific region that are
being exploited by tobacco companies looking for new markets.” See the FCTC and current signatories at www.who.int/tobacco/framework/en/ This is a joint release from ASH Australia, The Cancer Council Australia and the National Heart Foundation of Australia Comment: Anne
Jones, Action on Smoking and
Health (ASH) Australia Ph. 0417-227-879
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Page last updated on 1/12/04 |
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