The Hindu : Front Page : Anti-smoking treaty comes into force

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 28, 2005

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Front Page

Anti-smoking treaty comes into force

GENEVA, FEB. 27. A landmark treaty aimed at cutting deaths and illness caused by smoking came into force today, after 57 countries ratified international restrictions on tobacco producers and smokers, said the World Health Organisation.

The WHO hopes the first ever public health treaty will stop the estimated five million annual deaths caused by smoking from doubling by 2020, once it is passed into law by all the 168 countries that have signed up.

``I encourage all countries to become party to the treaty. This can result in millions of lives saved, and that is where the real success of this treaty resides,'' said the WHO Director-General, Lee Jong Wook.

Legal product

``Its entry into force is a demonstration of Governments' commitment to reduce death and illness from tobacco use,'' he added.

The WHO regards tobacco as the only legal product that eventually kills half its regular users, fuelling the second leading cause of death in the world. ``This means that out of 1.3 billion smokers, 650 million will die prematurely,'' it added in a statement.

Tobacco-related ill-health is thought to sap $200 billions from rich and poor countries.

Treaty parties must now pass the measures into national law within three to five years, though health officials acknowledged that several countries have already implemented many of them.

The first parties include major industrialised countries except the U.S. European nations, India, Pakistan, Mexico, Thailand, as well as Indian and Pacific Ocean island states.

The treaty needs strengthening fast, a leading expert said. — AP

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