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ASH Press Release: World Smoking Treaty Effective Feb. 27th Is Already Revolutionizing Antismoking Progress

A treaty which is already revolutionizing the war on smoking will formally become effective on Sunday, February 27, 2005, but eight countries have already become virtually smokefree, and dozens have begun requiring the larger more graphic health warnings spelled out in the treaty.

Signed by 168 countries – including the U.S. – which are members of the World Health Organization [WHO], the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control [FCTC] spells out a wide variety of steps countries must take in order to reduce smoking, protect nonsmokers, crack down on smuggling, and encourage legal action against tobacco companies.

Without such a treaty and worldwide cooperation, it is estimated that smoking will begin causing over 10,000,000 deaths every year by the year 2020 – more than AIDS and most other health problems – and cost trillions of dollars, with a substantial portion of those costs of death and disability in developing countries being borne by taxpayers in the U.S. and other developed countries.

“This is a major step forward in the worldwide battle against the death, disability, and disease caused by the tobacco epidemic, the major preventable cause of death in the world. The treaty provides the basic tools for countries to enact comprehensive tobacco control legislation – as many are already beginning to do – and face up to the powerful tobacco industry,” says Laurent Huber, International Director for Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) [http://ash.org], and one of the leaders in the international antismoking movement.

Even before formally coming into effect, the FCTC has had a major impact as countries begin moving towards compliance. Eight countries – Bhutan, Cuba, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and Uganda – have or are becoming virtually smokefree. Many more countries already require large, graphic health warning labels that cover at least 30% of cigarette packs, as the treaty requires. [http://ash.org/euwarnings]

Virtually everyone agrees that this first international health treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO would not have been achieved without the involvement of non-governmental organizations like ASH. ASH helped organize, and today helps to administer, the Framework Convention Alliance (FCA) [http://www.fctc.org], an alliance of over 200 organizations from around the world which helped persuade the necessary number of countries to ratify the FCTC, and which is committed to its effective enforcement now that it has come into effect.

“ASH has been proud to play a substantial role in bringing this treaty to reality, and is set to begin the equally difficult task of implementation and enforcement,” said John F. Banzhaf, Executive Director of ASH. “The coming into force of the FCTC is the culmination of nearly a decade of effort.”

ASH started the modern antismoking movement in the U.S. by getting antismoking messages on the air and cigarette commercials banned, and by getting smoking first restricted and ultimately prohibited on airplanes, buses, and in many public places. ASH’s Laurent Huber also serves as Director of the Framework Convention Alliance.


Laurent Huber
Director of International Programs
Action on Smoking and Health
2013 H Street NW
Washington, DC 20006 U.S.A.
Phone: 1 202 659 43 10
Fax: 1 202 833 39 21
Email: world@ash.org

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