International trade versus public health at FCTC negotiations.

Letter: Tobacco should be excluded from free trade agreement. BMJ
Volume 328, p 581
Tobacco should be excluded from free trade agreements to protect health,
argue researchers in this week's BMJ.
Their call comes in the week that the European Union and the South American
trading bloc Mercosur will continue negotiations towards a free trade
agreement.

Every day, doctors see the deadly effects of tobacco, write the authors.
While trade liberalisation can bring benefits, free trade in tobacco leads
to increased consumption. This inevitably leads to more tobacco related
illness and death.

Excluding tobacco from free trade agreements would protect health. It is
compatible with international law, which exempts other harmful products such
as landmines, and World Trade Organisation commitments to protect human
life.

Negotiators from the European Union and Mercosur must act to protect the
future health of generations by excluding tobacco from this agreement. Such
action would not only show leadership but would set an important precedent
for future trade agreements, whether bilateral, regional, or international,
they conclude.

Contact: Emma Dickinson
edickinson@bmj.com
44-207-383-6529
BMJ-British Medical Journal

http://www.eurekalert.org/[...]03/bmj-tsb030404.php



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Tobacco should be excluded from free trade agreement - BMJ
2004;328:581 (6 March)

EDITOR—The World Health Organization estimates that by 2030 tobacco will
become the world's biggest single cause of death and disease, killing 10
million people each year.1
This week the European Union and the South American trading bloc Mercosur
will continue negotiations towards a free trade agreement. We call on
negotiators to place health before trade, by excluding tobacco from the
agreement.

Every day, doctors see the deadly effects of tobacco. In the Doctors'
Manifesto for Global Tobacco Control, more than 130 national medical
associations united to call on governments and international bodies to take
decisive action to tackle the tobacco pandemic.2 While trade liberalisation
can bring benefits, free trade in tobacco leads to increased consumption.3
This inevitably leads to more tobacco related illness and death.

Tobacco is a uniquely harmful consumer product. Representatives of national
medical associations from the European Union and the Mercosur region have
written to the negotiators stating that tobacco products have no place in
free trade agreements.

Excluding tobacco from free trade agreements would protect health. It is
compatible with international law, which provides for other harmful products
such as landmines to be exempted.4 Moreover, the World Trade Organisation
has recognised that human health is important in the highest degree and that
if necessary, governments may "put aside WTO commitments" to protect human
life.5

Negotiators from the European Union and Mercosur must act to protect the
future health generations by excluding tobacco from this agreement. Such
action would not only show leadership but would set an important precedent
for future trade agreements, whether bilateral, regional, or international.

Eduardo Bianco, representative

Sindicato Médico del Uruguay, Bulevar Artigas 1515, CP 11200, Montevideo,
Uruguay

Sinéad Jones, director

Tobacco Control Resource Centre, BMA, Edinburgh EH2 1LL




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Competing interests: None declared.
References


1.. World Health Organization. The world health report 2003—shaping the
future. Geneva: WHO, 2003. http://www.who.int/whr/en (accessed 27 Feb 2004).
2.. Tobacco under the microscope: the doctors' manifesto for global
tobacco control. British Medical Association Tobacco Control Resource
Centre, 2002. http://www.doctorsmanifesto.org (accessed 27 Feb 2004).
3.. World Bank. Curbing the epidemic. Governments and the economics of
tobacco control. Washington, DC: World Bank, 1999.
www1.worldbank.org/tobacco/cover2a.asp (accessed 27 Feb 2004).
4.. World Trade Organisation, World Health Organization. WTO agreements
and public health, a joint study by the WHO and WTO secretariat, 2002.
Geneva: WHO. http://www.who.int/[...]age/en/who_wto_e.pdf (accessed 27 Feb
2004).
5.. World Trade Organisation, World Health Organization. WTO agreements
and public health, a joint study by the WHO and WTO secretariat, 2002, press
releases. Geneva: WHO. http://www.who.int/[...]entre/releases/who64 (accessed 27
Feb 2004).
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/[...]nt/full/328/7439/581