© 2004 by Oxford University Press
© 2004 Oxford University Press
NEWS |
United States Signs International Tobacco Treaty
Activists working to control the tobacco industry worldwide have offered tepid praise to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson for his signing of the international tobacco treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), on May 10 in Washington.
"We welcome his signing, but if the administration does not follow through, the action will be little more than an obvious public relations gesture," said Judith Wilkenfeld, director of international programs at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
The treaty, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and agreed to last May by all 192 member nations, would impose a total advertising ban on tobacco products and mandate large warning signs on cigarette packs. Although the WHO has set a deadline of June 29 for nations to sign the treaty as they promised—which is what 107 countries had done by the time Thompson signed—penning a name on the treaty is largely a symbolic act.
The treaty will become international law only after 40 countries have ratified it, and by late May, 12 nations had done so. In the United States, ratification would come only after the Senate and the President agree to the treaty, which may actually have little impact because the U.S. Constitution would overrule the advertising restrictions.
Wilkenfeld expects the treaty will be signed by many more nations than is required. "With its 27 nations, the European Union is getting ready to ratify it, so it is moving along much faster than expected," she said.
But Wilkenfeld and Kathryn Mulvey, another longtime supporter of the FCTC, say they predict the United States will not adopt the treaty, even though ratification would earn the United States—and, presumably, its multinational tobacco companies—"a seat at the table" among those who will work out how the treaty would be implemented.
Both Wilkenfeld and Mulvey pointed to other treaties that were signed but not implemented, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on Biological Diversity, among others. "The U.S. government has fought the FCTC every step of the way, even while they've publicly claimed to support it," said Mulvey, executive director of Infact, a corporate accountability group. "We are not holding our breath for the U.S. to ratify the treaty."
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